Government 2303
Stage 5
Group 2
Kimberly Jordan

Temple, as does any town that has establishments that serve or sell alcoholic beverages, has a problem with late night drinking and driving. This problem needs to be addressed mainly to prevent alcohol-related accidents, since alcohol in any amount impairs driving skills. To emphasize the importance of the problem I will present a scenario. If five people go to each of the twenty-three bars in the local area, become intoxicated and drive home, there will be one hundred and fifteen intoxicated persons on the same road you may be driving home on. However, there are far more than five people driving home from each of our local bars that should not be driving.
In addressing this problem, our group proposes to create a 2:15 transportation service from local bars. This program will be provided by the City of Temple to reduce the number of intoxicated persons on the city's roads late a night. The program will have vans stop at local bars at
2:15 when they close, to pick up any bar patrons who need transportation home for a small fee.
This program will provide bar patrons with an alternative to driving or walking home intoxicated, which will make our city streets safer by reducing the number of intoxicated persons on the roads.
This program will be less expensive to bar patrons than the cab system, which is inefficient at this time of night because of the number of people needing transportation. There is no waiting period, customers do not need to call, and several people can be transported in a van.
Many factors will affect our success in achieving our political objectives. In order to be successful, we must find political allies to help us attain our goal of instating a 2:15 transportation service in Temple. We must also located and evaluate any groups who might oppose our proposal.
The strategy we choose to use must be seen as positive and must be able to gain public attention.
The proposal also must be presented at a time that is advantageous to our cause. We must also assess our potential resources and determine which ones will be most effective. These are just a few of the factors that will determine what political strategy will be most effective.
We realize the important role political allies play in being politically effective. There are many people and groups we can look to gain support locally for the 2:15 transportation service.

Some of these include bar owners and managers, patrons of bars, local hospitals, local beer distributors, and drunk driving associations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students
Against Drunk Driving. Bar owners and managers would support this proposal because it would relieve some of the burden placed on them to ensure the safety of their patrons, and provide a service that most bars have to provide in some way. The bars would no longer have to call cabs for patrons, find some one to take patrons home, in some cases take patrons home themselves, or in extreme cases send their patrons to jail for the night. Patrons of bars would support this proposal because it would provide alternative transportation if they were to become intoxicated. Local beer distributors would support the proposal because it prevents drinking and driving, which is a major focus of beer distributors nationally currently. Temporary coalitions could be formed with the local drunk driving associations, such as MADD and SADD, because this program would also help them in their plans to prevent drinking and driving. Local hospitals would also support this proposal because it would prevent some of the late night accidents and emergencies that are alcohol-related.
The members of these groups form a large percent of the population in this area due mainly to the high number of alcohol selling establishments in the area. The are approximately twenty-three bars and four restaurants that cater to the needs of alcohol consumers in the Temple area late at night.
There are four beer distributors, two large hospitals, one chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students Against Drunk Driving, and the number of bar patrons is in direct relation to the number of bars in the local area.
Although support for our proposal may be high, there are also several opposing forces in the area. Local churches constitute the majority of the opposition our group faces in getting the proposal for the 2:15 transportation service program instated. The majority of religious affiliations in the area consider that the 2:15 transportation service program will perpetuate bar patrons to increase their drinking both in amount and frequency, instead of helping solve a problem we already face. In addition, the large number of attorneys who specialize in Driving While Intoxicated

charges and numerous bail bond companies in the area would see the program decreasing their business. The eleven towing companies in the area would also loose much business from people charged with Driving While Intoxicated charges and the business from vehicles involved in alcohol related accidents.
Our group will wait to become politically active until an alcohol-related accident occurs in the area. This will create publicity because the topic has already been in the news. Our group will be viewed as solving a problem that already has local attention, a sort of follow up to local news.
Our group can then relate these problems to the public in personal terms, arguing anyone can be involved in these accidents. This is how we will be able to generate attention to this subject. Once the public has these issues on their minds, the government cannot simply overlook the issue. Press releases will be administered to local newspapers on alcohol-related accidents and our group’s activities on the issue. These press releases may also lead to additional coverage of our group’s activities.
The government institution that is most relevant to our cause is Temple’s city council. We must be able to convince the people who serve on this council that our idea will be for the common good and that most of the constituents in the area feel the same way. Several tactics will benefit us in convincing the government that our idea is supported by public sentiment. Some of these include telephone calls, telegrams, personal contacts, follow-ups on previous communication, and personal letters. We will form an ad hoc group, which will be named Citizens for Safe Roads at
Night.
The most important tactic our group plans to use is a personal letter campaign. This is fairly easy and requires little resources to accomplish. Personal letters are the most effective means because the entire argument can be covered. These letters will be on personal stationary, be limited to one page and cover only this subject. Telephone calls and telegram campaigns will be used simply because it is inexpensive and will allow us to voice our opinions. Our group will also

schedule personal contacts with involved officials. These meetings will be relatively brief, will-prepared, and include known individuals such as the bar owners who contribute much of the money into the economy of Temple. The focus of our campaign will include members of Temple’s city council, the mayor, and any other local officials who have supported such programs in the past.
We also plan to cultivate the backing of the staff members of these officials, since staff members often provide most of the information on issues because public officials often do not have time to thoroughly research current issues.
Since our group is addressing one issue and our goal will be accomplished with the institution of a 2:15 transportation service, an ad hoc group will be most efficient in accomplishing our goal. Ad hoc organizations have few legal and organizational obligations. Volunteers can do most of the work and operation of the organization will be relatively inexpensive. We have chosen the name Citizen for Safe Roads at Night (CSRN) because it is relatively easy to remember and can be used in acronym form. It is not ambiguous, says what the group is about, and is positive.
Citizens for Safe Roads at Night will also employ the temporary help from other related groups in the area such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students Against Drunk Driving. This will allow our group access to knowledge and services that otherwise might hinder our group because of lack of experience. Affiliation with these groups would also contribute to membership and give
Citizens for Safe Roads at Night a higher stature than if we were to “wing it alone”. The names of these leaders could also be used in our letterhead.
There are also several public service announcement centers on television and in newspapers that are free which we could use to inform the public of our meetings and gain publicity. A simple membership card is all that will be necessary for becoming a member. Membership dues will be ten dollars a month and will include monthly newsletters, which can be easily created at home on the computer at almost no cost. This newsletter will include new memberships, a list of meetings, any accomplishments made during the month, and new plans for the next month. These will be

sent directly to members and will be left at businesses that are sympathetic to our cause. We will employ members with special skills, such as speaking or writing, to donate a few hours a month to help in the campaign. These members will hold certain job titles, and receive awards and acknowledgement for their contributions.
Our group plans to gain prestige and stature by getting influential people to lend their names to our group. We plan to take full advantage of any bar owners, doctors, or members of our board of directors with whom we will consult on certain issues and see what contributions they are willing to make. We also plan to sponsor and organize a discussion about drinking and driving and the problems involved. We will use local stories about alcohol-related accidents to involve the residents of the Temple area. The doctors and nurses in our group can also provide insight that will ensure the facts that are provided will seem more substantial. These influential members will be able to provide us with important information, which our group will use to develop and display expertise. Using the information that these people provide, our group will be able to compose an analysis that can be sent to the government officials involved as well as to the media for coverage.
This analysis will include the income of bars in the area to show the their contribution to the economy of Temple, a rough estimate of patrons, and information about alcohol-related accidents in the local area.
Our group, for fund raising purposes, will be categorized as an educational group. The group will provide information about alcohol-related accidents and ways to prevent them. Our proposal for a 2:15 transportation service program will be included in the pamphlets. Individuals in the group will do most of the campaigning, and the organization itself will be involved in the political process very little, to keep our educational group status. Most government involvement will be done by individuals affiliated with the group rather than by group involvement itself. Being classified as an educational group will allow individuals to have donations deducted from their income, encouraging individuals to provide the necessary funds our group will need to be

successful. Since many of the members of our group will be business owners, we will be able advertise up coming events in local businesses, saving money that would otherwise be paid for advertising.
Since our group will be considered and educational group, participation in government-sponsored hearings would not be feasible until the time, our proposal for the 2:15 transportation system is presented to government officials. Our group will also not be active in mobilizing people to vote since this would deplete funds and volunteer hours, which could be used in a way more beneficial to our cause. If, however, when our proposal is presented the officials have contradictory views, then our group may have to become active in backing officials whose views are similar to ours.
Several groups will oppose our proposal; these include local churches, attorneys who specialize in Drinking While Intoxicated charges, local towing companies, and the numerous bail bond companies in the area. These groups will consider our group’s proposal morally wrong or will loose business if our proposal is instated. These opposing groups may also become active in persuading members of Temple’s city council to vote on the proposal in a way that is advantageous to their cause. These groups may also try to eliminate the possibility of our proposal of being considered by the city council. This program will eventually pay for itself through the small fee, which is charged for the service. However, funding to start this program must come from other programs that are already in use or funding must be found in tax raises. This could result in dislike of the program because of the raise in taxes or the temporary disadvantage to other programs because of the loss of funds.
Scenario:
Starting as a small group, including myself and friends, interested in creating a 2:15 transportation service program in Temple, Citizens for safe Roads at Night (CSRN) will recruit new members from groups who are likely to support our cause. These groups will include bar owners

and managers, patrons of bars, local hospitals, local beer distributors, and members of drunk driving associations. Our group will remain dormant creating public information pamphlets, drafting letters and telegrams and forming other various plans of action. At such a time that an alcohol related accident occurs, our group will then distribute the information to the public and recruit new members. Shortly following the distribution of information and the recruiting of new members, our letter writing campaign will begin. This campaign will be accompanied by telephone calls, telegrams, and personal contacts. Following an approximately three month campaign of this type, our group will utilize the various public service announcement centers to make our group’s work public and gain more publicity. After our work has become public and the majority of the city is familiar of our group and their intentions, we will bring our proposal before the members of the city council during a city council meeting. The following day we will provide the television stations with press releases covering the events of the city council meeting. At this time, our group plans to lobby all city council members to consider voting on the issue of instating a 2:15 transportation service system. With enough pressure and presenting this as if it is public sentiment, the members of the city council will be forced to vote on this issue. At this time our proposal will be instated or rejected.
My original proposal changed virtually very little; however, the format with which our group needed to become politically successful changed dramatically. A large amount of detail must be taken into consideration in order to be successful. All options and alternatives must be thoroughly researched in order to choose the most effective means of attempting to change anything using the political process. All opposition must be studied, predictions on their next move must be made, any obstacles they present must be countered, and occasionally obstacles must be placed in their paths.
A group must become well know, be seen in a positive light, and be able to motivate people into action. Without even one of these ingredients, a group, no matter how good their intentions, may find themselves rendered incapable of making the changes their group considers necessary.