Advocacy and Activism

Or... How you can help!

First of all, join an MRO - a Motorcycle Rights Organization.  You can even join more than one, and probably should.  Choose among the AMA, ABATE, MRF, whatever you feel suits you the best.  The AMA is a nationwide organization.  Some others are only state-wide.  Others have local chapters that you should be involved with.  There is no harm in becoming a member of more than one organization that can represent your rights and concerns as a motorcyclist.  Motorcyclists are a minority and as a minority, you have a responsibility to make yourself count, so join up!

 

The AMA has a web page that monitors legislative activities state by state, called StateWatch.  Their web site also has lots of great information about current motorcycle -related laws, how to find and reach your elected officials and how to get involved and make a difference.  This service is free to everyone, not just AMA members!  The web site makes emailing your representatives as easy as clicking the mouse a few times.  The ABATE-NY and MRF web sites also have tons of great information and without as much overlap as you might expect.

 

Many cities have web sites that reveal the legislative activities of their Councils.  In NYC that web page can be found on the NYC.gov web site (direct link).  We recommend that you periodically visit this site and search for recent legislative activity since your last visit.  The Introductions option lets you know what's coming.  The Local Laws option lets you know what happened.  The Resolutions option is also interesting for knowing what's happening in general.  This is the page where selecting Introductions will reveal things like Intro 416A (the EPA label law), etc.

 

Next, get involved with your LOCAL government.  To be as effective as possible this may entail a few things:

 

• Join a local political association.  In NYC these clubs are usually just neighborhood -wide.  These clubs can be a handy avenue to get to know your Councilperson without having to demand a one-on-one meeting, since they frequently attend the political association meetings and the memberships and venues are usually fairly small.
   
• Start attending some of your police precinct's Community Council meetings.  You can find information about these meetings on the precinct's web page.  You can find a precinct map and links to the precincts' pages on the NYC.gov web site (direct link).  If not, stop in at the precinct house covering your area and ask where and when the meetings are held.  This can help you get a grasp on your neighborhood's enforcement and quality of life issues.
   
• Attend the Community Board meetings too.  Most New Yorkers aren't even certain which Board serves their neighborhood.  You can find that information on the NYC.gov web site too (direct link).  This is the best way to work towards making improvements to your neighborhood and making sure that the city's plans do not impact your safety, convenience or rights, and that the community's plans take your needs into consideration.
   
• Better still, JOIN the Community Board that serves your neighborhood, and vote on the issues that concern you!  The Transportation Alternatives web site maintains a nice run-down of how to join, borough by borough (direct link).

 

This may seem like a lot of work but your enemies - the people who lobby for the legislation you are trying to fend off - are doing all of this and more.  They are attending meetings, talking to police, working side by side with Council members and their staff, organizing email, FAX and letter-writing campaigns to politicians at every level of government, writing to newspapers and commenting on articles that others have written, creating and maintaining their own web sites, publicizing their work and promoting each other's work, spreading propaganda and negative imagery and reinforcing ugly stereotypes, and doing this all on a nation-wide and even global scale.

 

Check the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit web page to get a picture of how the local governing bodies are laid out and how to participate in the meetings (parliamentary procedure).  Feel free to introduce yourself to the key people right away but attend a meeting or two to get a feel for how to contribute.

 

Also look through the Borough President's web site (find all five by searching NYC.gov for "borough presidents"), which can be an amazing resource for everything that is going on in the borough and a crucial tool for making sure your interests are considered.

 

And of course you can join the Motorcycle Task Force!