How to approach your city council

San Francisco was the first city in the U.S. to adopt a VEG DAY MONDAYS RESOLUTION on April 6, 2010 by its Board of Supervisors. The San Francisco Vegetarian Society, along with In Defense of Animals, is proud to have been the guiding force behind getting the resolution passed.

We have been asked by other groups to explain how we did it and to advise them on how to do it. There are probably several ways to approach your City Council or Board of Supervisors to get MEAT FREE MONDAY or VEG DAY MONDAYS RESOLUTION.

• Following are some tips that might be helpful:
  • Be pleasant, not adversarial
  • Get to know your councilmen/women
  • Do preparation work behind the scenes rather than confronting the council as a whole
  • Find someone who is sympathetic to your ideas and work with that person
    
  • Be active in various districts (if applicable) at health fairs or earth days
    
  • Have a template or example prepared that they can work with
    
  • Don't be disappointed if they don't accept your total presentation
    
  • Find alternative wording that could say the same thing
    
  • Invite them to a reception featuring vegan food with free recipes
    
  • Don't overload them with too much information
    
  • State your objectives simply for the resolution followed by the facts for verification
    
  • If you fail to get the full support of your council, try again after an election with some newcomers
    
  • Protests/sit-ins/adversarial confrontations are counterproductive and create unpleasant stigmas

*Have a plan of what to do to implement the day once the resolution is passed

*We thought once there was a resolution, everyone would be excited to participate but it didn't work out that way. Restaurants, schools, stores, individuals just don't change because you have a resolution. They will all need assistance. We are working on that now.

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