"PERMIT DENIED"

August, 2004

We attribute our success to two things:  focus and fundraising. 

We focused only on those things that our attorney asked us to do.  The other issues that provoked our anger and frustration (i.e. property values, stigma, smell, rats, suspected faults, inevitable traffic deaths) we used as our motivators, but we spent our time working on and developing only those issues that our attorneys told us would be effective in a legal hearing.

We concentrated the vast majority of our planning and efforts on fundraising.  Finding large-tract landowners and developers in the area  and contacting them personally.  We used a few LARGE well-placed signs to get the attention of anyone in the area that we might have missed.  We made appointments and personally approached every elected official with every governmental entity within fifty miles.  We attended every city council and county commissioners meeting possible and spoke each time to elected officials keeping them informed about where we were in the process and asking for their continued support.   

We used letters to our advantage.  At ANY public meeting we passed out packets of letters addressed to elected officials addressing a variety of issues for citizens to sign.  We collected them at the end of the meeting and mailed them (not all at once) ourselves.  We kept our cause before the elected officials.  Having the support of elected officials greatly enhances fundraising efforts.

Steve and Frances Underwood

fcu@msn.com