Seeking Advice: How To Save a Town From Going to Hell

Huh, wow.

Well, best of wishes from me too. Hope you get this worked out.

Wait, do if you DO run for mayor next year, and if you DO win, and you still come to tvtropes for advice, does that mean troopers are in charge of a town by proxy?

Won't be a town much longer then.

Just cuz some of us wanted to use the town budget to fund a Doomsday Machine doesn't mean the town will be wiped off the map.

The town would have to survive if we wanted to use the machine more than once.

@OP, can't say that I can think of anything that would be helpful. The town I live in has had the same two sheriffs get re-elected for the past 20 years. If you aren't friends with him, sucks to be you. If he likes you, he'd probably help you hide the body after you committed a murder. If you try to bring anything against him, especially during the election period(remember I mentioned 2 sheriffs. The same two go back and forth into the position every come election) his department will do everything it can to make your life hell.

As much as vigilanteism can go right off the rails, it sounds like your town needs a community-organised and armed neighbourhood watch.

I'd pull a Crocodile and play sides, and make a power grab of my own from the shadows. Expose some dirt on him, make the Republican loyalists declare war on him, and then offer to make it all go away if he follows my advice to the letter. I make him tell me everything, and I promptly go outta town and report everything to the real people in power. Check and mate.

What it needs is a stronger police force. Does America have something like the British Special Constabulary? Volunteer officers who work part time and handle the lighter stuff?

@Spain: "We've tried this, unfortunately, making an official group isn't possible. Since you need a permit to set such things up, and guess who controls the permit office? We've been meeting—pardon the term, as it sounds corny—underground at a friend's house, but without official recognition we can do very little, legally."

This doesn't make any sense. Since we have freedom of assembly in the US, you don't need any sort of permit to form a group and meet on any issue at all. They aren't even allowed to ask you, in an official capacity, about it, since that's an invasion of privacy. The local community can require a permit before organizing a protest or a large scale event on public property, but the Supreme Court has set very strict restrictions on what a local government is and is not allowed to do (http://www.lectlaw.com/files/con10.htm):

"The first amendment permits the government to impose a permit requirement for those wishing to engage in expressive activity on public property, such as streets, sidewalks, and parks.2

Any such permit scheme controlling the time, place, and manner of speech must not be based on the content of the message, must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and must leave open ample alternatives for communication.3

The Supreme Court has held that any permit regulation that allows arbitrary application is "...inherently inconsistent with a valid time, place, and manner regulation because such discretion has the potential for becoming a means of suppressing a particular point of view."

They pretty much have to allow the event to take place unless they think it will be dangerous, or if they think it will interfere with some legitimate business.

As far as funding is concerned, there are only legal restrictions if you are collecting funds for a political campaign, or if you are claiming tax exempt status. If neither of those applies, then what money you collect and who you collect it from is none of the government's business. If you conduct commerce on public property (i.e. solicit funds, hold a bake sale) that may require a permit, or be restricted in various ways. Otherwise, you need no one's permission to organize in order to oppose your mayor.

Go for it.

Are Scranton, Philly, or Pittsburgh bad enough that you would never move there?

(don't know anything about PA, just looked on Google Maps)