About this item
Recent waves of social activism like the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter show that you can fight city hall--or any other powerful entity for that matter. Now comes the playbook for citizen activists wanting to improve the world around them from Nick Licata, admired Seattle city councilmember and one of the city's most effective leaders of political and social change since the 1960s. In this smart and powerful book, Licata explains how to get organized, congregate power, and master the tactics for change. He is insightful in comparing effective communication with methods that just don't work. Licata's observations on the intricacies of power will empower any activist who wants to make a difference in today's world.
About the Author
Nick Licata is from a working class family where neitherparent graduated from high school. Licata, who couldn't readuntil the age of nine, was the first of his relatives to attendcollege. He led the local chapter of Students for a DemocraticSociety (SDS) at Bowling Green State University and subsequentlywas elected student body president and admitted into the national honorary association of Omicron Delta Kappa.He became a Seattle city councilmember despite being significantly outspent and the majority of the council, the mayor, and bothdaily newspapers supporting his opponent. Elected to five terms,served as Council President and in 2012 he was named by the Nation as Progressive Municipal Official of the Year and twice named Best LocalPolitician by the Seattle Weekly. His election in 2013 broke all previous records for the highest votes received citywide for a city council member in a contested race. He initiated the founding of Local Progress (www.localprogress.org) ; the national municipal policy network and served as its first chairman until the end of 2015.While in office he sponsored and had adopted as legislation paid sick leave and a minimum $15 an hour wage for all employees in the city, a city wide registration and inspection program for all rental units, required registration for all those lobbying city council, and created funding for cultural facilities throughout the city and initiated the city's Civic Poet program. In 2003, Licata authored the children's novel Princess Bianca and the Vandals.
