How to Actually Win Transportation Battles Locally w/ Carter Lavin | Ask Strong Towns Anything - Feb 11, 2026

What does it really take to win transportation reform in your community?

In this session, Carter Lavin joined us to talk about the practical realities of advocacy. Drawing from his book If You Want to Win, You’ve Got to Fight, Carter emphasized that meaningful change requires more than good ideas. It requires organization, coalition building, persistence, and the courage to challenge entrenched assumptions.

This was a tactical, honest conversation about how change actually happens.

Key Themes

1. If You Want to Win, You’ve Got to Fight
   Carter laid out a clear case for strategic engagement. Effective advocacy is not about being the loudest voice in the room. It is about understanding power, building relationships, doing your homework, and staying focused on achievable wins that build momentum.

2. Fire Codes and the Width of Our Streets
   Members discussed the outsized influence of fire access standards on local street design. We examined how emergency vehicle requirements are often used to justify excessive pavement and how advocates can thoughtfully engage in those technical debates. One shared example included formal comments submitted to federal agencies challenging outdated assumptions about vehicle size and access needs.

3. School Crossings and Traffic Calming
   A member from Walla Walla described a raised crosswalk installed near a middle school that was later removed. The question raised was powerful: should emergency vehicles be speeding through a school crossing in the first place? This real-world case study illustrated how advocacy often requires following up, asking who made the decision, and insisting on transparency.

4. Motonormativity
   The concept of motonormativity surfaced as a way to describe how car dominance is treated as neutral or inevitable in public policy conversations. Naming this bias helps advocates clarify the cultural assumptions embedded in street design decisions.

5. Building Unlikely Alliances
   We referenced Michel Durand-Wood’s work on working with unlikely allies. Progress often happens when people join a cause for their reasons, not yours. Strategic flexibility can open doors that rigid purity tests close.

Member Insights

• Jean Schwennesen from Greenlee County, Arizona, highlighted the challenges of auto-centric rural communities where even shared commuting solutions remain car-dependent.

• A discussion about ranchers’ potlucks illustrated a broader lesson: relationships matter. It is harder to dismiss someone once you know them.

• Members affirmed the power of visuals and illustrations in making complex transportation ideas accessible to wider audiences.

Resources from This Session

If You Want to Win, You’ve Got to Fight by Carter Lavin
https://islandpress.org/books/if-you-want-win-youve-got-fight
A tactical handbook for advocates working to reform transportation systems at the local level.

Ladling on the Love for Loopholes – Michel Durand-Wood
https://archive.strongtowns.org/journal/2024/11/7/ladling-on-the-love-for-loopholes
An article about making incremental progress and building coalitions across differences.

Four Years Later: Ferguson
https://archive.strongtowns.org/journal/four-years-later-ferguson
An exploration of how street design, governance, and community trust intersect.

Fire Access with Less Pavement
Research examining alternatives to overly wide streets justified by emergency access standards.

NHTSA Comment on Fire Access Standards
https://lindseyresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NHTSA-2022-0036-0006-Comments-to-NHTSA-from-Scott-Brody.pdf
A real-world example of formal advocacy aimed at changing national standards that shape local outcomes.

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Real change does not come from above. It starts with neighbors who are willing to organize, learn, and yes, fight for the places they love.