Get involved in local politics. Observe council meetings and school board meetings and committee meetings. Whatever is public. This stuff can be boring; you'll observe pointless personality clashes and interminable dumb arguments, but at the same time, this is where important decisions that affect your community get made. Once you understand the issues, you can work to influence policy in the direction that you think is best for your city. You can do this by offering comments during public comment sessions, organizing a group of like-minded people, or even running for office yourself.
It's a big time committment, but this is how change happens. We like to malign our political system, but it's set up for you to participate, and that's something we should cherish.
My friend got involved in local politics and suddenly found herself moving out of the district because her landlord got a call informing him he hadn’t acquired the proper license to rent to her. There’s a lot of “soft” corruption, suddenly enforcing laws that never get enforced, and it’s really shitty, and any little thing in your past will come under scrutiny.
She was running against the incumbent and they pulled up whatever dirt they could to get her to move out of the district.
At least she presumably took her life lesson about government to the next district. Unfortunate that her landlord had to deal with the headache though.
It's a big time committment, but this is how change happens. We like to malign our political system, but it's set up for you to participate, and that's something we should cherish.