Georgia mayor YouTube’s lobbying pitch

YouTube is a hot venue for aspirants everywhere, from Chinese lip-synchers to American presidential candidates. One small-town mayor from Georgia used the video-sharing site in a new way: to make a lobbying pitch.

Jason Buelterman, who coordinates an Advanced Placement program for high school students when he isn’t serving as part-time mayor of Tybee Island, taped a 10-minute video shot mostly from the beach to provide visual evidence that the town needs more sand.

{mosads}Like a lot of municipalities across the country, Tybee, located 13 miles east of Savannah, Ga., was left in the lurch last appropriations season when Democratic lawmakers, themselves left with a slew of spending bills Republicans punted last year, eschewed earmarks in favor of expediency and passed a giant omnibus that left 2006 funding levels intact.

Tybee is back this year asking for $6.3 million, which would be added to around $4 million raised by local and state coffers, to replenish a two and a half-mile stretch of beach.

At times sharing screen time and a small stretch of sand with other, more scantily clad, beachgoers, Buelterman, dressed in dark slacks, a blue button-down shirt and shades, lays out the reasons why Congress should appropriate the money to restore the beach.

The beach is an important economic resource for the community and a valuable protection against storm surges that would otherwise threaten the tiny town. But the beach is a diminishing resource, Buelterman said, in part because of a manmade shipping channel that traps sand that would otherwise flow southward to replenish Tybee Island naturally.

“There is very little beach for recreation opportunities at high tide,” he says.

The video proves the point. In one shot he is standing on a pile of rocks that act as a dike. The camera pans right to show a two-story condo just feet away from the ocean. Another shot shows the proximity of the tide to the main evacuation road for a major storm.

In an interview, the 34-year-old mayor said the beach deserves money because it is open to everyone, compared to tonier areas just north like Hilton Head. There are only around 4,000 Tybee Island residents, but the population swells on a hot, sunny day.

“We get bombarded with thousands of people who are out there on the weekend,” he said.

Buelterman sent the tape to his congressman, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who is something of a YouTuber himself. Kingston has a dozen or so podcasts visitors can download from his congressional webpage.

“It’s not something we run out and show the Energy and Water subcommittee, but we have it in our arsenal,” Kingston said. If someone doubts the need for the money, Kingston said he has the pictures to prove the beach has eroded.

Tybee has taken more traditional approaches to advocacy as well. The city paid Marlowe & Company $40,000 in 2006. The firm specializes in beach restoration projects.  

Howard Marlowe, the firm’s founding partner, said it is important for local officials to complement his efforts in Washington.

“I think it’s a great idea,” he said of the video.

“We encourage our clients to use these opportunities to reach out to communicate with their elected officials on a grassroots basis.”

Buelterman says he heard positive responses from a number of staffers, but most reaction comes from local and state officials.

According to YouTube, the video has been viewed by more than 1,800 people. The comments are largely positive. Several sound as though they were posted by Buelterman’s students, who credit “Mr. B” for utilizing a creative medium to reach lawmakers.

There are hazards to using the Web, however, as evidenced by ronp8160.

 “LEAVE IT ALONE!!!” the commenter advises.

“If you get your sand for the beach, I hope that your head does not get buried in it.”

Kingston and Marlowe both put the odds Tybee would get its money at 50-50. The energy and water spending bill, which was on the House floor this week, was left out of the earmark agreement worked out by leaders, so specific projects are not yet identified.

Buelterman said part of the motivation for posting the video was the realization that competition for federal money is growing more intense as earmarks come under greater scrutiny.

“Things just haven’t been as easy to get over the last couple of years,” he said.