Save Our Local — Make the Case

You are a community advocate preparing a short public statement to defend a beloved local venue threatened with closure or redevelopment.

Your Scenario

Name the venue (real or invented), its neighbourhood, and the threat it faces — demolition, rent hike, or sale to a developer.

What They Already Believe

Write two things your audience (local council or planning board) already believes about redevelopment or progress.

They believe this is good

They believe this is inevitable

The One Thing You Must Land

Identify the single most powerful argument for keeping this venue — not a list, just one claim you would stake everything on.

What You Must Not Say

Name two things you must avoid saying — phrases that would immediately lose this audience or make you sound sentimental rather than persuasive.

Avoid phrase 1

Avoid phrase 2

Draft Your Statement

Write your 80-word public statement in your notebook. Use at least three discourse linkers from today's lesson — nevertheless, furthermore, while, on one hand / on the other, in other words, consequently.

Read It As the Board

Re-read your statement as a sceptical council member. Write the one objection they would raise immediately — look back at step 2 to check if you answered their beliefs.

The One Change

Identify the single edit that would make your statement land — one word, one sentence, or one structural shift. Write it here and explain in one line why it changes everything.

Why that word?

Discuss Share your one change with your partner — would their objection from step 6 still hold?

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