What do we do with civic leaders who protect the status quo?

They exist and continue because they and those they favor and protect require unquestioned continuities in power, advantage and privilege. They cannot conceptualize value in change that threatens their power base. When they control funding, institutional approvals and political landscapes, It would only be naive to expect them to show up supporting civic discontinuities.  

That's why people who want a future different from the past must work together from their own existing and available resources.