I Am So Popular: Break Up Camp For Big Girls
SXSW 2010: Austinist's List Of Day Shows, Afterparties, and More
Austin Woman’s Club, "Historic Downtown Austin Assets" Among Preservation Texas' Most Endangered Places 2010
Filter Magazine, Village Voice at SXSW 2010
Excellent Show Alert: Bowerbirds & Julie Doiron at Mohawk
Many Statesman commenters noted that if the mayor thinks it is bad to get stuck in traffic downtown when a truck is blocking the street, he should try commuting on Mopac, I-35 or 183, where traffic jams everyday. Of course, Wynn doesn't have to commute on the highway, because he lives and works downtown. In an urban context, a grid of streets leads to minimal traffic because drivers have options - if a truck is blocking one road, drivers can take another (of course, it doesn't work in spots like 5th and West where there is no grid). Maybe if we replaced our old highways with downtown-style grids, we could all be like Will Wynn and limit our traffic complaints to when a truck blocks the street, instead of complaining every day that thousands of trucks are clogging the highway.
Will Wynn Takes on Traffic
According to the Statesman, our beloved mayor nearly pulled a Chuck Norris when a Monarch construction truck blocked traffic on West Fifth Street. Story is he got out of his car, walked to the construction site and ripped into the project superintendent. He later indicated that he was sorry if his vulgarity offended any construction workers.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (50) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Contribute
Latest Tip:
Houston isn't all that bad: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/us/politics/13houston.html?_r=1&hp
[more]
If we replaced our highways with grids, do the hundreds of thousands of people living in round rock, pflugerville, kyle, oak hill, etc. suddenly disappear?
If not, then those street grids will be gridlocked too without the highways. We can't put the genie back in the bottle.
There are strict regulations regarding time of day, construction and the blocking roads. Will Wynn was on the radio this morning stating he was sorry if he hurt anyones feelings but he was not going to stand idly by watching carelessness and illegal activity.
Fucking, awesome if you ask me.
As for the highways, i don't think "clogging" is illegal. Unless we're talking about the dance...
Another thing aside from the lack of alternate routes that slows down traffic and adds minutes to one's commute, as well dollars to one's gas budget, are the unnecessary street lights that either
1. Keep a car sitting idle for up to 3 minutes while waiting for the non-existent left hand turn turning car take advantage of its protected turn; and
2. Having the light in front of you turn red as soon as (or shortly after) the light you've been spending the last 3 minutes waiting at turns green.
Getting rid of unnecessary protected left hand turn lights (for some have a reason, others do not) and actually spending some time and energy on light synchronization (I'd think UT could contribute some mathematicians and physics students) will probably be easier and cheaper than dismantling I-35 top deck.
BTW: Didn't we pass a bond measure to study the synchronization of lights in town sometime in late 1999, early 2000?
People who think there's a magic button you can push that makes roads push through 2x more traffic are deluding themselves - perfect synchronization doesn't exist. Not that you want synchronization anyways; you want _sequencing_.
And lights on Guadalupe and Lavaca downtown _were_ sequenced after that bond package. But there's no magic bullet - especially for two-way streets like Congress (which is actually purposefully left unsequenced, though). 6th is usually fine too - but again when you hit big intersections like Lamar, your sequencing goes out the window.
I didn't know that Will Wynn was as much of a princess as Jennifer Kim. Heaven forbid that he suffer any inconvenience- that's for the little people!
Nice try, Scooby. Wynn could have just parked his car and walked to work from there - it was the thousands of people coming from Mopac who needed somebody to stand up for them - and even though Wynn isn't a commuter, he did so.
Getting one word wrong doesn't mean that the rest of the message was written by a dolt, but thank you for commenting that there isn't a "magic button" theory to make traffic in this town actually flow. Ever drive on 9th St? Guadalupe? 15th St? Red River? Trinity? Brazos? The I-35 access roads?
Many are one-ways that should never, ever have to stop traffic, and yet 9th St at Guadalupe will have you waiting until 9th St at Lavaca changes in front of you, a philosophy echoed by the north one-way routes of Trinity and Brazos and usually in both directions on the I-35 access. But, then, who doesn't love going that whole block before stopping again?
As for the two way streets, you pick a central point, and make the lights change in sequence (see?) away from that point in both directions. For example, 15th and Congress, and then you move E and W with a proper speed in mind. At most, you will stop twice on this stretch. Right now, you may end stopping 4-5 times. Then move to the streets intersection streets using 15th St (or whatever street the City would choose to work on) as the basis for further synchronicity.
1 sq mile a week of light sequencing and this town will be mostly free of gridlock within a year.
I thought 0 energy Will Wynn biked to work.
If he both lives and works downtown, why does he drive?
Asher, 5th/6th and Lavaca/Guadalupe are sequenced. With 2-way streets at 4th and 3rd and 2nd and Congress, that's about all you can feasibly do. There are limits.
We have a very good staff of engineers at the city. Do you think they slap their forehead and go "gawrsh! we never thought of synchronization!"?
Benj and LoudMouth, he was returning from dropping his daughter off at school, supposedly. No idea where her school is.
As for the I-35 access roads - they're part of the problem too. Frontage road intersections usually have 4, rather than 2, full cycles. They throw everything else off as a result.
In my experience in other cities, it is quite common to have just a pair of N/S and E/W couplets sequenced even when all streets are one-way. If you want to travel without stopping, go to 5th/6th or Lavaca/Guadalupe.
Doesn't matter anyways - the opposite brand of idiots are about to convert most 1-way streets downtown back into 2-way streets on the mind-blowingly stupid idea (borrowed from downtowns revitalized with shopping malls) that it makes them safer for pedestrians (it actually makes them far LESS safe).
"dropping the daughter off at school" is mayor code for "getting his balls waxed at vain".
I've really never wanted to do Will Wynn more than when I got his press release yesterday afternoon that basically said "Yep. I did it, and I'd do it again."
I think he showed some pretty awesome civic responsibility as did the Monach site boss. 311 is an awesome city tool whether you're calling in about a broken street light or an irate mayor who is requesting the police. My question was, why can't Will Wynn summon a police officer faster than that? Doesn't he have Acevedo on speed dial?
M1EK,
The trouble with that defense is that Hizzoner told the super to hold the truck there until the cops got there, then didn't summon the cops. In doing that, Wynn prolonged the inconvenience to the little people.
Wynn has no authority to order people around- his position is basically limited to being chair of city council. The proper thing for him to do would be to call in the problem to the cops, and let them do their jobs. Spewing out a "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?!?" rant is a little counterproductive.
M1EK,
The trouble with that defense is that Hizzoner told the super to hold the truck there until the cops got there, then didn't summon the cops. In doing that, Wynn prolonged the inconvenience to the little people.
Wynn has no authority to order people around- his position is basically limited to being chair of city council. The proper thing for him to do would be to call in the problem to the cops, and let them do their jobs. Spewing out a "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?!?" rant is a little counterproductive.
One more thing about "dropping the daughter off at school". Ignoring that I'm sure the mayor's daughter has a nanny that takes care of taking her to school, shouldn't Wynn be walking his daughter to school if he wants to teach his children to be environmentally responsible?
Yes, trying to hold the truck was a bad move. But the cloud of profanity was entirely justified. Suburbanite wankers have tried to paint this as "duh, you stupid condo dwellers got what you deserved" but there's a big difference between blocking 5th at 11:00 in the morning and at 8:30.
One of the biggest peeves for one of my fellow commissioners on the UTC was the fact that huge buildings manage to get built in places like New York while blocking very little of the sidewalk or street, while we tend to treat a 3-story apartment building as a non-stop street-blocking emergency. Of course construction companies are going to block traffic every time you let them - the key is making it very clear how and when you're going to let them do so.
LoudMouth, I have no idea where his daughter's school is or whether it's walkable.
The brand of people who insist that you must be perfect before you ask people to join you in trying to be _better_ are, I think, the least useful brand of human out there.
Why doesn't his daughter ride her bike to school or use city transit services? Long live hypocrisy!
Well, mdahmus, I think the brand of people who insist that others "do as I say and not as I do" would be the least useful brand of human out there if I were bitter and cynical and a complete asstwat that thought that people weren't useful just because they question hypocracy.
I'm not the one that said, "I'm going to move downtown as should all of you so I can walk everywhere!"
Monorail anybody?
All the roads will be jammed once all the "densification/gentrification" of Austin is achieved. Putting 200+ unit condos where, for example Binswanger Glass was, isn't going to help traffic. Those folks will drive to work, to the movies, to the grocery store, etc.
KoudMouth, you asshat, if he walks to work every day but still drives his daughter to school, he's better than when he drove everywhere. That's the point.
Tarvin, these downtown residents often don't drive. Wynn walks to work frequently, as do many other downtown residents. The BS glass development may not be walking distance to downtown, but I bet a disproportionate number of residents will bike to work from there.
Are the wheels really in motion to turn one ways into two ways? That sounds like a supremely awful idea.
"...if he walks to work every day but still drives his daughter to school, he's better than when he drove everywhere. That's the point.
Tarvin, these downtown residents often don't drive. Wynn walks to work frequently, as do many other downtown residents."
Has anyone actually ever seen Will Wynn walking anywhere? Everytime any of the news outlets cover Will Wynn transporting himself, he's driving a SUV. I've never seen him walking or biking in Austin. I won't believe it until I see it and so far all I've seen is SUV Wynn.
rbist,
Yes, unfortunately. In the long-term, it would surprise me not to see more conversions downtown. People got the wrong message from the "2 way = slower traffic" fact - it's not the speed of traffic which makes some streets safe and others unsafe for pedestrians; it's how many unprotected crossings there are (and how many quick turns in small gaps cars feel the need to make).
LoudMouth, when Wynn still lived with his wife in Tarrytown, there was plenty of coverage of him biking to work.
I've certainly heard Will Wynn boasting that he bikes to work, but every time I've seen a news report on this subject he's caught driving his SUV. I wouldn't say there is plenty of coverage of him biking to work. I would say that there's plenty of coverage of him driving to work.
I've seen him walking to and from work all the time.
LoudMouth, I saw plenty of coverage of him biking to work back when he lived in Tarrytown. Pictures, write-ups (not just him boasting).
I live downtown. I walk to things downtown. If I walked to most things outside downtown, I'd have to take camping gear for the overnight it would take. Sometimes you have to drive because not everything is within walking or biking distance of downtown or it requires more than two arms or a bike basket to carry.
I looked on the Statesman site and I looked on the Chronicle site and I could find nothing about Will Wynn commuting by bike, public transportation, or walking. This is the only picture I could find of him riding a bike on google images http://www.bicycling.com/biketown/photos/austin_mayor.jpg and it's right outside City Hall at what looks like a bicycle rally.
I'm just saying, everytime there's a news report on his "commuting by bike" the news crews show him driving an SUV to work. That's what I've seen and it's what I take to be the truth.
Jesus, Loudmouth, would you just let it go? Several people have already said they saw Wynn walk downtown and just because you haven't seen it yourself with your own eyes doesn't make the rest of the world liars.
I'm sure the guy is smart enough to NOT drive to work EVERY freakin' day since he's heavily pushing conservation, hosts "An Inconvenient Truth" presentations, and so on. No doubt he's aware there are thousands of people in Austin who loved to embarrass his mayorness.
I voted for Jennifer Gale.
Jesus, austai, would you just let it go? I've told several people that I've seen NEWS REPORTS that Will Wynn drives into work and just because they've claimed to see him walking or biking to work doesn't make them honest. That I can only find ONE picture of Will Wynn on a bike on google speaks volumes and everyone had shut up until you decided to flap your gums, austai.
I'm sure the the guy is greedy enough to drive to work EVERY freakin' day since I know enough about politicians and activists to know that 95% of the people theorizing and making decisions are living a life of bullshit. They do things like give tons of money to UNICEF to get their name on a sponsor's list then neglect their own cracked out children and send them away to school so nobody has to know how much they fucked up as parents (i.e. every boss I've ever had).
Benj, I voted for Leslie.
It apparently pays well to be the mayor, or else he's got a sugar momma. When they played the Green Mayor puff piece directly after the mayor curses at construction worker hit piece they talked about his 25freaking00 sqft downtown loft. Nice, considering a 700 sqft loft goes for 400-700k. My damn house is 1500 sqft. Where can I get in on this action? I'm sure there's a mayoral discount in there somewhere.
First Will Wynn is a shit for driving his kid to school, now he's neglecting the cracked out kid (since he's a politician and that's what politicians JUST DO).
Make up your fucking mind already.
Some comments on living downtown with kids:
The mayor's kids are elementary school age; the kids downtown are in the Matthews District, which is a good school. Or they can go to open enrollment Pease which is also a good school. We have the only downtown of any decent city that has good schools. That's why I'm so pissed that nobody is building 3-bedroom units.
Since the Mayor got caught in the traffic jam, my guess is he was coming back from Matthews. That's 1.1 miles from his house. Yeah, that's walkable with a couple of elementary kids, but it will take you 40 minutes each way. (It takes me 10 min to walk my kid 3 blocks to school and we don't have any busy streets to cross.) Almost all the time, you're gonna drive. You're not going to get the kids out the door by 7 so that you have time to walk, especially if its 36 degrees outside.
Mdahmus-
5th and 6th can use some tweeking, as can Guadalupe between 9th and 10th, for example, which demands that you go slow down to 5-10mph in order to avoid stopping. On 5th St, you either have to speed all the way up through Guadalupe to make it through Lavaca, or you don't, and get to sit through the light, and then sit again at Congress. And for the first 3 years I lived here (on the Westside) I experienced sitting at a red on 9th St at Guadalupe and then Colorado. Whatever sequencing changes have been made, it sure doesn't feel like it. These are 1-way streets. Lights should be turning green as you approach them.
Some intersections on the access roads don't need 4-way lights. 15th St, Manor, 38 1/2 come to mind, and those are just on my commute. Still, none of this even brings up the problems posed by sitting at a light for over a minute and then having 15 seconds to get through it (Red River at 15th and at MLK for example).
As for those engineers in charge of the light system in town, I heard from a friend who has lived here a decade longer than me (and is, therefore, much more a citizen of this town than I'll ever be) that the City had decided to let a philosopher work on the lighting system. A philosopher, not an engineer, and that the City was quite proud of themselves when this went down. 15th St used to be her favorite drive until they changed the sequences and turned it into the 1-2 block at a time fest we've got going now.
Some comments on living downtown with kids:
The mayor's kids are elementary school age; the kids downtown are in the Matthews District, which is a good school. Or they can go to open enrollment Pease which is also a good school. We have the only downtown of any decent city that has good schools. That's why I'm so pissed that nobody is building 3-bedroom units.
Since the Mayor got caught in the traffic jam, my guess is he was coming back from Matthews. That's 1.1 miles from his house. Yeah, that's walkable with a couple of elementary kids, but it will take you 40 minutes each way. (It takes me 10 min to walk my kid 3 blocks to school and we don't have any busy streets to cross.) Almost all the time, you're gonna drive. You're not going to get the kids out the door by 7 so that you have time to walk, especially if its 36 degrees outside.
If it's so cold outside that they can't walk, why didn't they take the bus or something else that promotes the eco-friendly-only mantra he portrays? Like some have said, there has been one picture of Mayor Green Genes biking and it doesn't take much for a PR rep to make that happen and there have been more reports of people who live in his complex saying he wheels out in his car every day than of him walking or biking. Something tells me that there is more to the story or Mr. Sustainable that includes a $1M+ condo, apparently two cars and a driving habit that he can't kick. I'm not saying this side of the story is right, but I can't imagine its any more wrong than what the rest of you who don't really know anything have to say.
And Mowank, I thought the point of living downtown was that people didn't need to own a car and that they worked downtown and had everything there they would ever need. M1EK, please tell us that this isn't true, people that live in condos have a need for cars and to venture to other parts of town!?!?!?! GASP! Say it isn't so
I work downtown, but live elsewhere. I have a very short half-hour lunch break, and I usually simply walk to whatever coffee/sandwich shop is nearby. The few times I have ventured from Red River to West 6th, I've spent the majority of my coveted thirty minutes (on the way back) sitting in traffic due to fifth street stop lights having been accosted by construction workers as they wave large trucks into the Monarch construction area. One day, I sat at a light that went through four red/green circulations before I was waved through. It was frustrating. And although I personally spent this period of stagnancy mumbling under my breath and trying not to lay on my seldom-used horn, I can understand Wynn's reaction.
p.s. - It's difficult to hop on a bike/walk several blocks when you're wearing stilettos and a tight-fitting skirt.
Dear assorted asshats:
Even if Wynn drove his daughter to school every single day of the week, if he overall drives 1/3 as much as the average suburbanite, he's 3 times as good on that scale. Morons like Grape Ape and LoudMouth would have you believe that you can't say "maybe we should all drive a little less, and I'll start" because they don't want anybody pointing out how bad _they_ are.
_I_ drive. More than I'd like, since I can't bike anymore, but I made sure to spend some extra money (or alternatively live with far fewer square feet) to ensure that our house is in a place where I can take the bus lots of places. We have one car for a family of four and put less than 10,000 miles per year on it. Am I going to tell suburbanites who put 20,000 miles on each of their two SUVs that maybe they ought to cool it a bit? Damn sure I will.
You don't have to be perfect to be better; and you don't have to be perfect to ask other people to try to be a bit better too. That's not hypocrisy. Hypocrisy would be me driving 20,000 miles a year in my SUV and telling you to cut it out.
Apparently M1EK thinks he has some clue to who and how I am. I think your crystal ball is a little foggy there Mr. I'm Always Right, because you couldn't be further from right on trying to determine who/how I am.
Grape Ape,
Then stop saying stupid shit like comments 40 and 41 above.
HTH.
Somebody needs a nap. Did nana already give you your warm milk and graham crackers, mdahmus?
M1EK doesn't like real truth, it hurts his ego. Word to the wise everyone, there is no such thing as an educated opinion unless it comes from mdahmus himself.
Grape Ape. Why are you so angry? And that goes for a lot of the posters here. Why not talk about stuff, and not try to just shout down others? It makes absolutely no sense.
Downtown doesn't have everything it needs just yet. Hopefully, it will soon.
Mowank, why are you so angry? Why can't you let people speak their mind without fighting it tooth and nail? It makes absolutely no sense.
why does "pot meet kettle" always come to mind when reading comments from the "enlightend" ones? I think that Austinist should only allow certain people to comment...we all know who they are, they are the ones who are always right (if you answered to yourself, "yeah I am")then you know who you are. There is obviously no need for our silly opinions when we have truly enlightend and all knowing commenters among us.