Mayor Dubs Austin The Green Lantern

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chris G. Williams, Big Shiny Robot!, Big Shiny Robot!, mwachsmann, ☠ Patrick Hadrian ☠ and others. ☠ Patrick Hadrian ☠ said: Austin Rocks RT @BigShinyRobot: Sometimes I envy your geeky city. Check out what your mayor said: http://bit.ly/hTqdQp [...]

If it’s true, that Austin really is the Green Lantern of cities, able to shine a light int he darkness and create anything we can visualize, then how about he visualize a fix for the screwed up traffic situation so we don’t spend another 45 minutes a day trapped in mindless gridlock? That’d be…super.

Citizen Bot asked me who I think Salt Lake City would be, and who Provo would be as the sidekick. I’ve been thinking about it and with Ralph Becker at the helm, I’d say SLC is Green Arrow. And that would make Provo a prescription drug addicted Speedy.

Salt Lake City is way to uptight to be Green Arrow. Salt Lake would be more like Lex Luthor, the villian that thinks he knows everything and likes to control people.

That’s the beauty of it. Utah is the Lex Luthor. And Salt Lake City is the lone man fighting the fascists!

[...] Big Shiny Robot and [...]

Nerd speak! Austin traffic problems will never go away. Most cities are laid out in open areas with room for highway loops around the center. Austin has two parallel highways with nowhere to grow. I once knew an Austin city planner; we’re unique and absolutely screwed. Austin has become the place for city planners that want a challenge; then they get a look under the hood and quit. We need jet packs mayor, or w’ll turn into L.A.

But who says Los Angeles is the Flash? Where does that come from? If anything Green Lantern is a west coast superhero (He hails from “Coast City, California”). Flash has always been based in the midwest.

I love the real debate about Austin traffic here. Hey Austin-folks! Glad to know some hometown homies are here reading.

I don’t see the big problem- we’ve got those medians up I-35 and the rail up MOPAC– commuter rail, anyone? The shut down 6th Street to traffic, put in light rail, then up Congress, around the Capitol, make a loop around UT campus. A spur out to the Airport and Del Valle. Feeders from current light rail so North Side/East Side/MLK get service.

Also, we should add tolls where 130/45 split off in Buda in the South and Round Rock in the north- cars go free, but trucks have to pay more than the cost of the toll road to drive into the city. Without trucks, at rush hour I-35 would be a walk in the park.

Also, anybody who’s going to be at the rally tomorrow 2pm at the Capitol, I’ll be speaking. Unfortunately, no Green Lantern references.

I think Austin would be the perfect place for a commuter rail. They’re trying from what I’ve seen but people are loathe to give up their cars for something they aren’t sure will work better. I love the idea about hammering the trucks with a toll! They make my trips down I-35 a constant death defying experience. I find myself using 130 far more often when heading out to the airport or leaving town going South. Paying the tolls are worth it to avoid the manic idiots vying for left lane supremacy at rush hour.

In the comics, the home city of Green Lantern got blowed up and everyone died. Just FYI.

I moved to Austin last summer, and stuff like this makes me ever happier I did it.

I see as many nerdy t-shirts at the grocery store as I do on a convention floor.

It’s a beautiful thing.

I’m in my flat in Austin, wearing a GL ring as I read this, grinning like hell. I’d compare us more to Plastic Man, though. The creation/sheer force of will is totally right on, but you’re forgetting the insanity, laziness, and general tomfoolery.

Traffic is fine if you take side-roads. Other than Lamar. The trick is just to know your way around the city (and use Burnet).

i think Austin would be the perfect place for one to live and feel at home. This is because they can creat visualize things,through sheer force of will. And i very well believe,one is in position to achieve his goals,dreams, and visions because the city shines in the light into the darkness,so that every one can live a better life.Though i am not in Austin, but i like the city because i ever read more about the city. Yes Austin has good leaders,good roads,good green environment.Thanx to your hard work.

[...] Grayson joins a select cadre of political comic book fans, such as Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, a huge Batman fan who both made a cameo in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and wrote the preface for Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Back. Both Leahy and Grayson embrace their heroes’ ethics and their propensity for heroic words. There must also be something in the zeitgeist about superheroes intersecting with politics, as evidenced by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell’s State of the City Address where he compared Austin to the Green Lan…. [...]

[...] Grayson joins a select cadre of political comic book fans, such as Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, a huge Batman fan who both made a cameo in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and wrote the preface for Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Back. Both Leahy and Grayson embrace their heroes’ ethics and their propensity for heroic words. There must also be something in the zeitgeist about superheroes intersecting with politics, as evidenced by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell’s State of the City Address where he compared Austin to the Green…. [...]