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Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Lucid Messages

posted by on January 3 at 16:17 PM

Yes, you may blame us for these now classic t-shirts:

gridlock_black_t.jpg


But, you cannot blame us for these bumperstickers:

mayor.jpg

…which arrived in the mail today accompanied by an erratic note that—to quote my colleague Erica C. Barnett—”didn’t really elucidate anything.”

Although, I’m not sure what needs elucidatin’.

RSS icon Comments

1

I want one. Maybe I can get all my dancers to cover their bits with those stickers. Better than a 4 foot rule!

Posted by Rick | January 3, 2007 4:26 PM
2

I don't understand the Mayor Gridlock thing. Are you referring to traffic gridlock, or some kind of political gridlock? I was assuming traffic gridlock, but then I confess I don't really get what the mayor has to do with traffic gridlock.

Posted by cite | January 3, 2007 4:31 PM
3

It was a reference to Nickels pulling the plug on mass transit (the monorail) ... Mr. Tunnel had the nerve to condmen the monorail for costing too much... while going to the mat for expanding car capacity downtown...

Posted by Josh Feit | January 3, 2007 4:35 PM
4

”didn’t really elucidate anything.” Are you sure she was not referring to the News section?

Posted by StrangerDanger | January 3, 2007 4:55 PM
5

It shouldn't just be Mayor Gridlock, it should be something that points out that WE - all of Seattle - are part of this dysfunctional paradigm that kills actual transit solutions and talks about green but ends up supporting more roads that make it worse.

On the other hand, it's making it very easy to kill the $4.6 billion underwater tunnel we Seattle-only taxpayers have to pay an additional $2.2 billion for and get LESS transit.

Posted by Will in Seattle | January 3, 2007 4:55 PM
6

When I wear my Mayor Gridlock shirt outside of Seattle, people (like my dad) occasionally think it's a picture of Slobodan Milosevic.

Posted by Nat | January 3, 2007 5:08 PM
7

Yeah, Mayor Glidlock—he’s the dude that blocked all the roads to Croatia and Albania. Now you can’t get anywhere anymore!

Posted by Sey | January 3, 2007 5:21 PM
8

when I wear mine to bed my sweetie won't kiss me...

Posted by LH | January 3, 2007 6:42 PM
9

Maoyr Nickels a sex symbol? Whoda thunk it?

Posted by MarkS | January 3, 2007 9:02 PM
10

Josh @ 3 says,

It was a reference to Nickels pulling the plug on mass transit (the monorail) ... Mr. Tunnel had the nerve to condmen the monorail for costing too much... while going to the mat for expanding car capacity downtown...

The tired misleading sound bite about Nickels killing the monorail is example one of the misleading transit debate in this town. The monorail imploded in its own hubris and incompetence. When Nickels pulled his support he was not alone. The stampede of elected officals was impressive indeed. Even Nick Licata took off his hat and stomped on SMP.

I know it is popular among the cool kids these days to hate the Mayor. But Mayor Gridlock is just plain stupid. Greg may not be perfect, but he has a 20 year record of busting his butt for more transit. He was on the county council which oversees Metro operations, has been on the Sound Transit board longer than anybody, and supported the monorail through every election but the last even though many in the transit community had real concerns about Joel and SMP's ability and experience.

Posted by stop already | January 3, 2007 9:04 PM
11

Stop Already -- cool kids don't hate the mayor. They don't care about the mayor. Don't confuse the slog with cool kids.

Posted by cite | January 3, 2007 9:17 PM
12

Mr. Tunnel had the nerve to condmen the monorail for costing too much... while going to the mat for expanding car capacity downtown...

I guess that is why I was confused, Josh. You can criticize the mayor for wanting to expand car capacity, but calling him "Mayor Gridlock" doesn't make any sense in that context. I mean, it would make more sense to call proponents of the surface option as pro-gridlock, since that could reduce car capacity.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with reducing car capacity, and if gridlock annoys people enough, it might make them get out of their cars! Actually, "Mayor Gridlock" doesn't sound like much of an insult to me.

Posted by cite | January 3, 2007 9:22 PM
13

Cite,
I agree with your point that gridlock is actually a good thing. Unfortunately, it's more of a good thing when it's accompanied by a rapid transit option.

Funny, I actually think the reason we don't have mass transit around here is because we don't have massive gridlock downtown.
So, yes, you're right, there was a contradicition with our shirt.

However, when the 2045 folks came up with the phrase back when the monorail was going down (with Nickels help), their angry sound bite captured our frustration and disappoint with Nickels. It felt good to put it on a shirt.

The slogan has since morphed into a metaphor for his inability to get stuff done.

Posted by Josh Feit | January 3, 2007 9:57 PM
14

"We don't have massive gridlock downtown."

Josh, you really ought to get off of the Hill more. Have you ever tried to get from Pioneer Square to the other end of Downtown at rush hour or on a game day - you know, like the PWC would have all of the traffic on the Alaskan Way Viaduct try doing?

This statement is the kind of thing that would make even the most popular Seattle elected official the object of ridicule if an opponent broadcast it to the wider public.

Posted by Mr. X | January 3, 2007 11:00 PM
15

Mr. X,

"rush hour on a game day" ... Well, go figure.

Of course, there's going to be heavy traffic at rush hour on a game day. Mass transit will not solve that. More capacity downtown will not solve that. (it'll make it worse, actually). And it's not intended to solve it.

The standard of all traffic studies, The Texas Transportation Institute study on urban mobility, ranked Seattle 13th down on the list for congestion for cities of Seattle's size in its most recent study.

Sorry that downtown jars your fragile sensibilities Mr. X, but you oughta get out of Seattle more often. We don't have gridlock.

Posted by Josh Feit | January 3, 2007 11:22 PM
16

We don't commonly have gridlock. We have traffic jams, traffic congestion. Gridlock occurs when vehicles from multiple directions enter an intersection in turn, each trying to beat the light, and get stuck midway in a grid pattern, blocking the intersection. Hence the signs in NY reading Don't block the box. Seattle drivers are too polite for gridlock to occur much.

Posted by rodrigo | January 3, 2007 11:27 PM
17

OK Josh, try making a right onto Virginia to get out of downtown between 4 and 7PM sometime and get back to me on that.

Posted by Mr. X | January 4, 2007 10:47 AM
18

Oh, and just so you know, in the last 4 years I've been to Los Angeles, San Francisco, NYC, Washington DC, Austin, Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Geneva, London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, and Copenhagen, among many other places. You may not want to acknowledge it, but Seattle area traffic is just about as bad as any of them (some of the worst traffic I've seen, by the way, was the largely interurban trip between Berlin and Hamburg on their WWII liberation day holiday, but my perception of that experience may have been colored by my raging hangover).

Posted by Mr. X | January 4, 2007 10:57 AM
19

But Mr. X, I don't go downtown. As you know, I don't leave Capitol Hill.

Posted by Josh Feit | January 4, 2007 10:58 AM
20

I thought the stickers spoke for themselves.
I can hook Rick up if he is "The Rick" who stood up to the mayor and told him to shove his four foot pole up his ass.
Dig the shirt. Subtle, but nice.

Posted by ScumFuck | January 4, 2007 10:45 PM

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