Mayor To Austinites: Stay Home On Friday -- Please [UPDATE]

AUSTIN, TX -- Mayor Steve Adler is advising people to work from home on Friday if at all possible during President Barack Obama’s visit, or risk facing a traffic gridlock -- the likes of which have never been seen even by the standards of perpetually gridlocked Austin.

Adler sent that suggestion on Tuesday via his e-newsletter to residents.

The throngs from all over the world will begin to descend upon the city as SXSW begins. But this year, traffic will be further affected as President Obama arrives to participate in a panel discussion -- making him the first sitting president ever to participate in SXSW.

First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to make her own presentation the following week.

But Friday, the president is scheduled to speak at 2:30 p.m. at the Long Center in South Austin. To get there, his motorcade will wind through downtown streets -- which will be closed to regular traffic.

But Obama plans to make a couple of other stops while in town, to the Opera House downtown and then to a private fundraiser at the home of a donor in West Austin.

“And nobody moves until he’s ready and then he starts his path and nobody moves again until he’s virtually completed that path,” Adler said of accommodations needed to be made for the presidential motorcade.

Anticipating the Carmageddon on the streets, City Manager Marc Ott is letting some of his employees leave at noon that day -- both to help them avoid the traffic snarls but also so they won’t add to the gridlock themselves.

Now, the mayor is urging employers to do the same by letting people work half a day or work entirely from home.

“Traffic on Friday is just going to be an absolute zoo,” Adler said.

But it might be a hard sell. SXSW is one of the busiest times of the year for merchants, particularly those in the thick of the massive music and arts festival staged at various venues mainly downtown.

It’s kind of the mother lode of customers, this SXSW influx.

Adler’s aware of this, but still beseeched employers to reconsider and let workers stay home.

“I would say listen to your employees and don’t make them spend the afternoon downtown on Friday,” Adler wrote with near-palpable anxiety. “Let them head home.”

Either way, the word of the day come Friday will be: Gridlock.

Update: At least one group has taken Adler's request to heart. Austin ISD officials announced late Wednesday they will be letting students out early on Friday, to help ameliorate traffic woes.

Thanks, Obama! Am I right, kids?