Take your mayor to work summer.

Yesterday Mayor Nickels announced his latest pro-environmental initiative - asking Seattleites to give up their car for the summer and drive less. Not such a big problem for me - I’m fortunate now that I can shuttle with others to work, that I live really close to services (ie…a grocery store, drug store, and most importantly - pubs!) and with gas being $4.00/gallon I’m not so inclined to drive as much.

But what about our mayor, the guy who is spearheading this effort, will he reduce his driving this summer? Here’s what he said in today’s Seattle Times.

For his commute and official duties, Nickels says he needs a car because of security concerns. The city provides a hybrid sport-utility vehicle.

But he intends to drive less in his personal life: “We drive to the supermarket. Now we will try walking.” The supermarket is about a half-mile from his home.

Seriously, that’s a pretty lame ass response. And I say it’s lame ass because he’s not getting creative by coming up with other solutions. Here are two I thought up - he could move closer to his office downtown and walk (that’d save daily commuting trips), or he could even vanpool.

But perhaps those aren’t secure enough ideas - so what kind of solution could we come up with for the mayor that would both help him feel secure (ex-Mayor Schell once got popped in the face with a blowhorn) and help him not look hypocritical.

I saw this idea on ‘EnjoytheEnjoyment.com’, where Seth has created a petition called ‘Fans provide rides for drunk athletes‘ that would give professional and collegiate fans the opportunity to signup and provide safe rides home for any athlete who might have had too good of a time out with friends.

So, I’ve created a similar petition, this one’s called, ‘I will carpool with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels‘. Of course you’ll probably want to live in West Seattle (where the mayor lives) and work in downtown, but hey maybe if he has an event to attend elsewhere in the city you could help him out here. Oh yeah, and about the security thing - you also would need to agree to undergo a security clearance.

Anyway, see what a little creativity can come up with.

Click below to volunteer your services.