“The most important office in a democracy is the office of citizen.” That’s what President Obama said to a packed house at the Long Center earlier this month as he delivered the keynote address at SXSW. Throughout his speech, Obama focused on this issue of community involvement, inviting innovators, technologists, and average citizens alike to get more involved and help government to solve some of the world’s greatest problems.

“The reason I’m here really is to recruit all of you. It’s to say to you as I’m about to leave office, how can we start coming up with new platforms, new ideas, new approaches, across disciplines and across skill sets, to solve some of the big problems we’re facing today.”

In other words, there are lots of opportunities for everyone to be more engaged across all levels of government. Problems ranging from climate change to traffic can all be solved with big ideas and input from individuals just like you.

You can watch Obama’s speech here>>

One thing that President Obama’s visit to Austin didn’t do was create the crippling downtown traffic that so many had feared. In Mayor Adler’s weekly newsletter, he addressed this, thanking Austinites for doing such a good job heeding his pleas to work from home last Friday.

Adler then took it one step further, reminding all of us that traffic can always be that light, if we change our habits. If just one in five peak-hour car trips is removed off our city streets, Adler wrote, “we won’t have bad traffic congestion at all.” And that doesn’t just mean encouraging more telecommuting. According to Adler, riding the bus, biking to work, and flex scheduling can also do the trick.