Published: July 08, 2008 09:02 pm            

LUCINSKI: In praise of high gas prices

We have come this morning to praise high gasoline prices, not curse them.

Well, that’s something of a stretch. But the escalation of fuel costs above the $4 per gallon level might just have a silver lining.

In this space in the recent past we’ve said that experts and economists were wondering just how high prices would have to go before Americans started to fundamentally change their way of getting from point A to point B. It appears that $4 is the magic figure.

Discussion of alternate energy sources has passed from idle cocktail talk to real consideration of their pros and cons. The figures put out by the auto manufacturers don’t lie: Sales of big-engine, gas-slurping SUVs and other large vehicles are down. Four dollars a gallon is getting folks to take the issue of fuel conservation and other means of propulsion seriously.

It’s universal: Whether it’s what you put in your gas tank or what you burn to heat your home or what you use to power your lights and your air conditioning, energy supply and price affects all of us. In our neck of the woods, the cost of energy is rearing its head when it comes to the visitor trade. And, through the first month and a half of the traditional tourist season, there appears to be cause for some optimism.

The traffic in the area of the falls for the period between Memorial Day and Independence Day has been heavy. Parks officials, tourist-business operators and Mayor Paul Dyster attribute a lot of this to what the mayor has called “staycations.” That’s a handy way of saying that, because of high gas prices, folks are keeping closer to home during their annual break from their jobs and checking out what there is to do around Western New York.

Turns out, there’s a lot to do here. From the falls to Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown to the Flight of Five locks in Lockport to the Carrousel Museum in North Tonawanda and music festivals and concert series all across the county, it’s clear one can keep busy having fun almost every day without hardly trying. Again, $4 per gallon gasoline is opening the eyes of locals to the wonders of Niagara.

The operators of Martin’s Fantasy Island on Grand Island say they’re seeing a spike in local business. But others, because of their geography, are not as fortunate.

Darien Lake (for a while, Six Flags-Darien Lake) was built in the middle of nowhere. Not to insult the fine folks of Genesee County, but the park’s location near Thruway Exit 48A was calculated to be about halfway between Rochester and the Buffalo/Niagara regions. That means the middle of nowhere. And that wasn’t a problem when gas was $1, $2 and even $3 per gallon.

But now that we’re in the mindset of expensive gasoline, it is a problem to the park’s owners; a big problem. It’s so big of a problem that they’ve gone to promoting a gasoline rebate for customers. Show four full-price tickets and you get a voucher for $30 in gasoline. That’s how seriously that particular business is taking the threat that $4 per gallon gas is posing.

We’ve said it before but it bears repeating: As the energy landscape changes, so will the way the public will react to it. The way it looks right now, prices will stay high, at least for a while. The wise people in the business community will take advantage of their proximity to population centers (read that Buffalo. Rochester and Toronto) and promote the joys of exploring Niagara to those looking for a quick and relatively inexpensive getaway.

High gasoline prices our friend? Not really. But we can live with them and make the best of the situation as long as we learn how to not only adapt to change, but embrace it.



Dick Lucinski is the managing editor of the Niagara Gazette. His columns appear on Wednesday and Sunday.

        

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