Text size:

Bay Shore gas station's $1.06 price tag draws drivers

BY CARL MACGOWAN | carl.macgowan@newsday.com | Newsday Staff Writer

Shirlyna Santiago couldn't wait to buy gas Monday.

The single mom said her boss at Long Island Head Start in Brentwood let her take an early lunch break. Then Santiago, 29, drove her Suzuki sport utility vehicle to Lukoil on East Main Street in Bay Shore.

Santiago wanted to be one of 106 drivers allowed to buy 10 gallons of gas for $1.06 a gallon.

When the Bay Shore resident arrived at the station at 11 a.m., she drew number 106. With a handmade sign proclaiming hers the "Last Car," Santiago filled her tank at 12:40 p.m.--and saved about $27.

"With the gas going up, and my 6 cylinders, 10 gallons, it's going to help me," she said.

The made-for-radio publicity stunt caused a stir, with a line of cars stretching down East Main Street, north up Saxon Avenue and west along Union Boulevard. Police directed traffic on East Main Street as cars slowed in both directions.

The promotion tapped into Long Islanders' frustration with rising gas prices, said Jeremy Rice, program director of the event's sponsor, contemporary hits station WBLI/106.1 FM. "This is what everybody's talking about," he said.

The first driver, Kelly Livieri, 36, of Islip, said she got on line at 7:30 a.m. after hearing the promotion announced on the radio. She happened to be driving near the gas station at the time, she said. She waited more than four hours before Lukoil workers began pumping the cheap gas at noon.

"I heard it when I was out to get coffee, and I thought I would swing by," she said.

The promotion cost the radio station $3,000 to $4,000, but it was money well spent, Rice said. The event attracted many curious onlookers and hordes of news media.

A new promotion will start today, he said, this one awarding $106 worth of gas to winners of call-in contests.

Michael Borgese, of Bay Shore, arrived at Lukoil at 7:45 a.m., paid $10.60 in advance, then waited in his truck.

"Saving 27 bucks on 10 gallons," Borgese, 32, director of a nearby Huntington Learning Center, said. "Every little bit helps."

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Island's move to energy efficiency stops at SUVs BY JENNIFER SMITH | jennifer.smith@newsday.com May 6, 2008

Long Islanders have switched to energy-efficient lightbulbs and adjusted their thermostats, but the region's nascent green revolution may stop in the driveway.

Most residents have no plans to abandon their sport utility vehicles or spacious sedans for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, according to a Long Island Index poll released yesterday.

The survey asked more than 850 Long Island residents their opinions on climate change and energy efficiency.

Results were mixed. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they believe global warming is already happening. But more than half said it would not threaten them or their way of life during their lifetimes. The poll showed residents were willing to adopt some changes wholeheartedly. More than 90 percent said they would choose an energy-efficient appliance over a cheaper but less efficient model.

But one sacrifice many Long Island drivers appear unwilling to make is swapping a bigger vehicle for a more fuel-efficient model. Conducted amid rising fuel prices in February and March, the survey showed that, while one-tenth of drivers would consider buying a hybrid and 14 percent would consider a compact, roughly two-thirds of drivers preferred something other than a smaller car with better gas mileage.

Nearly three-quarters now drive SUVs, trucks and medium-sized cars such as sedans or station wagons.

Economic, generational and political divides also shaped responses. Affluent, liberal residents tended to show more support for shouldering upfront costs of big investments in future energy efficiency.

All told, 46 percent of all those surveyed said they would pay more on their electric bill if the Long Island Power Authority developed large-scale solar and wind-power projects. Only 32 percent of those making less than $35,000 backed an increase, compared with 57 percent of those earning $100,000 or more.

John McNally of the Rauch Foundation, a Garden City-based nonprofit philanthropic group that funded the survey, called on LIPA to develop renewable energy sources as well as energy conservation programs.

Noting that the utility just announced a 50-megawatt solar power project, LIPA president and Chief Executive Kevin Law said he was committed to "exploring large-scale renewable projects, but I need to balance those desires with the economic impacts such projects would have on our ratepayers."

ENERGY POLICIES: The Long Island Index surveyed more than 850 residents about climate change and energy use.

72 percent think effects of global warming have begun, but 51 percent think it won't pose a personal threat in their lifetime.

28 percent think the federal government can do the most to impact climate change.

1 percent drive hybrids, but 10 percent say they would consider one for their next car purchase.

86 percent have adjusted their thermostats in recent years to save energy.

52 percent said they supported laws requiring new homes to be energy efficient.