Gas spike has locals tightening belts

LYNN – A late-summer surge in gas prices has some contemplating life changes just to be able to afford the price jump.”We’re considering getting rid of this car,” said Swampscott resident Pam Mazlow as she pumped gas into her two-year-old Cadillac Escalade at a Shell gas station on the Lynnway on Saturday afternoon.Mazlow said she and her family would like to purchase something more fuel efficient to be able to do the recreational activities they love without taking a financial blow every time they pull out of the driveway.The national average for a gallon of gas at the pump has climbed to $3.67, a rise of 34 cents since July 1, according to the Associated Press. The AP reported that analysts don’t expect gas prices to get as high as they did in April, when 10 states passed $4 a gallon and the U.S. average topped out at $3.94.But any price increase hurts Marblehead resident Josh White, who filled up the tank of his small-size economy car on his way to pick a friend up at the airport.”It’s going to start running my pocket even deeper,” he said as he commented that the price per gallon – $3.69 at the Shell station – rose 20 cents since the last time he purchased gas.White sold his truck, which he said cost $80 to fill, after he was laid off from his job. His current car costs $40 a tank, but he said even that number is ticking upward.”It’s hard to pay for gas and insurance and everything,” he said.To make do, he purchased a scooter for smaller trips and is in the process of joining the Army.Stoneham resident Bill Silva drives his 2007 Ducati Monster motorcycle on sunny days to avoid paying $100 to fill up his Chevy Avalanche truck.”I try to ride my bikes when I can,” he said.Silva said he worries that the rising prices are a reflection of continued strife between Western and Middle Eastern countries. He said he wishes President Barack Obama would do more to wean Americans off their independence of foreign oil.”I don’t understand why the US doesn’t make more available the reserves this country has,” he said.The AP reports that this recent gas-price spike is the result of an increase in crude oil prices and problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest.Taxi driver Igor Katsemba would like to see some relief in the form of raised taxi fares.He has seen gas prices rise and fall in the 12 years he’s been driving a taxi but, he said, for the past few years they just seem to go up.”No one is happy about that,” he said.Katsemba said, because the city hasn’t raised fare prices to keep up with the cost of gas, he is making less money now than he did seven years ago.”Everyday we have to fill the tank and you see the prices; oh my God, oh my God,” he said, shaking his head.But he continues to work, just like Mazlow of Swampscott, who said she continues to drive whenever and wherever she wants. And Joan Campanelly of Virginia said she drove her car to Massachusetts despite how much it cost her.”I wanted to see my family,” she said while filling up her car.Silva said that’s because he thinks gas prices, no matter how high they go, are something Americans are willing to pay for.”I think gas prices are like anything else: They’re a necessary evil and you have to have gas to go,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].