April 24, 2008

StreetTalk

by Carol Rosen

When do you think regular unleaded gas will reach $4? How will that affect your driving? (Asked at the Almaden Branch Library/Community Center)


“This summer according to my sources. Yes, we usually drive to San Diego, but we plan to fly this year and bum rides from our family.”

Monica Mesmer, 49
Almaden
Homemaker


“Well, I hope it doesn’t, but I think it will within the next six months. Changing my driving habits is a problem because I’m driving my kids to their activities and I may not have an option.”

Tracy Hunter, 42
Almaden
Homemaker


“I would say by the end of the month, which is almost here. I have already changed my driving habits. I tend to walk to the library and the store now. I generally think twice about unnecessary journeys.”

Maureen Berti
Almaden
Part-time administrator


“In two months, when it’s summer time. I’m already changing my driving habits. I’m walking a lot more. I just paid $70 to fill my van. It’s mind boggling that we are paying so much and it’s causing me to think twice about driving somewhere."

Emilia Gottheil, 43
Almaden
Homemaker


“I already saw $4 regular unleaded gas this weekend in San Francisco. I’m thinking about buying a little scooter or a Vespa, something small that doesn’t use much gas. We need alternative modes of transportation.”

Brandon Kwock
Almaden
Community Center


“It will happen in July. The price of gas has already changed my driving habits. I plan my trips very carefully.”

Arden Weiner, 73
Almaden
Retired insurance agent


“It will happen in two months. It won’t change my driving because I still have to go where I have to go, but thank God for the light rail.”

Leo Adeh, 23
Almaden
Student at San Jose State


“The economy is so bad. I don’t know when it will hit $4. I just hope the price drops back down after the election. We try not to drive as much as we can, I walk all the time.”

Gloria Leung
Almaden
Homemaker


“Any day now. It looks like every two years the price has gone up at least a dollar since around 2001. Personally, it hasn’t affected how I drive, but it has affected how my children drive. I’m stuck with what I have to do. I do feel the affects it’s made on other things such as grocery prices. It affects virtually everything that has to be transported.”

Randy Torrecillas, 56
Blossom Valley
IT manager, San Jose Public Libraries


“I saw a station that already had reached $4 for regular on Blossom Hill Road. It will not affect my driving plans.”

Linda, 59
Almaden
Retired