COMMENTARY
Bruce Andriatch: For officials, gas guzzling becomes habit
Recent headlines do not bode well for the future of the sport utility vehicle.
“The troubles of selling a thirsty SUV.” “High gas prices drive interest in small cars.” “SUV sales out of gas.”
Some auto industry analysts say there still may be hope for the SUV’s future, but others believe that once gas hit $4 a gallon, many drivers said goodbye to their monster trucks for good.
But among some municipal leaders in Western New York, bigger is still better. And it doesn’t sound like anyone is in a hurry to trade for a Prius.
Lackawanna Mayor Norman Polanski started driving a taxpayer-funded Ford Escape after he blew the engine in his personal Plymouth Voyager after driving through the old Bethlehem Steel site on city time. He said his new vehicle was chosen for him from a state bid list.
Asked if he would consider getting a vehicle that got higher gas mileage, he said those vehicles tend to have higher sticker prices than the $17,000 the city paid for his SUV.
“I’m not going to pay more for a vehicle that could end up costing taxpayers more in the end,” he said.
Lancaster Supervisor Robert Giza was put on the defensive recently when he was questioned by Lee Chowaniec — a fixture at town meetings who writes for the message board speakupwny.com — about the town’s purchase of Giza’s $27,000 Chevrolet Tahoe.
Chowaniec said on the site that he was asking questions on behalf of residents “who couldn’t understand why you needed such a large, expensive gas-guzzling vehicle at a time when other governments are looking for ways to cut spending [and] reduce the number of take-home vehicles.”
That seems like a fair question. Giza did not return phone calls for this column, but he earlier said his previous vehicle — also an SUV — had taken a beating during the October snowstorm two years ago and that he frequently drives in off-road conditions, such as quarries or railroad beds.
Hamburg Supervisor Steven Walters, meanwhile, agreed to explain why he drives an $18,000 Ford Explorer, which is paid for by taxpayers and which he said he uses for work-related trips only.
First off, he said that his last car was a Ford Crown Victoria, known for its massive engine and commonly used by police departments and that his new SUV is actually getting better gas mileage.
Second, he noted that he lives in the Snow Belt, where four-wheel drive is almost considered a necessity. (He said his former vehicle got stuck in his driveway three times.)
“In this job, you do have to get out when the roads are not plowed,” he said. “It’s not extremely frequent, and I certainly don’t want to mislead anyone to think that this is happening every other day, but it does happen.”
To sum up: SUVs might not get good gas mileage, but they cost less than some models that get higher mileage; and elected leaders sometimes really need SUVs, but not often.
The continued popularity of the SUV among elected officials brought to mind former Tonawanda Town Clerk Cal Champlin. In 2005, Champlin decided to give up his taxpayer-funded car — which was not an SUV. There were many good reasons for him to keep the car. And he knew that the decision wouldn’t lower taxes or improve the town’s bond rating or get people to move back to Western New York.
Why do it then? “You have to set an example,” he said at the time.
In truth, elected officials don’t have to set an example. But it’s nice when someone does.
