Today is day five of Atlanta's gas crisis.
Approximately 10% of the gas stations in Atlanta have any gas at all, and those few that do have such long lines that the average driver burns gallons gas waiting to buy more gas. Business is off throughout the metro area because drivers can't risk the extra gas for any unnecessary travel. We already have customers who not only can't come to the store, they can't get to work because they can't find gas.
And we have a governor who took days to do anything, who refuses to address the issue head-on, who says that the crisis is psychological, and whose stock solution to the gas crisis is to talk about possibly closing schools for a day or two.
What we need is a governor who'll order rationing statewide until the supplies level out, who'll take action to force suppliers to divert more supplies to Atlanta, and who'll see to it that the supplies we do have are evenly distributed across the metro area.
What we get is a governor who still thinks millions of dollars spent to promote fishing is a good idea; a governor who doesn't see a problem because he can still go wherever he needs to; and a governor who fails to recognize that the metro area is the heart of Georgia's economy.
Next month, when Georgia posts the worst sales tax collections of any month in recent history, our governor will moan and groan about how devastating it is to the state budget... but at no point will he admit openly, "and this happened because I was too inept to do anything to solve the fuel problem."
Talked to the folks at El Rodeo, where we eat every Wednesday night; their business was off 40% yesterday and 50% today, because no one is coming in. I'm hearing the same thing almost everywhere in this area.
In the meantime, most other parts of the ocuntry are seeing declining gasoline prices and ample supply. But for us--empty pumps, lost business, and a lackadaisical governor...
2 comments:
Of course Sonny is gonna snow us. If he went on TV and said, "There's no gas, everybody! Bread and milk are next!" people would take to the streets and riot. Perception is reality so if he can convince even 5% of the people not to believe their lyin' eyes, that's 5% fewer riot cops they'll need.
I lump this in with the invisible WMD's and alleged 5% unemployment rate as fairy tales told to keep everyone in line.
Maybe Sonny can hold a prayer for oil on the capitol steps. It worked so well with the rain.
Check out what happened in Charlotte. They had an impending gas crisis, the mayor and state officials got to work, and by tomorrow they'll have an enormous supply of gasoline coming from Colonial--gasoline that's moving through Atlanta on its way to Charlotte.
I called Sonny's office today; they denied that there was anything that they could do to expedite delivery, said that there is no significant shortage (only panic buying), and were generally dismissive. Feel free to give 'em a call if you wish--the number is 404.656.1776--and let 'em know that you hold the governor responsible for his inaction in metro Atlanta's interests.
(You do realize, of course, that eveyrone--both Democrat and Republican--believed Saddam's claims that he had weapons of mass destruction... and he did, just not in the quantities he led us to believe? As for 5% unemployment--I think the reports indicate the level is higher than that now, but when the claims were being made, I saw no evidence to the contrary.)
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