A day without gas? SLO County stations shut down to protest presidential economic policy
It's a temptation for presidents to leave an imprint by putting their thumb on the scales of the economy.
Some programs have made a positive difference in lives, like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Social Security program. A social safety net paid for by users was a response to severe economic and social crisis.
Other times, presidential policies have gone wildly astray.
The right-leaning Libertarian Cato Institute published a commentary by Gene Healy critical of President Richard Nixon's aggressive wage and price freeze of the early 1970s, calling it 'Nixon's folly.'
The policy was popular before his reelection — but economic policy based on short-term popularity often has consequences.
The site argued that bold presidential actions were worse than wait and see.
When suppressed inflation began to bite, the policy was seen as a failure, among others that were a drag on Nixon's popularity as the Watergate scandal began to mushroom around his presidency.
And those national policies have local consequences, as the following headline from the Sept. 18, 1973 issue of the Telegram-Tribune by Mark Gladstone shows.
Little did anyone anticipate that fuel supply was on the brink of becoming even more unstable during the decade because of two oil embargoes by OPEC leading to long gas lines.
There were a lot more gas stations in the county in 1973; environmental regulations and moves by the major oil companies have consolidated the market.
Ron Dunin, mentioned in the story below, would later become mayor of San Luis Obispo.
'Closed — in protest of Phase IV.'
That slogan was plastered outside dozens of service stations today as the county was hit with a one-day service station shutdown in protest of President Richard Nixon's economic policies.
The hardest hit area was the city of San Luis Obispo.
A survey by the Telegram-Tribune showed only a few stations open for business. Shutdown organizers said 57 of the city's 64 stations were closed. The Southern California Automobile Club estimated the shutdown was 90 percent effective in the county.
At a meeting today in San Luis Obispo, 75 owners decided to reopen their business Wednesday but indicated support for a possible three-day statewide shutdown later in the month. A decision on the statewide shutdown will be made Thursday in Oakland.
A shutdown organizer, Steve Boyle, said 98 percent of minor brand stations were closed in San Luis Obispo.
Boyle, owner of a Standard station, termed the shutdown 'fantastic.'
He indicated that most stations in the North County and in Morro Bay and Cambria were closed.
A survey by the Telegram-Tribune at 9 a.m. determined that most stations in these areas were closed. In the South County, however, the shutdown was less effective.
For instance, of the 22 stations from Grand Avenue and Highway 1 in Grover City to Branch Street and Traffic Way in Arroyo Grande, 16 were open this morning. Boyle said only seven of the stations were open.
And cars were lined up waiting for gas at one Morro Bay station this afternoon. Eight cars at a time were lined up at the Terrible Herbst station on Main Street. At the Mini Serv station at the corner of Monterey and Santa Rosa streets in San Luis Obispo, customers had to wait as long as 20 minutes for a fill up.
(High)way Patrol nor the San Luis Obispo Police Department reported any unusual incidents as a result of the shutdown. The Automobile Club of Southern California said if members run out of gas they will receive at least $1 of gas from a tow truck.
The effect of the shutdown on the area tourist industry has been difficult to gauge. Ron Dunin of the San Luis Obispo Hotel-Motel Association predicted a 'lingering effect' on tourism. He stressed that the stations were closed, not because of a lack of gas, but because of the Phase IV guidelines. Dunin said he was in sympathy with the strike.
Under Phase IV station owners must roll back prices to January levels. Oil companies, however can increase the cost of gasoline to the service stations. Owners complain that their margin of profit has been cut to the point where they might have to close down permanently.
Most of the major oil companies have raised the price of gas to service stations. Owners around the nation have reacted with shutdowns similar to the San Luis Obispo action. On Thursday representatives of county service station owners will be in Oakland, meeting with the state Gasoline Dealers Association to decide whether a three-day statewide shutdown should be staged this weekend.
County station owners and employees met Monday in San Luis Obispo to map their plans and call today's shutdown. About 75 owners attended the meeting at the Pizza Pantry.
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