New Haven Independent

That was the message delivered Wednesday at Union Station by members of ConnPIRG (Connecticut Public Interest Research Group).

The organization unveiled a new study showing that since the economic stimulus law went into effect Feb. 13 — sending families an average of $1,500 in federal tax rebates — the average American household has spent that entire sum on ever-more costly gasoline. Since February, the group reported, the average household;’s weekly gas bill has climbed from $60 to almost $100.

“Americans have been pouring their stimulus checks into their gas tanks,” said ConnPIRG’s Jessica Roberts (pictured).

The press conference took place on a Union Station train platform to emphasize the group’s message. It wasn’t calling for lower gas prices. It was calling for government to spend more money on giving people “opportunities to drive less” — like by taking trains to work.

In New Haven, the need has been for regular, less costly Amtrak service from New Haven to Hartford and for expanded Metro-North commuter trains. Nationally, high gas prices have been sending drivers to trains and busses in droves — so much so that Amtrak has had trouble keeping up with the new demand. (Details in this New York Times article.)

Some of the money for expanded rail could be coming from the feds if Congress passes the Saving Energy Through Transportation Act. It’s expected to come up for a vote in the House on Thursday. ConnPIRG’s Roberts “applauded” New Haven’s Congresswoman, Rosa DeLauro, for supporting the bill. It would boost spending on alternative fuel development and on mass transit. (Click here for a detailed description of the bill.) Roberts said that of $2 billion earmarked for mass-transit improvements, $5.3 million would come to Greater New Haven, distributed by the Federal Transit Administration, for as-yet unspecified projects.

Mike Piscitelli (pictured), New Haven government’s transportation czar, said the city has a clear idea how it would like that money spent, if it arrives. In addition to better rail service, the city wants bus service upgrades: new buses for CT Transit, lines running more often, and creation of a new cross-town line along Ella Grasso Boulevard from City Point to Southern Connecticut State University.

The same time that ConnPIRG was pumping mass transit at Union Station Wednesday, Mayor John DeStefano was pushing alternatives to car-oriented development at the regional Council of Governments (COG), Piscitelli reported.

He said the mayor sought to unite the region around two priorities: a “transit-oriented” design for a new Union Station parking garage, with residences and stores; and the city’s plan to fill in the Route 34 Connector mini-highway-to-nowhere in order to create a “boulevard” of businesses and 1,000 new homes.

In both cases the idea is to get more people living near trains, as well as bus lines, so they don’t have to drive so much.

Rising oil prices are already driving people and investment dollars toward cities, Piscitelli said. Families living in towns outside New Haven spend 25 percent of their household income on transit, he said. In the city itself, they spend 9 percent.

As he and Roberts spoke, young ConnPIRG volunteers held aloft a blown-up stimulus “check” from the average American household to the likes of Exxon/Mobil. Blayne Sapelli (pictured), a 19 year-old UConn political science major, came dressed as the villainous recipient. “I’m Big Oil,” he proclaimed, “ripping the checks out of the hands of the American people.”