Rafaela Silva fills her 2010 Toyota Tacoma, Monday afternoon. The increased fuel costs have hindered her ability to pay tuition as she prepares to start graduate study in North Carolina. PHOTO BY MASON BIERBAUM / THE HUBBARD SCHOOL
The price of unleaded fuel in the Twin Cities is more than 35% higher than this time last year. Neighborhoods in and around the University of Minnesota are feeling the effects. PHOTO BY MASON BIERBAUM / THE HUBBARD SCHOOL
Located on Como and 17th avenues Southeast, Nelson Auto World is a locally owned gas station serving the Como neighborhood. PHOTO BY MASON BIERBAUM / THE HUBBARD SCHOOL
Kenny Dally works on one of the many cars inside Nelson Auto World, where he has worked for more than 15 years. He has seen customers limit their gas consumption has prices have risen. PHOTO BY MASON BIERBAUM / THE HUBBARD SCHOOL
International conflicts with local consequences
International conflicts with local consequences
How the Iran War and the rising costs of fuel are affecting people in the Como neighborhood.
How the Iran War and the rising costs of fuel are affecting people in the Como neighborhood.
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Story and photos by Mason Bierbaum / Hubbard Reporting Experience
In the Como neighborhood, on the corner of 17th Avenue Southeast, the family-owned Nelson Auto World had gas listed on Tuesday at $4.19 a gallon. Six months ago, before the outbreak of the Iran War, prices dipped below about $3.50, said Mitch Nelson, one of the station’s owners.
Customers are feeling the fiscal squeeze.
“It made me use my car much less,” said Rafaela Silva, a 22-year-old aerospace engineering graduate who stopped at Nelson Auto World to fill the tank of her 2010 Toyota Tacoma. “Any opportunity I have, I just take my motorcycle instead because it consumes much less gas.”
According to Silva, it cost her $60 to fill her Tacoma before the Iran War. With rising prices, that number approaches $80. Silva said she wishes this extra $20 spent on fuel could have been directed towards paying her tuition instead.
Maya Pruitt, 26, also now spends roughly $80 to fill the tank of her 2015 Chrysler 200. Like Silva, this costs her 30% more than before the war started. If prices hadn’t increased so drastically, Pruitt said she would have spent the extra money on L.O.L. Surprise Dolls for her 4-year-old daughter.
“Oh my gosh, it affects us a lot,” Pruitt said about the gas price increases. “It goes into grocery money and, you know, everyday stuff.”
The conflict in the Middle East continues to stall ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the global oil supply travels, . On Tuesday, the average price of gas in the Twin Cities sat at $4.07 a gallon, a 35.7% increase from $3.00 a gallon a year ago.
To set the gas price at the Nelson Auto World, managers said they keep an eye on their competitors, chiefly the Holiday gas station on Broadway and Johnson streets Northeast.
Kenny Dally, a 44-year-old automotive technician at Nelson Auto World, said he sees the effect of rising prices on customers who have no choice but to pay — no matter the price.
“I mean everybody needs gas,” Dally said. “People still got to buy it.”
During his 15 years of working at Nelson Auto World, Dally said he has seen many customers in this neighborhood try to spend minimally at the pump. More than half of those who live in the Como neighborhood earn less than $75,000 annually.
“They’ll come in and prepay $4,” Dally said. But these days, he added, “that’ll [only] get you down the road.”
When it comes to the pain of gas prices, Dally speaks from experience. He drives a 2017 GMC Yukon Denali XL. It costs $140 to fill the tank, a $40 increase from before the spike in prices, he said.
“I got two teenagers, and I’m a single dad,” Dally said. “I always need money.”
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