Maingate News
Annual Meeting 2009
Mr. Steiner fully engaged the audience as he discussed what the inexorable rise in gasoline will mean to our audience’s future, and how these changes will ultimately be great news for those who operate in mature, urban centers.
Since his book came out last June, 2009, Christopher Steiner has been interviewed nationally by Matt Lauer on The Today Show, Soleded O’Brien on CNN and Fox News. His first appearance in Cleveland attracted the attention of reporter Chris Tye from WKYC TV, who did a feature story on Steiner that aired Friday, November 20 Sunday, November 22.
Special thanks to McTech Corporation and VRP Northcoast for their generous presenting sponsorships. Their contributions allowed Maingate to present itself on a stage equal to our emerging position as a pacesetter in Greater Cleveland’s economic development. Thanks also go to the following table sponsors: AAA Pipe Cleaning; ArcelorMittal Steel; G&M Towing; Great Lakes Mechanical; Oriana House; Tremco Inc.; Zaclon, Inc.; Dollar Bank; Huntington National Bank; KeyBank; National City Bank; US Bank.
Joe Calabrese, CEO of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, gets a book signed by Christopher Steiner, Keynote Speaker at the Maingate Business Development Corporation Annual Meeting.
Newscast script-Courtesy of Channel 3 News
The pain at the pump has eased considerably since we were paying $4 a gallon in 2008. But how high can the price of fuel actually go? And how will it change our lives?
There's one person who says the rising price of gas can be good for us -- Christopher Steiner, author of "$20 per gallon."
There was a string of years where newscast after newscast led with the rising price of gas. There was pain at the pump, with no silver lining.
Steiner isn't singing that tune, saying that the inevitable rise in the price of gasoline will change our lives for the better.
Steiner, who spoke this month to business owners in Cleveland's Maingate district, argues that, while there will be short-term significant pain, the long-term gain will win out and life will begin to change at $6 a gallon.
Rising fuel prices will reverse suburban sprawl, walking instead of driving will make us healthier, and the SUV will be largely a thing of the past.
And Cleveland's past, with its strong infrastructure, will be an asset for the future.
How about $8 a gallon? Steiner says this is when the already teetering airline industry will largely collapse. Vacations to Walt Disney World and Las Vegas will be out of reach for the average family.
And again, Cleveland may benefit.
At $20 a gallon? $20 a gallon is decades in the future, Steiner says. If and when we hit it, 90 percent of Americans will live in cities and 70 percent of Americans will never own a car.
Steiner says there's a better than average chance that Americans will have weaned themselves off gasoline and onto cleaner fuels long before we see $20 a gallon.
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