Mail delivery suspended at L.A. public housing complex with over 1,800 residents

[SunSeeker]

Mail delivery has been suspended at Mar Vista Gardens, a public housing complex with more than 1,800 tenants in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Del Rey, forcing residents to pick up mail and packages at a Culver City facility over a mile away.

Culver City Post Office Postmaster Roderick Strong told officials at the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles this week that mail delivery was immediately being put on hold because of safety issues at the 43-acre housing complex.

Strong had previously cited safety issues as a reason to set up centralized banks of mailboxes at Mar Vista Gardens instead of delivering mail to each door, an idea that troubled residents of the complex. Tenant leaders had raised concerns about voting in the upcoming elections and questioned why the same changes were not happening in wealthier areas.
...
Housing authority spokesman Eric Brown said that, although Strong has repeatedly spoken of threats to mail carriers at the Del Rey complex, “we still have not received a valid report on his accusations.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-28/mar-vista-mail

[safeinOhio]

1. Back in the 80s I had a friend that was a mail person in Detroit.

She was a very small and attractive young lady. I remember her talking to another person at a party and she told him where her route was. He said he knew the area well and would not go there because of it being a high crime area and if she was afraid. She told him not at all. She said they were very protective of her because she delivered their mail carrier. That moment has always stuck with me.

[cab67]

3. I knew a letter carrier in Austin who had the opposite experience.

Not all high-crime areas are alike when it comes to letter carriers. Moreover, neither are all low-crime areas; a retired letter carrier I know in my town disliked one development not because of crime (which wasn't really bad), but because a couple of residents had no problem walking their large and minimally-socialized dogs without a leash.

I'm willing to go out on a limb and suggest that this isn't necessarily a matter of voter suppression. There are lots of public housing complexes in the LA area; that the USPS is focusing on just this one suggests it really does perceive a problem.

I'm not defending the action. I can see how this is a real problem for people with limited transportation. I'm just arguing that the rationale might not be as nefarious as some might argue.

[LymphocyteLover]

2. this is sick-- and a form of voter suppression

so sick of these psychopaths!

[Celerity]

4. They are just getting warmed up.

[Phoenix61]

5. Every apartment building I've ever lived in had

a bank of mail boxes very close to the entrance. They were locked which was nice. There were a couple large ones and the carrier would leave your package in one and put the key in your box.