Thursday, June 21, 2007

You Could See This Coming

WaPo published a front page story last Sunday on the "latest casualty of suburban sprawl," the demise of the personal mailbox.

Today, the paper printed this letter:

"Mia Hall of Southern Maryland complains that her new five-bedroom dream house is lacking only one thing to make it perfect -- a mailbox ["You've Got Mail . . . a Block Away; New Homeowners Decry Cluster Boxes," front page, June 17].

"In Columbia, we have had cluster boxes since the founding of this community. When I moved here in 1992, I thought they were a smart solution. Cluster boxes are a great place to catch up with neighbors, and the security of a lock just makes sense these days. Yes, I have to walk a bit to get my mail, but with the rise of obesity among Americans (I am as guilty as anyone), certainly it makes sense to walk at least a block once a day.

"Also, postal workers who otherwise would travel from house to house and no doubt leave their vehicles idling now use less gasoline.

To Ms. Hall and others living in sprawling new exurban subdivisions, I say: Get a little exercise while doing your bit for the environment.

KATHLEEN PACKARD

Columbia"

1 comment:

Ray said...

My in-laws have lived in Columbia for 30 years (same house) and they have a cluster box. Don't know if they've always had it, but they do now.

My wife and I lived in Cypress, Texas in an upscale subdivision. Most of the houses were built in the early 1990s and our neighborhood had cluster boxes. At first we thought it was weird but we soon got used to taking a short stroll to get the mail.

Although, if someone is disabled or has arthritis, I can see where this could be a problem.