Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Common Sense Nods Acquaintance in Passing, But Declines to Establish Residency

There's a town between Backroads and Sis-Town, where something is not quite right. Several years ago, they received a federal grant, and used it to "beautify" their little city. Said people passing through from one major highway, taking a route to get to another major highway, might think less of them if they didn't.

I don't know who officially signed off on this project. Hick said it could have been the city commissioner, who would most likely have discussed it with the councilmen. Or that maybe they had to submit several projects, and the feds made the choice for them. Maybe my issue should be with the contractor who did the work. It's one of those things where I don't know where to point the finger.

Don't point the finger at VAL! I had just left a stop sign when I snapped this picture for evidentiary purposes. For cryin' out loud, I was only going 20 miles per hour! And the last time I checked, letting dust accumulate on a dashboard is not a crime.

 
Anyhoo... do you see the problem here? It's not an isolated occurrence.

 
The mailboxes are in the middle of the sidewalk! Who does that? Woe is the hipster jogger pushing a 3-wheeled baby carriage, tipping the infant into the grass while trying to squeeze past!


Surely somebody must have noticed this before all the mailboxes were put in. It's not a problem on the other side of town, where the mailboxes are on the porches. Over there, the problem is the islands of concrete sticking out into the road, limiting parking, and preventing cars from pulling over to allow emergency vehicles to pass.

You won't convince me that this is the normal way to accommodate mailboxes. 
But go ahead and try.

8 comments:

  1. Happened in our neck of the woods, too. By the time they discovered it, the only remedy was to leave them there and turn them sideways. Not half as bad as the time the builders continued putting in a subdivision right across the interstate.

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    1. Seems like nobody has common sense any more!

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  2. So that mailbox belongs to the house that has the steps? That is weird. Like the postman doesn't want to get off his bike or out of his vehicle, but instead just wants to reach out his lazy arm and drop in the mail. If I'm being truthful, I don't get the mailboxes on porches either. They should be (in my opinion) at the front of the property, easy for the mailman and easy for the house occupier too, unless they're six feet deep in snow. Or some other easy solution.

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    1. I'd say the one mailbox probably belongs to the house with the steps, and the other one might belong to that church.

      The post office has walking routes for the neighborhoods where mailboxes are on the porch. These mailboxes on the sidewalk would be for delivery on a motor route, I think.

      The Pony does both, depending on where they send him. That's why the PO vehicles are right-hand drive. Just pull up to the mailbox, and put in the mail without getting out.

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    2. He will need long arms to reach that box.

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    3. Sometimes he DOES have to step out! Especially when snow has been plowed and blocks the boxes. It doesn't help that The Pony has broken both elbows, and his arms don't fully extend. They make fun noises for party tricks, though.

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  3. You can't make this stuff up! Can I just say that I assume a man was in charge of this project. A woman would have put a stop to it after the first mailbox was encased in the sidewalk. Looks like the mailboxes were probably already in that position before the sidewalk went in and the postal worker could get as close as needed to put the mail in the box. Now the curb and sidewalk prevent that, so maybe they should have not gone with the same location for the mailbox. I can just ear HeWho saying that the mailbox has ALWAYS been there ....

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    1. Yes, the mailboxes might have been in that position before the sidewalk. At least the people got NEW mailboxes, all the same style.

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