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Pettibone Road mail delivery takes detour too
(by Sue Reid - January 29, 2009)
Pettibone Road mail delivery takes detour too
By SUE REID
Pettibone Road resident Mitchell Buckley said he thinks it is a bad idea that the City of Solon has set up mailboxes at Grantwood Golf Course for residents affected by road reconstruction, and it has created a hardship for him.
Mr. Buckley, who lives about 2,000 feet from Grantwood Golf Course at 38355 Pettibone Road, said he actually has to travel over three miles to get there in order to get his mail. The road is open for eastbound traffic only. It is dangerous to cross Aurora Road (Route 43), he said.
"Since it is one way, I have to go all the way to Liberty Road and back to Pettibone," Mr. Buckley said. "It's kind of ridiculous." If it was summer, that may be easier, he said, "but since the roads are bad and it's one way, it's dangerous to walk on the road." The danger is because of the blustery temperatures and winter road conditions, as well as cars driving down the road at excessive speeds, he said.
"Whose idea was this?" asked Mr. Buckley, who has lived on the road for 30 years. It also must be an issue for the elderly on the street, he added. "It's hard enough to go to mailboxes in the snow."
Public Works Director James S. Stanek said the city thought about where to place the mailboxes for quite a while. "There is no good location," he said.
"Everyone will have their own situation. Obviously, you won't make anybody happy in this process, because their routine is being interrupted." Mr. Stanek said the city wanted to put the mailboxes in a location where the mail trucks would be able to get in the area safely.
"That was probably the best place for it," Mr. Stanek said. There also was discussion of putting the mailboxes at an island area near Stockwood Drive. He said the city asked permission of the Signature of Solon homeowners association, which raised an issue of liability. "We couldn't overcome the liability issue," he said. "There really is no other way."
With the road's eastbound-only traffic, the postal service can't deliver, because the mail drivers are on the opposite side in their vehicles.
Mr. Stanek said the city even offered to provide the mail carriers a vehicle to do that, "and we were told, 'No, we don't do that.'
"They refused to reach across their vehicle and deliver the mail," he said. "The only way for them to deliver it was for them to go reverse flow of traffic.
"In order for that to happen, we had to have a police officer out there stopping traffic so the mail truck could go opposite the traffic flow in a safe manner," Mr. Stanek said. "That was extremely costly to us."
Mr. Buckley, who works for the U.S. Postal Service in downtown Cleveland, said the postal service does have vehicles with left-hand drive. "They could come down and deliver the mail if they wanted to," he said.
Mr. Buckley said that, when he called his carrier to inquire about his mail, he was asked if he received the notice that was sent out alerting the residents of the change. "I didn't get a notice that the boxes were at Grantwood," he said.
"There's all kinds of problems," he said. One time while taking a shower, his water was shut off, he said. "They shut off the water two to three times a day. When you go to turn it back on, it explodes." Mr. Buckley said he has contacted the city about the water but not about the mailboxes.
Mr. Stanek said the city has committed to making sure there is ongoing communication with all the parties involved in light of the two-year road project, which began in November.
All of the residents who have water shut-offs received notices, he said. "They knocked on the door and put notices," he said. "They are trying to notify any resident who provided notification by e-mail also." It's being done to "make the process better," Mr. Stanek said.
"We'll go to high-visibility color letters to catch their eye," he said.
"This has really been a big mess and inconvenience," Mr. Buckley said. "It's just ridiculous."
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