Have you had the pleasure of dropping off a letter at the Post Office and navigating across the humongous pothole that has its one-year anniversary coming up? Perhaps you can take Mrs. Action Line on an off-road excursion to the drive-thru mailbox. Who is responsible, or are we in the No Man’s Zone Of Not On My Watch?
– Anonymous
Several Western towns are known for their breathtaking geographical attractions.
Flagstaff has the Grand Canyon. Montrose has the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
And now Durango has the Postal Pothole, an astonishing formation that showcases mankind’s inability to stop the erosive forces of nature.
The key word here is “inability.”
The potent Postal Pothole has been allowed to grow while two government entities bicker over whose chasm it is, and thus, who is responsible for its repair.
On one side, there is the city of Durango.
“It’s not a street but a right of way,” insists Levi Lloyd, the city’s street superintendent. “We’ve received a number of complaints and referred them to the postmaster, who is aware of the situation.”
On the other side, there’s the Post Office, which maintains that maintenance is a city thing.
“Our property ends at the sidewalk,” a Post Office person said on the condition of anonymity, admitting that “the alley is in terrible shape.”
The postal worker pointed out that in past years the city repaired gigantic potholes in front of the mailboxes. “I don’t know why they stopped now,” the worker said.
The Post Office doesn’t like the fact that several unsuspecting vehicles have entered the gorge head-on and suffered flat tires.
“It’s not fun for us locally,” the person said, adding that last summer, some folks from the Post Office personally brought in a small load of rocks and gravel as a way of doing something, anything.
That fix worked until freezing foisted the funky fill. “We’re not going to do that again,” the postal worker said.
So we’re back to Square One. Actually, we’re in negative territory.
Action Line took a ruler and visited the pothole. In one place, the depression surpasses 12 inches. This is what’s known as In-Depth Reporting.
So the game of pothole hot potato continues. The city and Post Office point fingers, and here we are with a winter of discontent for the motoring mailing masses.
Sound familiar – government not doing anything because of disagreement and inability to compromise?
Something needs to be done, but what?
“Fill it with all the plastic bags Durangoans are so fond of having,” chimed in one onlooker.
“Or let’s just fill the thing with water and stock it with trout,” suggested another.
That’s a great idea, except we’d have to involve a state agency, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, to the city/federal feud.
Or we can take care of things ourselves. Fifty-pound bags of cold patch run about 12 bucks each at Home Depot.
If 50 Action Line readers pop a dollar in the mail for a Pothole Eradication Fund, we’d have enough for four bags of blacktop.
Trouble is, the postage for mailing 50 letters is $23. Maybe that’s the answer!
Mail more items so the Post Office won’t be so broke.
In any case, the P.O. can’t seem to catch a break. One end of Post Office alley features the Pothole of Doom. At the other, there’s the Wailing Wall, as in someone really wailed into that brick fence.
Or is it “whaled?” Dictionaries differ, and we have bigger fish to fry.
Last weekend, a motorist mistook the accelerator for the brake.
Who’d-a thunk the Post Office needed a second drive-thru?
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you ever wondered if first-class mail gets the big leather seats at the front of the plane.
