News
Apr 19 2010
Portsmouth woman defends mailbox from ‘stimulus’
Bristol Ferry Road mailbox makeover is last stage in federally funded project
They had already ‘stimulated’ Bristol Ferry Road’s sidewalks and curbs, and this week workers addressed one last issue on that busy Portsmouth road — the mailboxes.
From one end to the other, old and often battered mailboxes were uprooted and replaced with black Postal Service-approved models.
It went fairly well Monday until the crews reached one woman’s house.
“If you take my mailbox, I’ll sue you,” said the woman who later contacted the Times but asked not to be identified. “I think they could tell that I meant it because they left.”
She objected, she said, on a couple counts.
“Mine is a good sturdy one, I like it and I don’t want them to replace it with something flimsy,” she said. “They didn’t even ask — can they do that?”
She said she called the Post Office to find out what they knew. The Portsmouth postmaster had heard nothing about it.
Nor had Town Administrator Robert Driscoll who said he would check on it.
Reached by phone later that day, state Department of Transportation spokesman Charles St. Martin said the contractor, Narragansett Improvement Co., was only doing the federal government’s bidding.
“We are supposed to replace mailboxes with ones that meet safety specifications,” Mr. St. Martin said.
The mailbox replacement, he said, is a final step in the 100 percent federally funded stimulus project that involved sidewalk, curb and drainage work along the four-lane road.
Since the mailboxes are located within the roadway right of way, “it is something we are required to do (or) risk having funds withheld.”
The new boxes’ support posts are “round stock metal pipe” designed to kink and bend over if struck. The metal box itself is attached to a bolted-on metal plate.
The design aims to prevent the post and box from becoming missiles upon impact and harming motorists or passersby, Mr. St. Martin said.
He added that while the pipe supports are required, he expects that any residents who wish to replace the new metal box with their own securely attached postal-approved box may do so.
The woman said that many boxes and posts along Bristol Ferry Road are indeed battered.
“Some of it is accidents, but a lot is kids who come along with baseball bats at night,” she said.
But hers is a survivor, she thinks it is attractive, and she will defend it.
“It’s a perfectly good mailbox and I don’t want it replaced with some cheap thing that’s easy to knock over ... If it gets smashed next year, will the state come back and replace it?”
“Probably not,” Mr. St. Martin said.
Although he had not yet spoken to the state about the mailbox removals, Mr. Driscoll said he guessed the work was part of the contract.
“We assume people are free to replace them with something fancier if they prefer,” he said.
The administrator said that when the town damages mailboxes on Portsmouth roads (usually by snowplow) it replaces them.
“We replace with wooden posts in deference to the fact that that seems to be what people prefer,” Mr. Driscoll said.
From one end to the other, old and often battered mailboxes were uprooted and replaced with black Postal Service-approved models.
It went fairly well Monday until the crews reached one woman’s house.
“If you take my mailbox, I’ll sue you,” said the woman who later contacted the Times but asked not to be identified. “I think they could tell that I meant it because they left.”
She objected, she said, on a couple counts.
“Mine is a good sturdy one, I like it and I don’t want them to replace it with something flimsy,” she said. “They didn’t even ask — can they do that?”
She said she called the Post Office to find out what they knew. The Portsmouth postmaster had heard nothing about it.
Nor had Town Administrator Robert Driscoll who said he would check on it.
Reached by phone later that day, state Department of Transportation spokesman Charles St. Martin said the contractor, Narragansett Improvement Co., was only doing the federal government’s bidding.
“We are supposed to replace mailboxes with ones that meet safety specifications,” Mr. St. Martin said.
The mailbox replacement, he said, is a final step in the 100 percent federally funded stimulus project that involved sidewalk, curb and drainage work along the four-lane road.
Since the mailboxes are located within the roadway right of way, “it is something we are required to do (or) risk having funds withheld.”
The new boxes’ support posts are “round stock metal pipe” designed to kink and bend over if struck. The metal box itself is attached to a bolted-on metal plate.
The design aims to prevent the post and box from becoming missiles upon impact and harming motorists or passersby, Mr. St. Martin said.
He added that while the pipe supports are required, he expects that any residents who wish to replace the new metal box with their own securely attached postal-approved box may do so.
The woman said that many boxes and posts along Bristol Ferry Road are indeed battered.
“Some of it is accidents, but a lot is kids who come along with baseball bats at night,” she said.
But hers is a survivor, she thinks it is attractive, and she will defend it.
“It’s a perfectly good mailbox and I don’t want it replaced with some cheap thing that’s easy to knock over ... If it gets smashed next year, will the state come back and replace it?”
“Probably not,” Mr. St. Martin said.
Although he had not yet spoken to the state about the mailbox removals, Mr. Driscoll said he guessed the work was part of the contract.
“We assume people are free to replace them with something fancier if they prefer,” he said.
The administrator said that when the town damages mailboxes on Portsmouth roads (usually by snowplow) it replaces them.
“We replace with wooden posts in deference to the fact that that seems to be what people prefer,” Mr. Driscoll said.
