Paul Bass File Photo
WPA mural inside the Westville branch library.
One neighbor hasn’t gotten any mail in several days.
Others have not yet received applications for absentee ballots that they requested.
In the experience of other neighbors, their beloved post office branch at 95 Fountain St. has few stamps for sale and seems under-supplied and over-neglected.
And this is occurring right at the time of widespread general concern that the United States Postal Service is under bureaucratic attack and may not be up for the expected onslaught of mailed-in ballots.
Those postal concerns — and their implications for the democracy — surfaced at the regular monthly meeting of the Westville-West Hills Community Management Team (CMT). The meeting drew 31 attendees Wednesday night via the Zoom teleconferencing app.
This is hardly the first time the modest neighborhood post office has faced challenges. In both 2009 and 2011 it was on a national USPS budget-cutting closure list; neighbors rallied, and the post office was spared.
This time neighbors are wondering if their post office is reflecting the local consequences of the recent deliberate slowing down of the mail and other services at a time when it should be functioning in tip-top form to expedite voting in the coming Covid-challenged national election.
Local environmental activist Laura Cahn triggered the quiet but passionate discussion by reminding people that “the local post office is a very important asset to the community, with boxes that serve as a kind of community meeting place.”
“There were several days last week when I got zero mail,” noted another neighbor, Janice Underwood. “That never happens. It concerns me greatly, and being ward [Democratic] co-chair of Ward 25 and knowing elections are coming up and mail will be an essential element …”
Underwood then described a recent visit to the post office: “I went to get postcards and stamps, and there were very few.”
There was something about the place that made her feel uncomfortable. “It feels they are being under-supplied,” she said, adding that she then went to another small local post office, the Whitneyville station on Putnam Street in Hamden, and they had everything Underwood wanted.
“I just am concerned. How do we contact the people there? Is there some sort of protocol to getting through to those in charge?” she asked.
Ward 25 Alder Adam Marchand said Underwood and those concerned should direct their concerns to U.S Rep. Rosa DeLauro. “When there were concerns with closing down that branch, that’s where we went,” he said.
“Or the CMT can send a letter of concern,” added Ward 27 Alder Richard Furlow.
“I like that a lot,” said Underwood.
Gary Winfield at a recent Ward 25 canvassing event aimed in part at signing up people to vote by absentee ballot.
Discussion ensued about the arrival of absentee ballot applications. Upper Westville Democratic ward co-chair Amy Marx said, “My understanding is that everyone registered to vote should have gotten one. If you don’t get an application, you should call the city clerk. Just to be clear, you will not get a ballot as of right. You must send in an application.”
Underwood replied, “The city clerk did not know why I had not received [one]. So I am distressed. This is something we are going to have to watchdog. I’ve lost confidence in the secretary of the state.”
In a chat discussion going on simultaneously, Kathleen Brady wrote, “The Post Office has been trying to close this branch for a while. It is an old trick called ‘demolition by neglect’ that is used to those who wish to accomplish their goal by making the targeted location either unappealing or nonfunctional so that the site will be abandoned by users. This then allows the excuse that the site is not needed and can be closed.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Connnecticut Attorney General William Tong joined colleagues in a dozen other states in seeking a court order to block USPS changes until after the Nov. 3 election.
“Mail delays have not stopped despite disingenuous and vague assurances from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. We have firsthand reports from postal service workers that overtime has not been restored. Mail sorting machines remain disassembled in parking lots. There is no plan to ensure that election mail is treated as it has always been — as First Class mail. … Every vote must count this November,” Tong stated in a release.