Lack Of Postal Service A Dilemma For Some Horizon Residents

By Ashlie Hardway

HORIZON CITY — Residents of a new Horizon City development are finding that a trip to the mailbox is turning out to be just that, a trip.

The Vista Serena neighborhood of Horizon City has nearly 400 homes and yetonly about half of them have mailboxes. Those residents whose homes do not, like Eric Lara, have to make a 9-mile trek to Socorro to pick up their mail.

It’s a trek he finds frustrating since neither the city nor developers were able to say when, if ever, the problem would be fixed.

“Like most people, in my neighborhood, I work a full day…8 to 5. So, it’s hard to find time to get to the Post Office to pick up the mail,” Lara said.

Following the same route that Lara takes, it took ABC-7 nearly 15 minutes to reach the Socorro Post Office on North Loop from his front door.

The Post Office offered to send information on how to rectify the situation, but none was ever received. Vista Serena offered no direct comment, but did send copies of correspondence between them and the postal service.

One letter from USPS stated, “Long after the developer or builder has sold his house to a buyer, the USPS will remain as a neighborhood fixture providing responsive service to the nation’s citizens, our customers.”

That letter was followed by another with the corollary that the postal service doesn’t provide a mail receptacle of any sort. Vista Serena’s response was “[their] hope that the postal service [would] re-evaluate its position in this matter in light of simple logic presented.”

At the end of the day, it is still Lara and several of his neighbors that are forced to make the trek for the day’s correspondence.