Answer Man: “A number of us have been wondering why the post office closed the road and mailboxes south of the building which were so convenient. Now there is a temporary box in the main parking lot to the north which is not only inconvenient but causing traffic jams. There seems to be NO reason for the closure. Can Steve Pokin figure this out for us?” — Robert M.N. Palmer, of Springfield.
Steve Pokin, here.
I read your question, Robert, and believe-you-me I was eager to raise holy hell with Louis DeJoy, none other than postmaster general of these here United States of America.
But then I learned the city closed the street due to flooding damage in August, not the post office.
In response to the closure, the Post Office moved the boxes because they were inaccessible by vehicle, says Pam Roy, administrative assistant to the Springfield postmaster.
She told me via email that Joe Hamp, with the city's Public Works Department, visited the local postmaster’s office Monday, Aug. 8, with news that West Tampa Street would be closed indefinitely between Main and Campbell avenues due to flooding damage on Aug. 5.
I checked weather data and the rainfall — as measured at the Springfield-Branson National Airport — was .50 inches on Aug. 3 and .49 inches on Aug. 4.
I'll take your word that it's a traffic problem
So, yes, the street was closed — over four months ago.
Yes, again, whatever number of boxes that were located off of West Tampa, at the back of the post office, are no longer there.
For the third time, yes — to compensate, one collection box has been placed on the west side of the main parking lot, the one off of the Chestnut Expressway.
I'll take your word, Robert, that this new arrangement is far less convenient. It seems like the location of a large collection box in the main parking lot days before Christmas would be a traffic nightmare.
In a brief aside: I've met Robert Palmer a couple of times at Tie & Timber. He is the son of longtime News-Leader cartoonist Robert “Bob” Palmer, who created over 10,000 political cartoons for the paper from 1953 through July 1991. Some of those cartoons were featured in a 2020 display at the Springfield Art Museum.
The road is closed, but is it really?
Back to the case of the collection boxes. Here's where the plot turns.
When I drove to the post office Wednesday to answer your question, Robert, I expected West Tampa Street to be closed because, well, you told me it was closed in your message.
But it wasn't.
In fact, I became the first to inform Roy, at the post office, the street was again open.
In response to that news, she wrote in an email to me:
“I’ll try to contact Mr. Hamp to make sure the issues with the street have been resolved and then inquire about the future of the collection box.”
In a situation that seems to suffer by waiting, I didn't wait; I called Hamp.
Happy golden times of yore
He also was unaware the street was reopened. He said he would find out the date when it was re-opened and if anyone at the city had bothered to notify the post office it had reopened.
Kirsten Milam, a spokeswoman for the city, says the street re-opened Dec. 5 or Dec. 6 and that no one from the city contacted the post office until Hamp did today, after I spoke to him.
Milam says the post office will move the collection boxes back to where they once were, but had no set time frame.
I hope it's soon because, as of now, with only days until Christmas, people with stacks of Christmas cards are yearning for those golden days of yore when they could drop them off with the greatest of ease via a little road that, apparently, no one cares about until December.
This is Answer Man Column No. 28.
