Twelve curbside mailboxes to go

By JOANNE B. WALKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2000

Ponce de Leon residents feel they have won a battle with the post office. For 18 months, association president Rosemary Grasso and Shirley Carpenter have been trying to evict curb-line mailboxes from their neighborhood. A resolution may be near. The post office says it will remove 12 boxes.

More than a year ago, Carpenter went door to door for residents' signatures on a petition. Association leaders insist that many of the boxes were installed without clear explanations and some with signatures from tenants, not homeowners.

In January, the Ponce de Leon newsletter included an appeal for help to Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Rocks Beach, that residents could sign and send.

In early February, the post office allowed 52 Ponce de Leon residents to vote on the fate of their curbside boxes. Post office spokesman Gary Sawtelle said 20 neighbors responded: 12 boxes are going, and eight are staying.

Sawtelle acknowledged that Young's office had contacted the post office about letters from three residents, but he said a review of Ponce de Leon already was in progress. "To the credit of the neighborhood," Sawtelle said, "they never gave up on a couple of issues they had."

St. Petersburg still has an ordinance prohibiting curbside boxes. "I don't personally care if only one box comes out of this neighborhood," Grasso said. "It's whether they have the right to choose."

"The post office is mandated to deliver universally to the country," Sawtelle said. "That sort of puts us outside some of the local ordinances. . . . We are not going to force anyone to have curbline delivery."

Sawtelle said cooperative discussions continue with the city. "We'd like to respond up front with neighborhood associations."

Grasso still questions sending the ballot to the house rather than to the homeowner. Many of the houses are rentals. The ballot requests the signature of the homeowner, not the tenant. Grasso said that may be the reason that more ballots were not returned.

To which Sawtelle said: "That's a very good question. I have a call in to Rosemary Grasso."

Euclid-St. Paul

The first of three public meetings to address traffic calming is at 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Paul's Catholic School, 12th Street and 20th Avenue N.

About a dozen volunteers are building three entrance monuments using $3,000 from a 1999 matching neighborhood grant. The 4-foot red brick structures are being topped with planters. They are at Ninth Street and 17th Avenue N, 12th Street and 22nd Avenue N, and 16th Street and 18th Avenue N.

"The bricklaying was a trial-and-error thing," said Fran Makuta, association vice president. "They look pretty good."

The group is also restoring two original monuments at about Ninth Street and 14th Avenue N. "One was recently hit by a truck," Makuta said. "It's leaning." They are 8 to 10 feet tall with a Euclid Place plaque on the front. The new monuments will say Euclid-St. Paul.

Graham-Rogall

The tenant patrol at this 486-unit complex -- similar to a neighborhood crime watch -- is attracting outside attention. Two other complexes joined Graham-Rogall residents this week for a 16-hour training course with St. Petersburg police. On Friday, 27 volunteers were scheduled to graduate with security training. "I was quite flattered other complexes wanted to see what we're doing," said association president Sharon Collins.

The course included a trip to the 911 center at the police station. Volunteer duties include patrolling building perimeters, manning security desks and receiving daily check-in calls from each resident. Anyone not checking in by 10 a.m. receives a personal visit from a volunteer to verify that everything is okay.

This complex caters to seniors. There's a perception that women outlive men, but here the men lead. The two oldest male residents are 98 and 99, Collins said. The oldest woman is 96 or 97.

Have a good week, neighbors!

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