Subscriber Comments for
Knotty Problem Solved

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 315094P	2012-09-02 02:01 AM
I stopped by to pick my mail, and there they were working under cover of darkness. The PO has a hard time getting things done until something bad happens. For many months the lights in the same parking lot were out and needing replacement. It was not a safe place to be after dark. When we asked what could be done we were told to fill out a "complaint" form, and/or go online to complain. As people who frequent that PO are already aware, from time to time the steps up to the lobby are taped off with yellow tape. It goes up when someone slips, but the stairs seem to remain in disrepair when the tape is removed again. At least that's what the employees tell us.
COMMENT 315098P	2012-09-02 02:46 AM
Hurray for the subscriber and the Take Charge Crew. Too bad that things need to be done this way, but this is better than just letting it ride until someone or something gets hurt.
COMMENT 315105	2012-09-02 07:12 AM
Maybe the "Take Charge Crew" can start their own local mail delivery service? Time to fire the Post Office slackers and let free-enterprise solve the problem.
COMMENT 315118	2012-09-02 07:56 AM
Wow somebody needs a hobby.
COMMENT 315146	2012-09-02 08:59 AM
Destrucftion of Government Property. Another edhatter can supply the PC numbers so the perps can research their crime and be prepared for the punishment.
FLICKA	2012-09-02 09:04 AM
Good work!
LUCKY 777	2012-09-02 09:43 AM
This is how trail maintenance is being done in the Los Padres National Forest. The Government is constrained by the "ForestWatch" lawsuit from repairing trails, so the BackCountry HorseMen get alerted and sneak out and make the repair.
COMMENT 315181P	2012-09-02 10:12 AM
105 - Just ONCE I wish people with your opinions could work at the USPS (as I did for 30 years). I was a manager for much of that time and EVERY SINGLE YEAR our budget was less than the year before. And sometimes less by BIG %s. Add to that three levels of bureaucracy above you who want to micromanage every little thing (including spending a couple hundred bucks on a tree trimmer or person to change lights) And this is what you get. The postal workers and managers do a fabulous job within the constraints that are forced upon them from above. BEWARE of D. Issa's bill in Congress....it adds at least two more levels of bureaucracy onto the USPS....NOT what is needed!
COMMENT 315186	2012-09-02 10:18 AM
People... in case you haven't heard the US Post Office was in the red for $4.6 Billion last quarter - not the year, the quarter. You may have strong feelings about federal employees and such but until you try to operate a business that loses that much money because ownership won't let you do otherwise (Congress) you really have no right to judge. D8VANILLA.... is that you cutting down other people's trees in the middle of the night and minding everyone else's business?
COMMENT 315192P	2012-09-02 10:27 AM
I agree that "postal workers and managers do a fabulous job." **For just a few coins-worth of stamps my mail to Orange County gets there the next day 99% of the time .... and two days later for the 1%. I take the time to print out crisp text labels for all mailings and never have a problem with delivery. Plus, the mail carriers in our neighborhood are excellent. I am very grateful to Post Office staff for their work. The Patterson Post Office is a big space to oversee and take care of ... on a dwindling budget.
COMMENT 315196	2012-09-02 10:44 AM
So what you are saying is county employees tresspassed on U.S postal service property and trimmed a tree without permission or proper notification. Those county employees should have their employment terminated. This story will be sent to the Patterson P.O manager.
RHS	2012-09-02 11:02 AM
The alleged debt of the USPO is created by Congressional mandate that it PRE-FUND 75 YEARS of retirement healthcare costs out of current revenues!! The USPO has received no federal money for decades. No requirement like this exists for private retirement programs and private corporations receive huge government subsidies and supports. The USPO is hamstrung time and again by GOP lawmakers who want it to fail together with Dems who want it to provide free or near free services for constituents, including big mail advertising companies. The USPO serves communities that no alternate system will address. It is a function of such import it was provided for by the Constitution. Yet the fantasy that it should be a market driven free enterprise shark persists. Maybe we can do the same for the military next--oops, I think we are already on that road.
BECKY	2012-09-02 11:41 AM
What the h3ll is wrong with some of you people?! Don't you get it that excessive bureaucracy is what's turned so many against government? When one branch of government is constrained from doing what is needed, then HOORAY for another that gets it, and has sufficient autonomy and initiative -- even if it has to be under cloak of darkness, off-hours, and with borrowed equipment -- to get the job done! Fight back against insane bureaucracy. Use common sense and just get it done! If we all had the audacity to refuse to go along with insanity, the insanity might stop.
COMMENT 315227P	2012-09-02 12:09 PM
Thank you so much to all responsible people who removed the dead branch! Angels, all of you. :)
COMMENT 315192P	2012-09-02 12:22 PM
Facts & Reality: 1. Why night-time? _ Because the parking lot would be close to EMPTY. 2. Who said no contact was made? _ Government staff have contact names that we do not. 3. Who said no permission was asked? (see above #2). 4. Why is this trimming a good thing? _ Liability corrected. 5. Why shouldn't governments help governments? _It's just us helping us.
COMMENT 315265	2012-09-02 01:54 PM
I see as usual we are all getting along. A trimmed tree branch and we are off and running. I wonder, did our parents and grandparents generation bicker this much? When they were asked to ration metal, or butter, did they start sniping about who was to blame for the shortages?
COMMENT 315192P	2012-09-02 04:52 PM
315196_You may want to read the Take-Charge Team's "Mission Statement," "Vision Statement," and "Core Values" posted on their County website. It is all very clear and nicely written. (And, it is a perfect 'fit' for this activity.)
COMMENT 315356	2012-09-02 06:17 PM
@196 - Are you for real? Some volunteers removed a clear and present danger to the rest of us, (YOU included) that the local USPO management couldn't or wouldn't deal with. Stay the heck out of this, as we all (you included) reap the benefit of removal of an imminent fire hazard. That limb was dead because something had caused the branch to break, and hang down. It could have been moved around by winds, and have ended up falling down, and doing heavy damage to a car (perhaps YOUR car) parked underneath. Instead of moan and whine, be thankful for civic-minded people still willing to extend themselves to assist the rest of us.
COMMENT 315196	2012-09-02 08:03 PM
Reading the story, here is what I understand: A group of county employees took a county vehicle without authorization (motor vehicle theft), trespassed onto U.S Postal Service property and trimmed a tree without providing the P.O with the legally required written warning and notice. If this is true those county employees should be fired. County employees are not above the law.
COMMENT 315385P	2012-09-02 08:21 PM
It bears repeating, some posters here need a hobby.
COMMENT 315192P	2012-09-02 09:11 PM
315380_Yikes. All of your statements are False. All tasks were performed according to the highest Mission standards (per stated County Mission, Vision, and Core Values). How you come up with such untrue statements is mind-boggling. Please stop making things up. There are County employees who are designated, assigned, and paid to assess these situations for the benefit of all -- and to correct public hazards with equipment supplied to them for the tasks [24/7]. Over.
COMMENT 315439P	2012-09-03 07:44 AM
It looks to me as though this branch was overhanging a county sidewalk and therefore in county jurisdiction. As with a neighborhood fence along a residential property line, you can trim what overhangs into yours from the neighbors. The tree itself, although probably on federal/PO land, also probably was on a County shared setback. Had there been an accident, the County as well as the Feds would have been sued. To forestall such ... 315196 comments, it would have been wiser to not have identified (although it's not clear to me - could have been any tree trim company) who cut down the branch. This company is probably tasked to remove dangerous conditions and should be thanked.
COMMENT 315196	2012-09-03 11:18 AM
The branch in question is no where near the sidewalk. It is overhanging the parking lot of the post office. The P.O owns the tree and the parking lot. This was none of the county's business. Careful reading of the story shows that a county worker, without authorization, told the author that a county crew would "pay a visit to the P.O in the middle of the night". This snide comment by the county employee demonstrates that he and his crew intended to trim the tree using county government equipment without authorization from the county and without providing the legally required Notice to Abate to the Post Office. I am not making "false" statements. I am taking the information provided in the story and expressing my anger that a county work crew trespassed onto someone's property (in this case the USPS) and performed work they did not have permission to do.
COMMENT 315356	2012-09-03 05:28 PM
@196, perhaps you need to consider intestinal irrigation.

58% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.

EDHAT COMMENTS POLICY