Perhaps the plan was to prevent mailboxes from destruction by bored teenagers. Or snowplows.
Maybe a stone mason had time on his hands.
Whatever the reason, 6 mailboxes are encased sturdily — very sturdily — in a structure where Roosevelt Road meets Compo Beach Road, across from Ned Dimes Marina. (Click here to see.)
Several readers knew that the mailboxes — no longer used; every homeowner now has a private one at their driveway — were the subject of last week’s Photo Challenge.
Congratulations to Patricia McMahon, Matt Murray, Michael Szeto, Andrew Colabella, Beth Berkowitz, Micil Ryan, Michael Calise and Pete Powell. Your years of watching closely as you walk, jog, bike by the beach (or wait patiently in your car in the fireworks line) has paid off well.
We go indoors for this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
Who isi responsible for the upkeep and oversight of electric vehicle chargers on Westport town property?
There are 4 in the railroad station parking lot next to Donut Crazy. Two of them have not worked for months. No one seems to be doing anything about it.
Is the town paying a company to provide these chargers? Are we receiving subsidies for having chargers? (Anonymous)
The Police Department oversees railroad parking, so I asked Police Chief Foti Koskinas.
He said the town owns the charges. The first generation — installed in 2012 — required less voltage than the current ones. So now, there’s enough voltage only for 2 chargers.
They’re aware of the situation. Within a few weeks, all 4 will be operational.
The town gives the power away for free, at the train station and at all other charging stations on municipal property.
However, Foti says, the Selectwoman’s office, under the direction of operations director Tom Kiely, is looking at a new policy under which users would pay a fee.
An electric charging station at the Saugatuck train station. (Photo by Paul Schott/Westport News)
Where does the compost from the dump collection bins go? And is the ripe compost available for customer? (Chuck Hill)
I went to Public Works director Pete Ratkiewich for this one. He says: “Some goo to Southington to an aerobic digester. Some go to composting farms in Danbury and the New Milford area.
There is no compost available for customers.
=================================================
How did Imperial Avenue get its unlikely name? (Dick Seclow)
A great question — and one I’ve often wondered about.
Westport historians: Please let us know. And please include whether you’re passing along a fact, local lore, or something in between.
Imperial Avenue, in the fall. (Photo/Carmine Picarello)
Mr. Mailbox charges $800 to put in a new post and box. Can you completely ditch a mailbox and just use a PO Box? Is there a law that every house needs to have a street mailbox?
As best as I can determine, there is no law regarding mailboxes. It seems you can have a mail slot in your front door, so long as you tell the post office.
Without either option, the US Postal Service will mark your first-class mail “Undeliverable” and return it to the sender. Other mail will be discarded.
You can rent a PO Box at the Post Office — or through a private service, like the UPS Store.
You can also have your mail addressed to “General Delivery,” with a specific Post Office and ZIP Code. But you’d have to wait in line there to pick up your mail.
Colorful Compo Road North mailboxes. (Photo/Mark Mathias)
=================================================
I was raised in a Marine family, and was taught to address any adults as “sir” or “ma’am.” My brother was actually told to stop calling his teacher “sir,” because he thought he was being mocked.
Today, young kids and teenagers seem to think it is okay to call adults by their first name. What do Westporters think? (Jo Ann Miller)
I have no idea, ma’am. Readers: Please click “Comments” below.
Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas H. Miller — Jo Ann’s father — in 1960.
(The Question Box is one more service of “06880.” Our question is: “Can you help support what we do?” Please click here — and thank you!)
Earlier this week, an “06880” reader signing herself only “Mrs. Veteran” wrote:
This morning we woke up to our mailbox smashed down. It’s an age-old vandalism/prank of high school kids. This time an extremely large pumpkin took it down.
This is a continuing problem. Our neighbors dealt with it for weeks on end a few years ago. They took steps to make sure they weren’t targeted again, by putting metal poles on either side of their mailboxes. In the dark they were not visible, so the kids got a nasty surprise when they tried to take out the mailboxes with baseball bats.
My husband’s mellow attitude is “kids are kids, and this sucks.”
However, I will mention that he is a veteran who served over a decade in the U.S. Army. His Middle East tours lasted up to 14 months at a time.
I think kids in this town need a reality check sometimes, as they drive their BMWs to school or speed down neighborhood streets not considering the lives they could take (children and pets). And I know that not all Westport kids drive BMWs.
The reality check comes when they realize the mailbox they took out belongs to a veteran, a man who served his country to give them the very freedom to throw a pumpkin and damage our property. At this very moment that veteran and his young child are in the garage fixing our mailbox. That’s the same whose entire first year of life he missed — crawling, walking, talking, laughing, smiling, etc. — to fight on foreign soil for their freedom.
I won’t have any way of knowing if these kids read “06880,” but I would appreciate some sort of acknowledgement, even if it’s on behalf of others who had their mailboxes taken down, others who are not comfortable stating their feelings, and others who may just read this and say, “I wonder what my kid was doing last night.”
Click here to help support “06880” via credit card or PayPal. Any amount is welcome, appreciated — and tax-deductible! Reader contributions keep this blog going. (Alternate methods: Please send a check to “06880”: PO Box 744, Westport, CT 06881. Or use Venmo: @blog06880. Or Zelle: dwoog@optonline.net. Thanks!)
=================================================
