Clashing over community mailboxes

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A battle between the City of Hamilton and Canada Post over the implementation of community mailboxes will be resolved in court. In the meantime homeowners are being caught in the middle.
This morning a sub contractor working to install community mail boxes for Canada Post was informed of a stop work order by Councillor Terry Whitehead. At first, the contractor ignored the order, “so we had to bring the police in to inform then, that indeed the bylaw is in place, there is a stop order, and they need to respect the stop order.” Says Whitehead.

It’s just the latest in a fight between the City of Hamilton and Canada Post, the city says that any mailboxes must first receive a permit before they can be installed. While Canada Post says that they have the right to install mailboxes on city land, and “we will continue to follow the processes and the the laws that we’ve followed for many many years in Hamilton and the rest of the country.” Says Jon Hamilton from the Canada Post.

The two sides will meet in superior court on May 25th to decide the matter but just as the law is on hold, so too is responsibility. Last Friday a contracting crew severed a gas line at a house on Scenic Drive with no one stepping up to fix the problem.

Homeowner John Woolcott, “I want the situation resolved. I’m not going to pay for it and I want my gas turned back on.” Canada Post says they contacted Union Gas beforehand and the gas line was not in their plans and now, they’re are looking into the matter.

A few blocks to the east, the base of a community mail box has been placed right through the homeowners sprinkler system leaving the pipes sprouting out of the ground. Councillor Whitehead says this would have been avoided if they were subject to a permit process. Canada Post says that they expect to have the contractors back at work today.