Mailboxes Again Full at Housing Project

Residents of the Carmelitos Housing Project in Long Beach are once again finding mail in their mailboxes--but only temporarily.

The U.S. Postal Service last week suspended mail delivery to the public housing project after a letter carrier was frightened by two suspected gang members who ran past her, carrying handguns. Residents of the county-run complex were told to go to the local post office to pick up their mail, setting off protests from angry tenants who complained they were unjustly inconvenienced.

The postal service then started leaving the mail at the complex’s management office, but spokeswoman Kay Behnke said that arrangement was inconvenient, since only a few residents at a time could get their mail.

On Thursday, the carrier and a supervisor resumed delivery to cluster mailboxes throughout the complex. That service will continue only until a new central mail room is completed, Behnke said. The new mail room, which should be finished this month, was planned after thefts and vandalism at the cluster boxes, he said.