Name-Change Game Creates Confusion

Will someone please tell me where I live? When we moved in about five years ago, the agent told us we were buying a home in Sepulveda. Soon thereafter, neighbors informed us that the official map of the city of Los Angeles recognizes this area as part of Northridge and that many of the older deeds indicate that fact.

However, the U. S. Postal Service, for reasons that suit it, insists that we must not only use the Sepulveda ZIP code, but also says that unless we write Sepulveda or San Fernando, our mail will be delayed.

Now, to add insult to injury, and ignoring the fact that the vast majority of residents in our community signed a petition asking that we be allowed to use the Northridge designation, I read in The Times that the postal authorities have now decided to let us use the name North Hills with the Sepulveda ZIP code. Even more unfair is the fact that all businesses near us can use the Northridge name and ZIP, but the homeowners are forbidden to do so and now that North Hills has split off from the rest of Sepulveda, we seem to be an island surrounded by other communities and being forced to use the name of one (Sepulveda) that is totally detached from us.

Please, will someone take pity on us and allow us to use the name the city knows us by along with the ZIP already assigned to others in this area?

SHARI GAMSON, Sepulveda