ARLETA : Residents Campaign for Own ZIP Code

Thousands of pieces of junk mail stamped “Return to Sender” will be dropped into mailboxes in Arleta on Saturday to kick off a new campaign by residents to get a ZIP code independent of Pacoima.

“When this post office took away our ZIP code and made us share the ZIP code with Pacoima, they have made it as if we don’t exist,” said Hawley Smith, a member of the Arleta Chamber of Commerce who has led a campaign to bring back the 91332 ZIP code for Arleta. The Arleta post office closed in 1968.

Last year, a petition of 5,200 signatures was presented to the Postal Service to have the Arleta ZIP code restored. Local postal officials in February recommended reinstatement of the Arleta ZIP code, but the request was eventually denied by postal authorities in Washington.

The Van Nuys post office has appealed the decision by the Washington headquarters, and the issue is being reviewed. Local officials do not know when a decision may be announced.

Meanwhile, a demonstration of about 50 to 100 Arleta residents is planned for the Van Nuys Post Office on Sherman Way. It is a protest that Smith said he would rather direct at Washington than the local postal officials who have backed the community in the request.

“We think they ought to have it,” said David Mazer, a Southern California representative for Postal Service. Mazer said Van Nuys District officials have backed the request although the post office usually does not change ZIP codes because of community identity or to lower insurance rates, the reasons residents want their ZIP code back.

“ZIP codes are really designed to move mail,” Mazer said. The request had been denied because it did not save money for the Postal Service.

Smith said that about 2,000 to 3,000 pieces of junk mail delivered to Arleta residents with the Pacoima address have been collected in the past six months and will be dropped into postal drop boxes on Saturday. Residents will return the mail from now on, he said.

“We’re hoping to cause them to spend money so they would have to reconsider,” Smith said.

Arleta residents say they have a difficult time attracting businesses and selling their homes because they are linked to Pacoima, which has a reputation for high crime.

“We have the worst car insurance in the whole state of California, and it’s because we’re associated with Pacoima,” Smith said.