OAK PARK : Area Again Loses Bid for Its Own ZIP Code

They had heard it before. But word Tuesday that the U.S. Postal Service can do nothing to help Oak Park in its 30-year quest for its own ZIP Code has prompted some members of the community’s advisory council to blast postal officials.

“We’ve heard the same old story before,” Councilman Kent Behringer told two postal officials invited to speak Tuesday to the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council. “We know you are tired of us, and we are sick of this story. Unfortunately, this is our problem and you are not solving it.”

Postal officials have twice in the past year rejected Oak Park’s request for its own ZIP Code, saying the community of 15,000 is too small and the change would be too costly.

Oak Park shares its ZIP Code with neighboring Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County. Residents say that means they pay Los Angeles County’s higher insurance rates and sales taxes.

After Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) told the advisory council in October that he would not sponsor federal legislation to change the way ZIP Code boundaries are drawn, the advisory council renewed efforts to negotiate a solution with local postal officials.

But Stacia Crane, manager of consumer affairs for the postal service in Santa Clarita, told the council Tuesday she could do nothing more than recommend that residents urge companies they do business with to improve their mailing lists. The lists can be updated using a post office program that specifically identifies which county a resident lives in, Crane said.

Calling the suggestion that Oak Park residents notify every company they do business with “ridiculous,” Councilman Douglas Hewitson railed against the post office’s refusal to help.

“It is insulting,” he said.

Crane said she understood the council’s anger but could do nothing to solve its ZIP Code problem. “I’m sorry that it has to be like this,” she said.