Carmel Sends Mail Delivery Question to Dead Letter Office

Faced with the most pressing issue in town--whether there should be home mail delivery--City Council members decided to do nothing for now, leaving Carmel’s homes untainted by numbered addresses.

Home mail delivery in Carmel would require numbering the houses, an idea strongly opposed by many in this distinctive coastal town of about 3,200, where Clint Eastwood was once mayor.

Some people want home delivery, such as longtime resident Carolina Bayne, who wants to be able to pick up her mail in her bathrobe.

But others like things just the way they always have been, with residents dropping by the post office to turn the antique brass knobs on their antique oak mailboxes.

The five-member council took up the matter at its meeting Thursday.

“This is a first-class city, and the Postal Service owes us front-door delivery,” said resident Joe Steinfeld.

Mayor Sue McCloud deposited on the council table a stack of postcards, the result of an informal poll that found the town favored the old ways by a tally of 481 to 91.

City Atty. Donald Freeman advised the council to do nothing. That way, he said, it could not be accused of doing the wrong thing.

The council then voted unanimously to table the matter and retain the ban against on-street mailboxes and house numbers.