RICHMOND, Va. — Residents of Stonewall Place, a senior community in Richmond, report they have not received mail from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for more than a week due to a faulty lock in their mail room.
This marks the second time this year that residents have faced a similar issue.
"It’s getting frustrating, and it’s frustrating for every tenant in this building," Stonewall Place resident Cynthia Rasheed said.
In January, Rasheed contacted CBS 6 when her apartment complex went nearly three weeks without mail service. The disruption was attributed to a broken lock on the mail room door that mail carriers were unable to access.
Watch: Neighbors say this Richmond apartment complex went weeks without mail
Despite assurance that the problem was resolved, Rasheed and other residents soon observed postal carriers struggling with the mail room lock again. Rasheed, who serves as tenant council president, has now been without mail for about a week and a half.
"No, we’re going to go back and tell them that we can’t get in the door. That’s all we hear is we can’t get in, so we can’t give you your mail," she said.
Rasheed has reached out to USPS on behalf of her neighbors, but the situation remains unresolved.
"We are seniors in here, we have medication, I’m looking for information from the tax people, I haven’t gotten it for the last three weeks, and they said they mailed it. I still haven’t gotten it," Rasheed said. "I haven’t been able to accomplish anything. Just leaving messages, waiting for them to call back, and I have not gotten any response whatsoever."
The complex is managed by the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA).
An RRHA spokesperson said the agency cannot tamper with the mailroom locks or keys since they are considered federal property.
But according to a statement from a USPS spokesperson, RRHA may be responsible for the mail room door.
"The Postal Service makes every safe, reasonable attempt to deliver the mail. The door to access the mailboxes at the facility is often stuck even when unlocked and extremely difficult to open posing an injury risk for the carrier. The Postal Service has already contacted the property owner and asked for the door to be fixed or replaced to ensure delivery can continue. We look forward to finding a reasonable solution," said Phillip Bogenberger with USPS.
According to RRHA, senior officials had not been notified by USPS about the issue with the door itself.
A spokesperson for RRHA said its Chief Executive Officer, Steven Nesmith, and other senior officials would be meeting with a USPS staff Wednesday to resolve the issue.
Rasheed said she will keep on reaching out to the Postal Service on her own to make sure it doesn't continue or happen a third time.
"I’m a long hauler. I’ll go for the long haul, to do what we got to do to get our mail. So by any means necessary," she said.
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