Public Comment

On a Friday morning this July, I heard a metallic scraping and clunking outside my house that seemed to come from the direction of the corner. I walked outside and could see the back end of a stake bed truck with the U.S.P.S. logo that was loaded with blue postal mailboxes. At first I thought our box was being removed again, and the neighborhood would have to fight another time for its re-installation.

However, as I rounded the corner I saw the old box had been removed, and a postal worker was bent over preparing a new shiny box for installation. Another guy was standing nearby. I commented that the old one was really old. The standing guy said, “Yes, 1936. It’s rusted out; too bad they didn’t paint it more often.”

I replied, “Franklin D. Roosevelt was president when this box was originally installed.” “Really?” was his reply. This must have jogged family memories because the guy working on the box replied, “My mom was born in 1934. She’s retired and relaxing in the Philippines.” The other guy said his grandfather was born in 1914 and added, “Wasn’t Roosevelt the one who created all the national parks?”

“No, that was Teddy. FDR was the one that started the New Deal, but he also created a lot of new national parks. He started the CCC that built out the parks. Frances Perkins, the first woman cabinet member and his Secretary of Labor, we must thank for Social Security and the National Labor Relations Act that allowed unions to organize.” I was warming up to my mini New Deal lecture.

The standing guy kind of rolled his eyes saying, “Oh, the union.” “Well, think of what it would be like without unions,” was my response. He quickly said, “You’re right about that!”