State lawmakers tell Krystal 93 they are just as frustrated as you are with the U.S. Postal Service.
“They are not maintaining services at the levels they should,” Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie says. “We have reached out again to Representative Neguse’s office. He has now forwarded an inquiry on to the Colorado-Wyoming district office. We hope to hear back from them very soon.”
Neguse has tried before to pressure the post office into better rural service. Last year he joined Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet with a letter to the Federal agency, urging it to update routes and procedures in mountain towns.
“This report confirms what we already knew to be true – that the unreliable and inadequate mail service in our mountain towns has resulted in unacceptable delays and gaps in service for rural communities,” the letter reads.
But trouble persists. In September a postal worker at the Dillon post office reported an active burglary. This halted mail delivery for several days to neighborhoods in northern Summit. Later in the month the desk at the Silverthorne post office was closed with no warning.
McCluskie has not personally experienced trouble with mail at her home in Dillon. But she hears often from people who do.
“While a letter from grandma might not be pressing, getting that prescription in your mail, getting a paycheck in the mail?” she says. “That’s a really critically important part of our local economy.”
Neguse and his office are still collecting testimony. Contact them directly to share your troubles with the Postal Service.
McCluskie on rent
An even bigger concern right now is affordability in the High Country. But McCluskie has promising news for renters.
“We just met with the Apartment association yesterday and they said rent prices are starting to level off and even decrease in some parts of our state,” McCluskie says. “I hope we have rounded that corner and we are going to see cost of living start to decrease.”