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Citizen complant of the day: The postman always double parks twice

For the past two years, a vexed citizen has complained to the city about the same three postal workers double parking in he bicycle lane outside the Talbot Avenue post office. Yesterday, the city marked one of the complaints "closed" and noted:

Officer spoke to post office workers about parking out front. they were warned. we will go by daily.

Now, this was the same car at the same location the city ticketed a year ago. Did the postal worker learn the lesson? Apparently not, since a new complaint was filed this morning:

Black pontiac 415 NJO double parked in bike lane. This is the second time in 2 days. I've reported this guy dozens of times over 2 years. The postal employees have been spoken to, but they don't care about btd or the residents of our fair city. Stop being nice and hand out some tickets!!!

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Actually, my local postal worker is one of the nicest guys I've me in the neighborhood. He was above and beyond helpful when there was a fire in the building we used to live in and about 100 of us were displaced. Is there any group of people or workers cyclists don't rant about? This constant bashing of everyone who isn't a cyclist is getting ridiculous. If you cannot ride safely in the city when there are cars parked in the bike lane or parents pushing strollers across your path when you're trying to run the red light then you're not suited fir urban riding. Get a T pass!

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When you got both a ticket and a talking-to by a BTD worker and then the very next frickin' day you're double parking in the same frickin' spot, which, by the way, blocks not only a bicycle lane but, more important in this frickin' car-oriented culture we live in, part of the roadway.

And while postal workers no doubt do good things all the time, what evidence do we have that the frickin' owner of this particular frickin' car has rushed into burning buildings and saved armloads of frickin' puppies and orphans?

Frick!

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I was once told by a cop that there is a Federal law which states one cannot obstruct the mail from being delivered. The context was that I did not see a road closure sign and took a turn following a postal truck and then was stopped by the cops. I inquired why the postal truck was allowed to travel on the closed road but not I, that was his reply. Mail must be delivered. It is not the fault of postal workers that bike lanes were painted on an unsafe and poorly thought out part of the street. If the law states that cyclists may use the FULL lane, then avoiding a double-parked postal delivery truck, MIT shuttle bus, MBTA city bus, semi tractor trailer truck delivering your favorite Dunkin coffee or Schlitz beer is the appropriate time to do it. It's a big city fraught with danger and risks of all sorts and we all have to be alert and ready to react. Improvements are being made - some work and some don't. That's life in any city.

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.. it's a private car. Mail isn't delivered to post offices by private car, but by postal trucks... and there are specific places for the postal trucks to park so the mail can be offloaded and brought into the post office.

If a private car is parked in a spot that is not legal parking for a private car, it should be ticketed.

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Are allowed to used the private passenger vehicles, mine does all the time!

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Are they really supposed to?

I thought in bigger cities they're supposed to deliver the mail on foot.

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How the f does one get to their route when it say 2 miles from the post office? Your a rational thinker you are.

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When "your" trying to be clever (but failing miserably) it's a good idea to check "you're" spelling, lest you end up looking like a bigger dumbass than the one "your" trashing.

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I am a Letter Carrier and we do use our private vehicles to deliver mail.

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A cop told you this and you believed it?

Fool.

Jerk should park in the lot or in legal parking. This is just rampant stupid privilege - and it isn't a postal vehicle, but a personal one.

You are probably also a jerk that says "bikes should be forced to stay in bike lanes" despite the unwillingness of traffic cops to enforce the goddamn laws they don't get to just make up.

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You might want to get your rage in check. I stated that I believe as is accorded by law that bikes are legally entitled to and should use the full lane of the road. However, if a postal truck is double-parked in a bike lane then as an urban cyclist, you need to be skilled enough to ride around said postal truck or a double-parked MBTA bus, university shuttle, taxi, and now as seems to be popular runner who seem to prefer jogging in bike lanes, and so on and so forth. If you are unable to ride with this skill, then you should not be riding on busy city streets for your own safety. There will always be law breakers causing unsafe conditions in any city or suburban town. That's reality.

For the record, I have a driver's license and a bike, but walking is my primary mode of transportation.

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http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/83/1701

18 U.S.C. § 1701 : US Code - Section 1701: Obstruction of mails generally
Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage
of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall
be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months,
or both.

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So drivers of postal trucks and mail carriers can't be expected to park legally because that obstructs the mail?

Aren't they similarly obstructed by and therefore not expected to:
stop for red lights
yield to pedestrians in crosswalks
stop at stop signs
obey yield signs
obey speed limits
obey crossing guards and flaggers

Where is the line drawn here?

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All the things you listed I see violated every day by people on bikes. I'm pretty sure if they are on the road they are supposed to abide by the rules. I am a letter carrier and some of us are expected to use our own cars but boss says they don't have to provide parking. Makes sense right?

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They, or their employer, pay the tickets as the cost of doing business. Is that also chutzpah? The penalty for double parking is an expensive ticket. If you're cool with paying the ticket, or if your employer will pay it for you, what's the incentive to stop? That's pretty much the end of the story, unless you want to advocate for stiffer penalties for parking violations.

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Maybe the licensing board should get involved when a business racks up some threshold number of infractions?

Or would that cut into their anti-dancing hearing time?

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They should get involved when businesses fail to pay their personal property taxes as well (an old dream of mine from my time with the city...).

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Is there any group of people or workers drivers don't rant about? This constant bashing of everyone who isn't a driver is getting ridiculous. If you cannot ride safely in the city when there are bikes in the lane or parents pushing strollers across your path when you're trying to run the red light then you're not suited for driving. Get a T pass!

But in all seriousness, a blocked bike lane is just as much a violation of the law and safety issue as vehicles that run red lights, bikes and cars and trucks included. Regardless of the mode of transport, if you cannot follow the rules of the road, you're not suited to be on the road.

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Huh? You post doesn't add anything constructive to the discussion.
Sorry you wasted your time. Now please let the grown-ups get back to the regularly scheduled 'bike riders vs. everone else' post.

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My post doesn't add anything constructive but your anecdotal story about your postal worker does?

Please, I merely pointed out the absurdity of your generalizations and I spoke about adherence to the laws by all vehicles on the road in the name of safety and order. You retort back with nothing of substance.

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For example, there would not be parking in bike lanes when bike lanes are not present. Problem solved! That's the way the City should respond to bitching about public servants and others doing their delivery jobs and blocking bike lanes.

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You know, couriers are working ... and sometimes carrying mail to the post office!

Maybe cyclists should just start dropping junker bikes in the middle of the roadway for motorists to just swerve around.

Not much different, is it?

Or better yet, we spent billions of dollars building the pike and big dig ... why can't the cars just all drive over there. The local roads weren't made for them, after all ;-)

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I've noticed on here that the cyclists will rant about anyone who has a job.

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My husband and I are cyclists and together we will probably earn more at our jobs in a year than you will see in three.

And we keep a lot more of it because we only have one car to support.

Here's another news flash: bike couriers not only have jobs but their jobs involve biking - as do the jobs of pedicab drivers.

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And I do feel for them. They have to use their own personal vehicles to pick up a few bags of heavy mail for the day and then drive and try to park legally somewhere on their route. Many post offices don't have parking for their employees, and still expect them to carry heavy bags of mail in the morning to their personal cars.

On the other hand, some of the postal workers are just lazy, and illegally park so they can go in and pick up their paycheck or other non essensial task.

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PETITION THE CITY FOR A LOADING ZONE SPOT!

The answer should NEVER be "park illegally".

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I'm not saying its right to park there, but loading zones arent the answer either, as the post office probably needs multiple spaces to satisify the needs of its workers.

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In any case, they should stop this "entitlement parking" among their workers.Why some people think they deserve special privileges to break the law is amusing and annoying and should neither be tolerated nor encouraged.

Meanwhile, the city of Boston should do as other communities do and permit parking in resident zones between, say, 8-6 for postal delivery and other necessary services such as visiting nurses.

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Or instead of creating multiple new categories of permits, with the associated costs of issuing them, they could allow *anyone* without a permit to park for an hour or two in resident zones. Like most cities with permit parking.

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Half of your comments are entitlement driven, and 100% when your talking about the entitlement aditude of bikers in Boston. If it where up to you, you would have cars banned. So your opinion hold no weight.

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Making excuses for yourself and how you are soooo special that you get to break the law whenever it is convenient for you because you have a car or you are working or whatever?

THAT IS ENTITLEMENT.

You need some more education if you can't get that ... or maybe a trip to Toronto with a stay in their jail for "explaining" to the cops why you are too special and important to follow the laws there - where they enforce them.

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That describes most cyclists in metro Boston to a T! It would change real quick if real penalties applied to cyclists like fines and insurance surcharges with needed police enforcement efforts.

Toronto has some sanity. They voted out the pedal-philes who wouldn't stop screwing up transportation with ever more bike lanes.

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I have said before and I will say it again: enforce properly on ALL MODES including jaywalkers and I'll have no issue with ticketing cyclists.

Single out cyclists and you will get legal challenges that cannot be beaten. I can also start videotaping my rides to show how many pedestrians think they can just step out into the street whenever, and how many drivers run lights, drive in bike lanes, park illegally, block the box, fail to yield to peds, fail to yield on turns, etc. Also, how many pedestrians fail at the basic "red hand means keep your arse on the curb" test. Won't take more than 15 minutes at South Station area to do the trick.

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Motorists need to fight tickets based on discrimination, targeting, and profiling!

Laws are not being enforced on other road users evenly. I should redefine motorists. Citizens operating private vehicles - so MBTA drivers, truck drivers, and public employees face lax enforcement too.

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I thought those green mailboxes exist so trucks can drop the mail there, and a postal worker can walk to them and pick up the mail near where it has to be delivered.

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..all the green boxes in my neighborhood are gone. The postal workers have small, white USPS trucks that they fill the mail for their route at the local post office. Then they drive the truck with the mail in it to their routes.

The postal workers then deliver the mail to a few houses, get back in the truck, drive a few houses down the street, park, deliver to a few more houses, get back in the truck, and the cycle starts again.

A different USPS truck comes to pick up the outgoing mail in the blue mailboxes.

typical inefficiency.

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Assuming that dropbox delivery and mailbox pickup are still performed separately, you just described a protocol that is arguably faster and requires fewer people.

I guess one can make the case that it's less efficient, fuel-wise, to run a small vehicle for many short runs rather than a larger vehicle for slightly longer runs. But the labor cost of the additional personel and the delay in overall delivery times probably vastly overshadows that.

(Btw, the USPS seems to be doing things the "old-fashioned" way around here in Rosi. What neighborhood are you in, AC? And how do you know that 'most' of USPS delivery in Boston no longer works this way?)

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Yes, the green dropboxes are still in use in Allston as well. There's one directly across the street from my house. I, too, wondered about that assertion that most of them have been removed around Boston.

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Hey, after we get the parking thing worked out, can we move on to getting mail carriers from littering the sidewalks with friggin' rubber bands? Yeah, it's a dream that they would reuse them.

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Seriously? You are complaining about ruuber bands? Find another hobby. Pick them up... and while you are at it pick up all of the leaves, dog poop, snow/ice and other obstacles that postal workers are busy avoiding while you are complaining about rubber bands.

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