Photo appeared in 27 January Update regarding post office and its unkept grounds.

Close area to above photo and now “cleaned.”

Linda Lucks, president of Venice Neighborhood Council, has been involved with getting contact information regarding this since first reading about it in the Update. The 27 Jan issue gave the Washington D.C. contact and the Los Angeles contact information. The latest email gives the local information.

Dear Ms. Lucks,
I regret learning of the inconvenience you have experienced. This email is in response to your inquiry CA116353924. It is a response to your email to the Postal Regulatory Commission, Regarding the condition of the Venice Post Office located at 313 Grand Blvd, Venice, CA 90291-9993.

I have contacted Joe Brown, Customer Service Supervisor at the Venice Post Office on January 27, 2014. According to Mr. Brown, all the debris located around the Venice Post Office has been cleaned up as of January 25, 2014.

Mr. Brown also stated that cleanup efforts will occur weekly to ensure beautification efforts remain consistent with the community.

Please know that the Postal Service does not take customer complaints lightly. Considerable efforts are made on all levels to remedy any irregularities cited in order to maintain good will with our customers. We apologize for any other inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of this matter.

If you should experience any further irregularities, please contact Mr. Brown or the Postmaster Anthony Le at (310)314-4024 for immediate assistance.

Thank you for the opportunity to address this matter with you.

Sincerely,
Spenette Blount
Consumer Affairs, Rep
323-586-7407

Linda Lucks, president of Venice Neighborhood Council, read the Update story about the Venice Post Office Annex and its deplorable condition. She wrote an email, and the person she emailed, contacted another which resulted in the following letter from a consumer relations specialist. Now Venice residents have a name, a phone number to contact when the annex looks as bad as it does right now. Also see comments by Carolyn Rios under Comments.

Dear Ms. Lucks,

Thank you for contacting the Postal Regulatory Commission, and sharing your concerns regarding the external appearance of the Venice post office. I regret hearing of your concerns, and appreciate you sharing the details with the Commission.

The Postal Service advises that the District Consumer and Industry Contact offices provide postal customers with a convenient mechanism to facilitate resolution of postal concerns. You may correspond directly with your District Consumer and Industry Contact office at the address below.

United States Postal Service

Office of Consumer and Industry Contact

Natashi Garvins, Manager

7001 S Central Ave, Rm 267-A

Los Angeles, CA 90052-9631

Phone: 323-586-1250 or 323-586-1475

Fax: 323-586-1703

Additionally, the Consumer Advocate of the Postal Service coordinates policy for the District Consumer and Industry Affairs Offices and provides a final avenue within the Postal Service for resolving customer complaints. You may contact the Consumer Advocate by phone at 202.268.2000, or by US mail at Consumer Advocate; US Postal Service; 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW Room 4131; Washington DC 20260-5601.

Again, thank you for contacting the Commission. I hope the information provided will be helpful for you. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns, and I will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
Deborah Randall
Consumer Relations Specialist
Postal Regulatory Commission
202-789-6875
Fax 202-789-6891

(Photo Courtesy of Dennis Hathaway.)

Dennis Hathaway, of Penmar area,  sent the above photo with comments about how “unkept” the Venice Post Office Annex on Windward at the old Safeway complex had become.

Update checked out the post office and found the grounds to be beyond “litter” and talked with the postmaster.  They change postmasters once a week or once a month.  Pressure got one postmaster to clean up the perimeter and trim some of the sticky bushes last year when they had the encampment fire.

But the littler inside the grounds is so bad it could be called a fire hazard.  Outside perimeter was not too bad.  Bushes need trimming again and a box of bottles need to be removed but compared with the inside, it is clean.

“There can be no excuse for not cleaning up inside the fence, Hathaway wrote.  “The property is right in the middle of Venice and is an eyesore and whoever’s responsible should feel ashamed for not taking a little time to clean it up.

“Some might say the litter outside the fence is beyond post office control, but I find trash dropped on the sidewalk and parkway in front of my house from time to time and I feel a definite responsibility to clean it up.”

Postmaster said someone was coming to restripe the parking lot and at that time they would clean it up.  He was asked if it would be before March.  He said he didn’t know.

Venice residents, complain to the postmaster.  Complain to anyone who will listen at the counter.

Venice Post Office sidewalk is a pleasure to look at.  No litter.  Sunday night the bus stop (to left of photo) looks littered, but all in all, the site is consistently so much cleaner than it has been for years.