Postman Won’t Ring At Stanley Holmes

Atlantic City — Too many crimes plus a lot of police officers add up to one thing at the Stanley Holmes Village public-housing complex: The mail does not go through.

Mail delivery at the complex was suspended last week after police investigating a crime scene did not allow the postal carrier to make the normal rounds, Ray Daiutolo Sr., regional spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, said Wednesday.

For the time, residents of the complex must visit the post office at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Pacific Avenue to pick up their mail from the clerk at the window.

It’s not so much that carriers are afraid to go into the complex, which has been the scene of several shootings in recent months, Daiutolo said.

“Because of the level of police activity, it deprived the carriers of the opportunity to get in there and deliver the mail,” Daiutolo said.

Residents at Stanley Holmes Village said Wednesday afternoon it would have been nice for someone to tell them what was going on.

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Daiutolo said the stoppage will be temporary.

Postal officials met Wednesday with the Atlantic City Housing Authority, and came up with a solution they think everyone can live with, Daiutolo said.

The postal service is considering the placement of cluster mail boxes at several locations in the complex, similar to those at apartment and condominium developments throughout southern New Jersey, Daiutolo said. These would allow the carriers to deliver mail to hundreds of residents by making only a few stops rather than going to every single apartment.

Residents will have to put up with going to the post office for their mail for a few more weeks, Daiutolo said. The postal service hopes to have the new delivery boxes in place by Nov. 1.