CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Some neighbors in Chesapeake say they have gone without mail delivery to their neighborhood for almost two months. Residents in the single-family homes on Cobblewood Arch in the Dominion Pines neighborhood say their communal mailbox was knocked down during a winter storm, and they have not received mail delivery since then.
Gina Wilson-Gatling, a homeowner on Cobblewood Arch, said the mailbox was damaged during the winter storm that hit Hampton Roads at the end of January. Since then, she and her neighbors have had no choice but to travel to the post office on Battlefield Boulevard to pick up their mail.
"We have to go to the main post office on Battlefield daily to pick up our mail. And it's almost 60 days. And it's outrageous," Wilson-Gatling said.
For Wilson-Gatling, the situation is more than an inconvenience. As a disabled veteran, she relies on medications that are delivered by mail.
"My prescriptions are mailed to me. It normally comes in the mailbox. I can't get them. So, it delays my medication," Wilson-Gatling said.
Neighbors also expressed concern about the physical condition of the damaged mailbox and the safety risks it poses.
"God forbid if a child gets hurt or falls, or an elderly person falls, and they get injured here, have to get a tetanus shot," Wilson-Gatling said.
Because the single-family homes section of Dominion Pines does not have a homeowners association, residents say they have been unable to determine who is responsible for repairing the mailbox. Wilson-Gatling said both the city and the post office have been unresponsive about who is in charge of fixing it.
"The city and the post office, they're passing the buck, so we're caught in the middle," Wilson-Gatling said.
Chesapeake Neighborhood News Reporter Erin Holly reached out to the City of Chesapeake to get answers for these neighbors. A city spokesperson told her that the mailbox is located on private property, making it the homeowners' responsibility to repair.
Wilson-Gatling and her neighbors, many of whom are seniors, say they remain uncertain about how the mailbox will be fixed and when normal mail delivery will resume.
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