The Canadian Union of Postal Workers Winnipeg held a town hall meeting to discuss community mailboxes Wednesday night.
The government announced that three Winnipeg neighborhoods would switch to community mailboxes.
Ben Zorn from the Canadian Union Of Postal Workers said they’re “looking at accessing concerns, particularly (for) people with mobility issues, (and) concerns over the effects of having community mailboxes in existing grid neighbourhoods."
Around 200 residents from Garden City, The Maples, and West Kildonan gathered at the town hall meeting to voice their concerns.
“We live in a corner lot and one of our fears is that they’re going to want to put one of these right on the corner of our lot. And we don’t want to see that,” said Jim Iverson.
Iverson says increased foot traffic and garbage near his lot will intrude on the privacy he enjoys.
Other concerns include personal safety and mail theft, according to CUPW.
CUPW says the community wasn’t properly engaged in a discussion before the decision was made by the federal government, and Winnipeggers agree.
"The people didn’t have a chance to voice their opinions about it. It just seems like the government keeps making us pay for more taxes and keeps taking our services away," said Marcio Chaves.
Roberta De Marcky has lived in Garden City for 28 years. She’s said she’s against the changes.
“If they put up community boxes in front of my home on the corner here, it will be bedlam because I wouldn't be able to take it,” she said.
Ross Eadie, City Councillor for the Mynarski Ward, spoke at the town hall. He says municipalities across the country feel left out of the decision to cancel door to door mail service.
“They never talked to them. They didn’t talk to them in detail, what is this going to mean,” Eadie said.
Eadie said community mailboxes will create problems for the city that it can’t afford to fix.
