Win Some, Lose Some

Congratulations to the corner of Penn and Braddock Avenues in Point Breeze! You now have pedestrian crosswalk signs, which may soon be functional. No more people darting across your intersection as they get off the bus, playing chicken with the drivers making lefts onto Penn Avenue. Let's see if the lights make any difference to the drivers gunning it through red lights, especially eager bus drivers.

And condolances to the corner of Mathilda Street and Penn Avenue, and to the many other corners like it in Friendship and Garfield, who will be losing a mail box. The boxes were scheduled to be removed in early December, but are hanging around reminding us of how little we supposedly use them- that's the reason given on the notice for their removal. The notice instructs users to inquire about the next nearest blue box at the post office on Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield, many blocks away.

Residents of other Pittsburgh neighborhoods have also noted the removal of post boxes on their corners. Earlier last year, reduction of mail services city wide was reported in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. But there seems to be a history of low blue mailbox numbers in lower income, historically "underserved" areas.