There were quite a few headline-making stories last week but, Friday afternoon, current councilman and former Times editor Mike Scharnow reached out to let me know that we were missing out on potentially the biggest local story in a decade: The Fountain Hills Post Office parking lot was finally getting repaved.
When I first moved to town about 13 years ago, I actually thought that particular parking lot was simply designed differently. It looked like an ocean of half-exposed rocks and, when you drove on it, you could definitely feel the innumerable bumps on the surface.
I naively thought this was similar to the ridges on the side of the highway, designed to get the attention of the driver in case they start to drift. My thinking was that the parking lot was designed this way to make sure everyone was extra alert when driving around the federal building.
Yes, in retrospect, I realize how ridiculous that sounds. But I couldn’t fathom another reason for that one square of parking surface to be so out of step with the rest of the community.
The Times has received many complaints about that parking lot over the years, including comments from folks blaming either the local post office staff or the Town for letting it fall into disrepair.
Sometime after my first experience with the parking lot, it was either Mike or news reporter Bob Burns who explained to me that, since the post office is federal property, the maintenance of its parking lot was not a matter that could be handled locally.
In other words, the local employees and members of council could send letters, make phone calls and beg until they went hoarse, but there was no way to make certain the job actually got done.
Then, this weekend, a miracle happened. The parking lot has been repaved, putting an end to the single most neglected piece of pavement in the community.
Maybe all of those phone calls and letters finally got the ball rolling. Maybe someone with the proper string-pulling capabilities happened to visit the local facility and report back to HQ that, yes, the Fountain Hills Post Office is in desperate need of attention.
Whatever the cause, I’m glad that item has finally been moved off of the “to do” list.
Enjoy it as best you can because, based on this most recent repair job, we’re not due for another fresh coat until about 2049.
All hyperbole and tongue-in-cheek joshing aside, I really am happy to see that parking lot finally get the attention it so desperately deserved.
If nothing else, I imagine this will be a huge relief for the men and women who work at the local facility, as I’m sure they were getting pretty tired of constantly being asked “when are you folks going to do something about that parking lot?” The same goes for Town Hall, who I imagine received similar complaints on a regular basis; complaints they could do almost nothing to address.
