like Montrealers, Londoners expect more from our city council (updated! with full Montreal report)

Dear Mayor and councillors,

On 18 February 2015 at 18:33, City of London, Mayor <mayor@london.ca> wrote:

On behalf of Mayor Brown, thank you for your email. 

Thank you to all those who took the time to have your staff send me copies of the motion passed at the last City Council meeting. Could we perhaps take this discussion a bit further than form letters now? I would like to bring to your attention some recommendations which were recently approved unanimously by the public commission of Montreal's city council, and which now be forwarded to the full council for action:

Following the public commission on the impacts of the elimination of home delivery, the City of Montreal, through the public commission, filed a document* yesterday with the recommendations it will put forward regarding Canada Post's Five Point plan: 

1-      That the city consider all possible remedies to stop the implementation of community mail boxes;

2-      That the city refuse the implementation of the Five Points Plan of Canada Post and urges the Crown corporation to maintain home delivery in urban areas;

3-      That the City file a motion to intervene in federal court in connection with the appeal launched by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers;

4-      That the city demand of Canada Post:

a.       A study on the assessment of the economic consequences of the loss of direct and indirect employment of its employees;

b.      A study on the risks of real estate value loss for property owners located near the locations of community mail boxes;

5-      That the city argue to the federal government and to Canada Post the financial and operational implications which are foreseen and predictable in their jurisdictions and regulatory frameworks, including urban planning, management of the public domain, security and universal accessibility;

6-      That the city argue to the federal government and to Canada Post the failures in the implementation of community mail boxes, including non-compliance with guidelines, guides and standards on which the Five Points Plan in five is based.

These recommendations were adopted unanimously by the members of the Public Committee.

In the London context, the issues raised in these recommendations concern a number of municipal committees that go well beyond the scope of the Civic Works Committee. 

Londoners have a right to expect more from our city council, just as Montrealers do. The Big CIty Mayors caucus' resolution which you supported calls for meaningful consultations: when are we going to start seeing some in London?

Sincerely and persistently,

on behalf of Londoners for Door to Door

News links:

Montreal says no to community mailboxes (City TV, February 18, 2015).

These recommendations were the result of public consultations run by the city of Montreal:

Public hearings for door-to-door mail service (City TV, January 21, 2015).

*UPDATE: full report (Impacts sur la population montréalaise de la décisions de Postes Canada d'éliminer la livraison du courrier à domicile en milieu urbain: Rapport et recommandations. 44 pages, PDF), submitted to Montréal city council on February 23, 2015.

Danny Glover on the U.S. postal service (video)

Listen to Danny Glover's powerful testimony (and his personal connection to postal workers!): much of what he says about the U.S. Postal Service also applies in Canada. https://vimeo.com/119284262

Does the postal service matter to you? Get active in your community and take action before they take it away from us!

LONDONERS VALUE DOOR-TO-DOOR MAIL SERVICE: DEMAND TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

LONDONERS VALUE DOOR-TO-DOOR MAIL SERVICE: DEMAND TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Londoners are challenging the Canada Post steamroller threatening door-to-door postal service in our neighbourhoods. Some elected officials are starting to pay attention to community priorities, but more needs to be done, soon.
    Canada Post policy requires ‘meaningful consultation’ (yet to happen in London) before implementing changes in postal service. In newer subdivisions, where ‘super’ mailboxes have been used for some time, there is an established system for approval of sites. In contrast, the imposition of CMBs or ‘corporate’ mailboxes (they really have nothing to do with ‘community’) in neighbourhoods that currently enjoy home mail delivery can lead to many negative impacts as well as serious costs downloaded on our already strained municipal budget.
    The ‘survey’ Canada Post circulated last November in targeted neighbourhoods was so biased that

most recipients did not even bother responding. Out of 42433 addresses that received packages, the response rate was only 16%. This suggests that about fi ve out of every six addresses surveyed did not find the choices offered by Canada Post meaningful enough to be worth filling out. The package also relies on scaremongering about mail delivery becoming a potential ‘burden on taxpayers’, when in fact Canada Post returned a profi t to its owners (the Canadian people) in every year this century except for one (2011, when they locked out their employees).
In contrast, Londoners for Door-to-Door volunteers have been knocking on doors for weeks to talk about these issues and listen to our neighbours. We’ve been getting a more signifi cant response rate, so we know that the choice that most residents really want is to keep their door-to-door delivery. This basic choice was not even an option in the Canada Post ‘survey’.
    On Monday February 9, City Council passed a motion calling for further study of how other municipalities are dealing with the elimination of door-to-door, as well as for a public consultation process. These are initial steps in the right direction: kudos to Councillors Park and Ridley who listened to constituents and brought forward this motion. But much more needs to be done in order to protect our communities.
    Londoners deserve a meaningful say in issues like accessibility (has the City’s Accessibility Advisory Committee even been consulted?) and the safety of the elderly and people with disabilities, many of whom may be just one slip or fall away from serious injuries. London should learn from how other municipalities are facing this policy challenge.
    Hamilton’s city council has called for a halt to introducing new CMBs while they study the costs of approvals, estimated at over $500 per box. Medicine Hat came up with a similar fi gure of $500, yet Canada Post is offering London a ‘nominal’ $50 per approval. Brampton found that newly imposed CMBs generate litter that costs thousands of dollars to clean up, which Canada Post refuses to pay. Sarnia negotiated a contract with Canada Post protecting that city from litter and upkeep costs as well as from being sued for injuries at CMBs. These important issues are absent London’s report on CMBs.
    The City’s Protective Services Committee has not yet considered the real possibility of higher policing costs due to increased mail theft. CMBs have made Surrey B.C. Canada’s mail theft capital (think stolen parcels, cheques and identity fraud). Then there are likely reductions in property tax revenues due to lower home values where door-to-door delivery is eliminated: is London prepared for thousands of applications for municipal tax reassessments?
    These issues are too important to be settled behind closed doors in private talks with Canada Post. More than half the postal addresses in London are threatened with the loss of a valued public service, and we need a transparent process before changes are imposed. When will the City release the list of proposed new CMB locations?
    A Canada Post representative recently told Hamilton’s City Council they consider public consultation ‘a waste of time’. Conservative MPs seem to agree, and have not meaningfully engaged the public on this issue either. MPs Holder and Truppe seem to be ignoring their constituents on this issue. This is a federal election year, and Londoners who value door-to-door delivery are demanding real accountability. -
Wendy Goldsmith and David Heap, on behalf of Londoners for Door to Door

YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS CAMPAIGN BY CONTACTING LONDONERS FOR DOOR TO DOOR BY E-MAIL PEOPLE4DOOR2DOOR@GMAIL.COM

From Scene Magazine, February 12, 2015:
http://www.scenemagazine.com/uploads/2/4/1/8/24189503/web735.pdf

City Council can do more to protect door-to-door mail delivery for Londoners

**for immediate release**                                        Monday February 9, 2015

City Council can do more to protect door-to-door mail delivery for Londoners.

On Tuesday February 3, London’s Civic Works Committee listened to Londoners’ concerns and called for a process of consultation about mail delivery in our communities. The motion calling for further study of the elimination of door to door mail delivery, and a halt to the imposition of ‘super’ mailboxes while the City consults residents, goes to the full City Council on Monday February 9.

                  ‘The motion put by Tanya Park, seconded by Virginia Ridley, shows some councilors really listening to their constituents.’ said David Heap of Londoners for Door to Door, a community group which formed recently to fight these service cuts. ‘Canada Post is obliged under their own policy to consult meaningfully about changes in postal service, and that has not yet happened in London.’

                  The ‘survey’ Canada Post circulated in November was so biased that most recipients did not even bother responding. ‘A response rate of just 16% suggests that about five out of six addresses surveyed did not find the choices meaningful,’ continues Heap.  ‘Our campaign volunteers have been knocking on doors for weeks and getting a much more significant response rate, so we know that the choice Londoners really want is to keep their door to door delivery.’ This basic choice was not even an option in the Canada Post pseudo-survey.

                  The motion also calls for cuts in door-to-door service to stop while the City holds a public participation consultation. ‘This is a great start but the City needs to go much further now, ’ comments Wendy Goldsmith, also of Londoners for Door to Door. ‘Residents want a meaningful say in issues like universal accessibility of mail service, safety of the elderly and people with disabilities, as well as the downloading of costs to the municipal budget. The City should also reveal all of the proposed new mailbox sites.’

                  Hamilton’s city council has called for a halt to introducing new ‘super’ mailboxes while they study the costs of approvals, estimated at over $500 per box. Medicine Hat came up with a similar figure for approvals, yet Canada Post is offering London a nominal $50 per approval. Brampton found that newly imposed ‘super’ mailboxes generate litter that costs tens of thousands of dollars to clean up – costs that Canada Post refuses to pay. Sarnia negotiated a contract with Canada Post protecting the city from litter and upkeep costs as well as being sued for injuries when residents slip and fall at ‘super’ mailboxes. All of these are issues that London has yet to take into consideration. Other factors include the impact of ‘super’ mailboxes on heritage neighborhoods, reductions in property tax revenues due to lower home values where door-to-door delivery is lost, and higher policing costs due to increased in mail theft

                  ‘This issue is too important to decided behind closed doors in private consultation only with Canada Post, ’ concludes Goldsmith. ‘That might’ve worked under the former City council, but now more and more Londoners are demanding a meaningful say in changes that effect our communities. This new Council needs to stop and listen to our voices.’

For questions or further comment, please contact Wendy Goldsmith (519 281 3978) or David Heap (519 859 3579) of Londoners for Door to Door.

-30-

London report, from London Civic Works Cmtee (February 3, 2015).

See the PDF file here. This report has numerous omissions, as well as misleading information or misinformation, reproduced uncritically from Canada Post without any counterbalancing research.

write or call London city council to help save Door to Door mail delivery

Another Londoner supports keeping our door-to-door postal service 

Below are some suggestions: please adapt to your circumstances and please keep writing!

To: London city councillors and other elected officials, the media, etc.

I am a (please check as many as apply):

• o   senior, veteran, pensioner and/or other person on a fixed income;
• o   person with young children, elderly or other family care responsibilities;
• o   person with a disability or other mobility limitations;
• o   municipal tax-payer concerned about costs down-loaded to the City budget;
• o   home-owner concerned about property values;
• o   community member concerned about safety and cleanliness of our neighborhood;
• o   (other: please specify) _________________________________________

and I am opposed to the elimination of door-to-door mail service in our community. This ill-conceived and hasty move has been undertaken without the consent of residents in our community, on the basis of misleading arguments and partial information. The Canada Post Corporation has not carried out any meaningful consultation with our community about our real postal needs, and has not provided a full picture of the Corporation’s financial situation. I am concerned about the possible negative impacts of this service reduction, including:

• o   municipal costs (cleaning and safety);
• o   increased parking congestion;
• o   safety of residents and security of mail;
• o   security of people picking up their mail;
• o   increased costs of policing for theft of mail, including identity theft;
• o   snow removal, cleaning, lighting;
• o   (other: please specify) _________________________________________

I join others in our community in calling on London City Council to:

• o   indicate clearly to Canada Post Corporation that our city is opposed to the elimination of door to door postal delivery;
• o   refuse to pay any of the downloaded costs associated with this service elimination, which must be borne by Canada Post and/or the Federal government;
• o   resist by all legal means the use of municipal lands or easements for so-called ‘community’ mail-boxes (CMBs);
• o   support property-owners who choose not to cede their lands or easements to Canada Post for CMBs;
• o   promptly make public all requests from Canada Post to locate CMBs in our communities, and demand thorough and meaningful public consultations with all residents, neighborhood associations and other concerned community groups;
• o   call for a full public audit of Canada Post operations, including the true costs of eliminating door-to-door mail delivery, full accounting of all postal revenues, and full disclosure of all alternatives to service reductions, including increasing services to increase revenues and support service expansions; and
• o   to facilitate a community-wide public town-hall meeting in London where Deepak Chopra (CEO of Canada Post) will face concerns from the community and other stake-holders;
• o   to make our community’s opposition to service reductions known to Canada Post, Federal and Provincial governments, as well as to other municipal governments, in the strongest possible terms;
• o   to do everything in their power to work with our communities in opposing this unilateral reduction of services.

I reject the false ‘choice’ between larger or smaller CMBs, closer or farther from my home: my choice is for continued mail delivery to my home mailbox.

1. You can write or call your London city Councillors and the Mayor. Their addresses and phone numbers are here: 
http://www.london.ca/city-hall/city-council/Pages/default.aspx
Not sure which is your Councilor? You can find your Ward here: 
http://www.london.ca/Maps/Pages/Find-My-Ward.aspx 
or perhaps just write to all the Councilors as well as the Mayor.

2. You can alsowWrite to the media: London Free Press http://www.lfpress.com/letters or letters@lfpress.com Tip: don’t try to put all the points above in one letter – media letters are most effective when they make one or two points clearly, in 100-150 words. Want to say more? Submit more letters!

3. Wear a button or put a sign in your yoard or window saying “Save Canada Post” or “Save Door to Door”.

4. Talk about this issue with your neighbours, your family, your co-workers and other local contacts.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please stay in touch with us at:

<people4door2door@gmail.com>

Join us on Facebook, share & invite your contacts:

www.facebook.com/pages/Londoners4Door2Door/696109653848806

On Twitter : @PPL4Door2Door

Contact City Council to Save Door to Door Mail Delivery

Please consider writing to the Mayor and to the members of the Civic Works Committee:

Matt Brown mayor@london.ca
Tanya Park tpark@london.ca,
Harold Usher husher@london.ca,
Virginia Ridley vridley@london.ca,
Jesse Helmer jhelmer@london.ca,
Michael Van Holst mvanholst@london.ca

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(Write your own message or add to the one below. Cut and paste to your email)

 Dear  City Councillors and Mayor Brown 

Please  ensure that Canada Post continue my door to door delivery. It is a good service and provides good jobs in London. My household does not  want increased municipal taxes downloaded by the feds along with the litter, graffiti, theft and eyesore that these boxes bring. Who will shovel the snow and clear the garbage?  These boxes are frequently broken in to. What about safety , particularly at night? Have you considered traffic flow and the loitering in front of residences that will inevitably occur.? Will small business owners be happy to see their flyers blowing around on the ground?  How many more good jobs will vanish from London?

The post office does not belong to Ottawa. It is a national institution and a mainstay of our community and contributes to the local economy. It belongs to all of us and it is successful. Don’t be fooled by want is an attempt to download  burden onto Londoners both through increased property Taxes and the accompanying decline in property values that will happen when one of these goes in front of your house?

Yours truly (name here)

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Full contact details for City Councillors here.  If you call, try to make the following points:

1) Stop the service cuts now!

2) To hold a full community public participation process for all the designated sites and provide adequate advance notice for this purpose. 

3) Ensure a full cost accounting of budget items arising from this download to the city.

4) Invite adequate input from groups such as seniors and people with disabilities.

Please contact Londoners for Door to Door at: <people4door2door@gmail.com>