Resident urges Forest Park to press USPS on post office upkeep and presses city on property-maintenance enforcement

A Forest Park resident told the city council April 21 that the postal facility serving the community presents a poor exterior appearance and asked the city to work with the U.S. Postal Service to improve landscaping and upkeep.

Chris Merritt, who said he lives at 1576 Carahill Drive and serves on the city’s beautification commission, said the post office appearance is “disgraceful” and asked the council to provide materials if the commission volunteers would supply labor for planting. Merritt said he is willing to donate labor and that other commission members would help maintain perennial plantings, and he urged a city official to contact the postmaster to coordinate maintenance and occasional watering while plantings establish.

Merritt also raised unrelated property-maintenance complaints. He reported a truck parked on a neighborhood street for more than two years, a van left on a driveway that has not moved since the prior property owner died, and other yards he said remain unaddressed despite his formal complaints to city inspectors. Merritt named one property at the Waycross and Winton intersection (1206 Winton / 1206 Waycross) as “disgusting year round” and said multiple calls to city staff had not resolved the condition.

Council members thanked Merritt for volunteering and said staff would follow up privately. City Manager Don Jones and the mayor noted that the post office building is federally owned and that the city cannot unilaterally “go and beautify it,” but they said city staff would contact the Postal Service. The mayor asked city staff to follow up with Merritt and the beautification commission on possible collaboration.

No formal action was taken at the meeting; council members said they would report back to the resident after staff follow-up.