Consider the public

We agree with John Mirra’s letter in this week’s Morgan Messenger about the ill-conceived parking lot at the Berkeley Springs Post Office. Now that most of the parking area is off-limits to the public, the problems are even more apparent since everyone is supposed to come in and go out the main entrance.

We’ve already experienced the lot being full or nearly full because more vehicles are forced to park in the small front section, and this isn’t a busy postal season.

We’ve heard that the changes at the lot were caused by a few careless drivers whipping in and around from the back. If that’s so, then warn the culprits rather than penalize everyone.

From the start, something seemed oddly designed about the lot, but we couldn’t quite put our finger on it. When we mentioned it to friends, some dismissed the thought, saying at least the post office had parking, which was sometimes a problem at the old downtown location.

Due to the straight-in parking slots and the entrance where some drivers are actually curving around to mail letters, backing out of parking spaces can be awkward and potentially dangerous. Imagine the jam-up if cars end up waiting for places in that small area.

On top of that, we guess those who used to come from Wilkes Street to the side entrance are no longer supposed to. If they can, then why can’t the rest of us use the lots on the south and west sides of the building? And, if they can’t, does anyone coming from the west have to pull out on U.S. 522 and use the main entrance?

The entire Post Office parking situation needs to be rethought.