AKRON, Ohio — Several signs are now posted on dozens of tenants’ mailboxes to let those living at Spring Hill Apartments in Akron know their mail service has been impacted.
This comes after Marsha Andrus told News 5 she and some US Postal Service workers caught cockroaches roaming in them.
“People are looking for things in the mail, medical things. Even myself, (I’m) looking for my medical papers, my bills or whatever and they’re not coming because I have to try and get a ride to the post office,” said Andrus.
Now, Andrus is calling on her property manager to step up just so she can get her mail and not live in fear or embarrassment.
“People will walk in, see roaches crawling down the wall. It’s very embarrassing for things like that. But what can I do?” she asked. “If you can’t get to a person to help them, at least put them in your prayer or something that it’ll get fixed. It’ll get better.”
Andrus has started a petition and managed to collect more than 80 signatures from people like Rebecca Drurey, who told News 5 she’s fed up and can’t move.
“I have stability for my son. It took me a while to get there with him, and we’ve been through a lot. I was living with my mother before I even moved in here, and I was on the list. Me and my son have lived in a car and everything, so now that I have stability, I don’t want to leave it,” said Drurey. “They need to step (up) and do something.”
USPS sent News 5 the following statement Wednesday:
“The safety of our employees is our top priority. Delivery has been temporarily suspended due to concerns of pests in the mailroom. USPS has been in communication with the apartment building management about the issue. Delivery will resume once the safety issue has been resolved.”
Meantime, News 5 reached out to the Vice President of the Michigan-based Independent Management Services, and we are still waiting to hear back.
“Even with them knowing, they have not tried to contact me or say anything,” said Andrus.
As the ladies wait for this problem to be fixed, Andrus said she has reached out for help from Freedom Bloc, an Akron organization that focuses on creating systemic change for a more equitable society.
“It’s just things that need to be done, and I hope that we can just get that done and come back and have a relationship with management, so that we don’t have to go through this,” said Andrus.
