Residents living at ‘deteriorating’ apartments say they can’t get mail delivered

CHARLOTTE — Channel 9 has uncovered even more issues at a northwest Charlotte apartment complex that residents say is dangerous to live in.

Residents living at the Scarlet Pointe Apartments told Channel 9′s Almiya White they haven’t received their mail in months, and some even say it’s been years.

White, reporting across the street after she was told to leave by the property manager, found many of the mailboxes were broken.

“I mean, they’re hanging open,” Keenyn Garrigan said.

Garrigan, a resident, said he doesn’t remember the last time he received mail. He blames a broken mailbox cluster for the problem, and so does Maurice Brooks.

“Yeah, so the mailbox, there’s no locks at all. Most of them don’t lock -- mine doesn’t lock,” Brooks said. “Anything that comes in there, someone can just walk by and grab.”

Brooks moved to the complex in September. Since then, he’s opted to have his mail sent elsewhere.

“I get my mail sent to a friend’s house just because I don’t feel safe,” he said. “I don’t feel safe having any kind of mail come here.”

And even if tenants felt comfortable receiving their mail there, they can’t.

PHOTOS: Conditions at Scarlet Pointe Apartments in northwest Charlotte

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Conditions at Scarlet Pointe Apartments in northwest Charlotte

“Eventually, the post office stopped delivering mail altogether,” Garrigan said. “And we asked for an explanation. They said we can’t legally leave mail here if the mailbox doesn’t lock.”

White found that is true. She contacted the U.S. Postal Service, which sent a statement saying in part, “Installation, maintenance and repairs of clusterbox units (CBUs) is the responsibility of property management.” Their website says, “Our carriers can’t deliver mail to unlocked or unsecured boxes.”

Garrigan said he drives 15 minutes to pick up their mail instead of being able to walk just a few steps to his mailbox.

“I feel, if you’re paying rent for a place, that’s one of the things that’s supposed to go with that -- is the ability to have an address and an ability to have mail, an ability to say ‘I live here and get deliveries,’” Garrigan said.

In the middle of White’s interview with Brooks, a property manager arrived. That was when she told White to leave the property. White then asked for a direct phone number or email to contact management, and she said simply, “You can Google it.”

Channel 9 is still working to get the property manager to comment on the wide range of issues at the complex.

White has been in touch with the company that manages the property -- it’s based in Atlanta. She learned they did place an order for new mailboxes on Nov. 1, and those shipped on Dec. 1.

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Senior-living residents say conditions are unsafe

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