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As I age, I have leaned a bit more libertarian without tumbling off of the cliff of insensibility. Something we are working on got me to thinking about how we view government intrusion.
One of the areas that our fire department services consists of some old ranch parcels that have been slowly carved up and sold off. The neighborhood consists of parcels from 6-50 acres, with one long private dirt road connecting them. Each (save one) has the address of 205 with a letter suffix. The problem is that the letters are entirely out of order. The first two parcels (one exception below) are 205A and 205B, then E, H, etc. 205D is the last parcel, about 3/4 of a mile down the private road.
We first encountered this about 15 years ago and when we asked about changing the addresses, one of the property owners said that people were absolutely refusing to change their addresses: “I’ve had this address for ten years and I’m not changing for anybody.”
We had a call there this week (to 205D). 85-year-old guy fell from on top of a toolbox behind the cab of his pickup and got knocked out cold, and didn’t know for how long. Pretty significant facial lacerations and possibly a dislocated shoulder. Our EMS unit transported him, and it’s all going to work out, but our initial response was a bit long, stopping to check each address carefully, as we knew the addresses were out of order. Had we not shown up earlier to assess the patient and drop traffic cones, the ambulance likely would have been delayed even longer; had our patient had a closed head injury (our major concern), the golden hour to get treatment would have been seriously curtailed.
I talked to our precinct commissioner this morning and we now have the legal ability to reassign the addresses over the objection of the homeowners. This is definitely for the good of residents but I imagine a few will be good and steamed up about it. I’m trying to figure out just how much we are villains here.
The picture is the entrance to the private road and the pertinent mailboxes. Almost funnier is that the first address on the road is 213, then followed by all the 205 addresses.
So what say the Ricochetti? Are we abusive government goons or helpful responders? Or something in between?
Discussion (53)
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I can see a couple possible reasons for why the 205 addresses might come "after" the 213 ones, but too complicated to get into here.
As for the assignations, it might be argued that the people own the property, but not some right to decide what others - especially rescue services, etc - call it.
Maybe if they're kinda crotchety older people, if you start saying something like "So, your pronoun is H?" they would get the idea.
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Whenever anyone tries to make this kind of change, people get really annoyed. But someday that mess will result in a death--and they will blame you. I'd make the change--you might give them a chance for one-time input on the decision, and then just do it. Eventually (after all the upset calls) they will thank you.
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Yes, there might be some temporary confusion over mail/parcel deliveries, but long-term it's best to straighten out now.
Myself, I would probably look for some way to have a different number for each lot, but that may be impracticable at this point.
And for some large lots that might be further divided, maybe skip a few letters to allow for future changes.
I also wonder about something like "odd" letters for one side of the road, and "even" letters for the other...
If there were some way to provide for some standardized signage, like number-painted curbs in cities, I wonder if that might help too. But country folk may not want anything like that, even if it's just at ground level.
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Well, all government is coercive, else it couldn't govern.
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