More than 500 Lakeshore residents left the Atlas Tube Centre Tuesday night very satisfied knowing that their mailing addresses will stay the same.
They attended a council meeting to discuss Canada Post possibly changing addresses to an all-encompassing Lakeshore address instead of individual towns like Woodslee or Belle River. Council was pressured to keep the status quo and a motion to rescind the address changes was approved by a vote of 5-2.
Some Lakeshore residents, including Mark McKinlay, said changing their address will steal their town identity and is difficult and costly for businesses to do.
"I'm the president of the Comber Museum and I've studied the history of all the communities in our municipality. They are all unique and rich," said McKinlay.
More than 500 Lakeshore residents left the Atlas Tube Centre Tuesday night very satisfied knowing that their mailing addresses will stay the same. Oct 9, 2018. (Photo by Paul Pedro)
One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said changing Lakeshore addresses is a ploy by Canada Post to close postal stations, layoff people and save money.
Ward 1 Councillor Steve Wilder said addresses are an issue for his north shore constituents because some have Windsor addresses. He added that it is not a ploy to close postal stations in Lakeshore. His motion to hold an open house for problem areas also failed.
Some residents wanted a pound of flesh wanting to know who came up with the idea, while some such as Stella DiNatale said keeping current addresses is creating more confusion than necessary.
"I've had things sent back to different areas because they're saying the address doesn't exist," she said.
One Woodslee resident said she has changed her address six times and more tinkering will open a bigger can of worms.
Only a handful of residents such as Kevin St. Pierre liked the idea of a standard Lakeshore mailing address. He said his current address in Tilbury is problematic.
"I live and pay my taxes to Lakeshore but my address says Tilbury. It's very confusing and very troubling," St. Pierre said.
Another man who lives west of Puce River and said he gets Tecumseh voting mail. He said he thinks the idea that towns would lose their identity is "a red herring".
Some at the meeting also said it is a Canada Post problem and they need to fix their postal codes to better reflect who lives in Windsor, Tecumseh and Lakeshore.