![]() The school district had also been feeling the loss of the post office. ![]() Last year, NorthEnd Alliance members went to ask the Calipatria Unified School District, which also serves Niland, if they had any properties available. Most days, Niland residents must travel to Calipatria in order to pick up their mail.Īt the same time, the Postal Service and community members have been looking for a building to replace the post office. Kori Suzuki for KPBS / California Local The post office in Calipatria in Imperial County is pictured on March 19, 2024. That helped ease the hardship, but it wasn’t a full replacement since the truck was only there certain weekdays and for just a few hours in the middle of the day. And if it's frustrating to me - and I have a way - I can’t imagine those people that don't.”Ī year into the closure, the Postal Service started sending a mail truck to Niland three days a week, where residents could come pick up their mail. “I know so many people that don't have vehicles,” said Juarez, who is also a member of NorthEnd Alliance. Slab City residents have a longer drive too, although not as much.Įven for Nilanders, community leaders said it was a struggle to make that trip, partly because more than half of all residents in the town count as low-income, according to census data. For residents of Bombay Beach though, it is more than 50 miles and an hour-long drive. From Niland, Calipatria is only a 16-mile round trip. ![]() “People would receive mail that is addressed to other people, would be missing their mail - including my very own personal mail, like bank statements and medical records.”ĭakota said she didn’t blame the Calipatria post office, guessing that the disruptions were a result of the sudden influx of new mail. “There was chaos with us receiving our mail,” said Andra Dakota, who also lives in Niland. KPBS A map shows the distances from Niland, Slab City and Bombay Beach to the city of Calipatria.įrom the beginning, there were problems with the Postal Service’s stop-gap measure to reroute the mail through Calipatria. In addition to Niland, it served Bombay Beach, a former waterfront resort town further north, and Slab City, an isolated desert community of squatters and artists to the east. The Niland Post Office had been a fixture in northern Imperial County for more than a century when it burned. It carries their life.” Losing a lifeline “We have many that are elderly, we have disabled,” said Anna Garcia, a longtime Niland resident and member of the community advocacy organization NorthEnd Alliance 111. Now, residents are fighting to bring their post office back. But the number of people living in the town plunged in recent decades, forcing salons, restaurants, banks and libraries to close their doors. Decades ago, Niland was a hub for tomato farming in the valley and had a close-knit Filipino community. Niland residents said the closure has fallen especially hard on their town because it has been steadily losing businesses and infrastructure. Two years later, residents still have not received any concrete updates on when they will see the Niland Post Office return. Kori Suzuki for KPBS / California Local The old post office building in Niland, which was heavily damaged in a fire in 2022, is pictured on March 19, 2024.
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