Letters: Fix parking, wait time at Social Security Office

When I went to the Social Security office in the Thurmond Building on Assembly Street recently, I had to park at a metered parking space three blocks from the building. After walking to the building, I had to go through a thorough security check. Then I went to the end of the long line where elderly, people with small children and the handicapped were standing, leaning against a wall in a long dark hall that wound its way back into the building. An officer told me the wait time was three hours. Since the parking meter did not have that much time on it, I left.

Since this is the only Social Security office in Columbia, it seems to me that the federal government could at least find adequate parking and a waiting area where people could at least sit down while they wait three hours. If not that, at least put chairs in the dark waiting hall so that those who are old, handicapped or holding small children would not have to lean up against a wall to wait three hours.

This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Letters: Fix parking, wait time at Social Security Office."