Fort Howard Post Office 21052
“Baltimore County operates an enterprise geographic information system (GIS) that is available to all County agencies and departments. The County’s GIS is managed by the Office of Information Technology’s Business Applications unit.
The GIS team is responsible for Baltimore County’s implementation of the geographic information system and maintains the spatial and associated tabular databases, manages the GIS software, and develops custom applications for the County agencies. It also provides customer service and support to citizens, businesses, government organizations, and County agencies by creating and distributing geographic data products.”
Fort Howard residents, for decades since the advent of the digital age, Global Positioning System, Internet commerce, and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, have lived with the United States Postal Service and Baltimore County Government erroneously reporting Fort Howard, Maryland zip code as 21219 .
Fort Howard Community Association membership unanimously voted in the May 2015 meeting for prompt correction of the errors.
The errors have had long and negative impacts on post/parcel delivery, Global Positioning Systems, cartographers Google, MapQuest & ADC, Maryland Motor Vehicle licensing and registration, Baltimore County voter registration, Baltimore County services, and online vendor ordering just to name some involved services, in addition to Department of Homeland Security policy requiring correct zip code reporting.
With the leadership of Mrs. Andrea Irwin, Manager, United States Postal Service, on June 19, 2015 the zip code for Fort Howard, Maryland has been corrected.
Subsequent to the Postal Service June 19, 2015 zip code correction, Baltimore County Government as of July 17, 2015 now correctly reports the Fort Howard, Maryland zip code as 21052 and reports Fort Howard, Maryland as Fort Howard, Maryland; Not erroneously as before, Edgemere, Maryland 21219.
We specially thank Baltimore County, Geographic Information System, Office of Information Technology employee Mr. Jon Curtis.
Mr. Curtis was invaluable in promptly affecting these most needed corrections. He was a joy to work with in resolving this matter. Please give him a bonus Mr. Kamenetz!
Mr. Curtis gave a nod for the Association’s contribution correcting the Fort Howard zip code in the following:
“All edits were made to match the recently updated USPS data that supports the zipcode look up application on the USPS website. I have written down the procedures I used to make these edits so that we have standard operating procedures for resolving the other PO Box zipcodes within Baltimore County. I want to thank you for your help with developing the procedures and sharing the contact information for Ms. Irwin. This will help us resolve similar issues in the future much quicker.”
The Association is honored to be part of developing Baltimore County procedures, sharing information to create more efficient use of limited resources, and to quote Mr. Kamenetz from his 2014 inaugural speech “make Baltimore County a better place for our children,” . Mr. Kamenetz, please give Mr. Curtis a bonus !
But without Mrs. Andrea Irwin, Manager, United States Postal Service leadership progress would have stalled. Thank you Mrs. Irwin!
The GIS overlays now report correctly the zip code as 21052 and the area as Fort Howard myneighborhood.baltimorecountymd.gov
This correction will elevate efficiencies in service delivery from Baltimore County as “Fort Howard, 21052′” corrections propagate through out the information system.
The Post Master is immediately enjoying the benefits of the correction now by receiving the resident mail presorted.
Prior to the 21052 zip code correction the Post Master had to manually sort and place the mail.
Google Maps, MapQuest, and ADC Maps have been notified. The corrections will occur as the USPS & GIS IT information “propagates,” through out their world computer servers.
This truly is a global event for Fort Howard, Maryland.
Kathleen Labuda
“It’s our community, let’s take care of it.”
