Not since the June 1 letter in the Independent criticizing the proposed closing of the Apache Junction Social Security Administration office, has anyone from the SSA stepped forward in response and provided a reason why they want it closed, forcing everybody to drive 40 miles and back, just to wrestle with the Social Security Administration?

I have lived in Apache Junction eight years this month.

You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, you replace the bath with clean water. When you have a government office that has run as amok as the one at 235 W. Superstition Blvd. has, you don’t abandon the building and buy a new one many miles away. You keep what you have for all the reasons Councilman Biggs correctly pointed out. Then you perform the necessary, industrial-strength house cleaning the HR department sorely needs, in the way of pleasant, helpful, friendly staff.

If the Mesa office can do it, so can all the SSA offices across America, including Apache Junction.

Editor’s note: Jason Houston is a resident of Apache Junction.