One-Stop Neighborhood Watch
For More Than 100 Capitol Hill Residents, Retiree's Home Becomes Delivery Central

By Omar Fekeiki
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 30, 2007

In a city of workaholics who leave home early and return late, many neighborhoods have their version of William Outlaw -- or would like to.

The 80-year-old retiree accepts packages for 130 Capitol Hill neighbors when they are not home during delivery hours. His practice is so well established that delivery services often head directly to his door without stopping elsewhere on the block.

What started a few years ago as a kindly offer after several packages were stolen from neighborhood stoops has turned into a mammoth undertaking. Outlaw has turned his living room into a de facto storehouse of boxes wrapped in brown paper; on any given day, dozens of packages and padded envelopes are stacked high on tabletops and floors.

Some neighbors call Outlaw the unofficial mayor of the street, not only for his grass-roots post office but also for the way he volunteers to clean sidewalks, check on homes while neighbors are vacationing and do other odd chores.

"If you live on this block, it is almost impossible not to know him," said William Frazier, 62. "He's a neighbor who is always doing something for somebody."

His name is passed like a secret treasure among grateful neighbors, so much so that real estate agents have touted him as a selling point to prospective buyers.

"We've had furniture delivered to his house," said Martha Brant, 40, who was introduced to him through friends. "We just wouldn't be able to have packages delivered as much as we do without him."

Outlaw has lived in his house on Capitol Hill for 65 years. A Korean War veteran, he retired from the Indian Head Naval Ordnance Station in the early 1980s. He and his wife, Pocahontas, opened a U Street restaurant called Outlaw Kitchen, where they served home-style meals. But they closed the business after William Outlaw had a stroke in 2000.

About four years ago, the neighborhood was hit with a rash of package thefts -- items snatched from front porches while residents were at work. For a while, some residents had their packages delivered to rented mailboxes downtown.

Retired and sitting at home almost all day, Outlaw offered to accept deliveries. Neighbors began leaving handwritten notes taped to their doors directing delivery people to leave the packages at Outlaw's home.

Now, even on routine days, his living room is overrun by more than 50 packages. During the holidays, the room begins to look like Santa's workshop, with packages of every size sent from across the country and wrapped in colorful paper.

"I've had 100 packages in one day," he said. "During Christmas, you can't get into my living room."

Outlaw lines up the packages in the middle of the room and with a marker rewrites the addresses in large letters so his neighbors can more easily recognize what's theirs.

Many houses in the vicinity have changed hands eight or nine times since Outlaw began living there, he said. Names he's not so good on, but faces he doesn't forget. Still, to keep everything straight, he maintains a list in a maroon plastic folder with addresses and contact numbers for each of the residents who direct deliveries to his home.

"They just moved in," he said, looking at one card in the folder. "I don't know them, but I told them to give me their address and phone number."

He glanced at another address in the folder. The person living there moved in a year ago.

Punching the number into the telephone, he was greeted by voice mail. "You've got a package today," he said into the phone. "Come pick it up when you have time."

When he saw Martha Brant coming out her front door, Outlaw picked up a large box by the coffee table.

"Good morning, gorgeous," Outlaw called out while crossing the street with the box cradled in his arms.

"Mr. Outlaw, you're not supposed to come over," Brant objected, hugging him as he handed her the package. "I was coming to pick it up now."

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service said letter carriers will leave packages at another location if the homeowner writes a permission letter that is kept on file. UPS also allows deliveries to be left at neighboring addresses as long as the original recipient authorizes it, a spokeswoman said.

Neighbors say Outlaw saves them time and grief.

"One day, I was complaining that I had to go downtown to pick up a package," recalled Virginia Smith, 79. "Mr. Outlaw told me that I should do like the other neighbors do and have my packages delivered to his house."

Accepting packages isn't Outlaw's only contribution. Besides sweeping leaves from the sidewalk, he keeps an eye on the neighborhood. Whenever he crosses paths with neighbors, he always calls out "Hello, young man," or "Hello, gorgeous," no matter what their age or how they might look that day.

"He's the neighborhood watch," said Mike Soderman, a building contractor who moved to the block four years ago. "He brings a lot of the neighbors together that I don't think would otherwise converse together. He's basically an institution on the block."

In 2005, several neighbors wrote to the Stanton Park Neighborhood Association to nominate Outlaw as "Neighbor of the Year."

Outlaw sets an "outstanding example of what a good neighbor should be," the association wrote in giving him the award. "His unflagging commitment made the neighborhood a better place to live."