Meet at the Berkeley Post Office, with signs and banners. Hear speakers and sing with the music.

12 Noon March to Connect the Dots...between FedEx...UPS...and the Blum Center at U.C.
and protest those who want to privatize our public postal service and eliminate union jobs.

We will then march back to the Berkeley Post Office.

...Save Our Post Office!

by Grey Brechin

Students, like others who pass by the tents pitched on the steps of Berkeley’s century-old Downtown post office, may well wonder what all the fuss is about. After all, we’re all using the Internet now instead of popping letters to Mom in those disappearing street mailboxes, and the lines at that post office and many others grow irritatingly long as the clerks who used to staff them vanish as well. A recent article in The Daily Californian attributes U.S. Postal Service spokesman Augustine Ruiz as explaining that as a result of a decline in mail volume, the Postal Service only needs to retain 4,000 of its 57,000 square feet of space and that keeping ownership of the entire building would not be economical. Disposing of a tax-exempt property one holds to lease space elsewhere doesn’t make long-range economic sense, but doing so doesn’t enter into the accounting of current Postal Service management. That the public paid for Berkeley’s post office also goes unmentioned in the service’s press releases. Indeed, the very notion of the public good represented by the ennobling architecture of the Downtown post office as well as the buildings at the center of the UC Berkeley campus has faded in tandem with the right of every American to have quality and tuition-free education along with a cheap and efficient postal service mandated by the Constitution.

Take a look at the materials, craftsmanship and design of buildings such as Doe Library, Wheeler Hall, the Campanile and Hearst Gym. Equivalent to those of expensive Ivy League colleges, those buildings and others at the heart of what was once simply the state university represent that taxpayers and wealthy individuals previously believed students from even the remotest parts of the state deserved to to become fully-rounded citizens. They were elements of two Hearst-sponsored plans that sought to create an ideal City of Learning on the hills facing the Golden Gate Bridge. By 1914, the treasury allotted a generous bonus to erect a post office in Berkeley worthy of the nearby university. It was modeled after Brunelleschi’s famous Foundling Hospital in Florence, Italy. During the Great Depression, the Treasury Relief Art Project further embellished the post office with both a mural and a sculpture at the same time that the Works Progress Administration set female artists to work laying mosaics on the university’s brick powerhouse east of Sather Gate. Those mosaics celebrate the expansive power of the humanities.

The language of the public good is neither spoken nor understood by those who now run both our postal service and once-public universities. Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe let Mayor Tom Bates know that he feels Berkeley’s pain, informing the mayor that “the Postal Service is the first to acknowledge how important it is to preserve our historic buildings, which is why we are going through a lengthy and transparent process to assure their protection before they are sold.” Three months later, Tom Samra, vice president of facilities, wrote that though he was “sympathetic to the concerns raised by (the city, elected officials and numerous other parties),” he was denying their appeals so that there “is no right to further administrative or judicial review of this decision.” Though listed on the National Register and paid for by the public it serves, Berkeley’s post office and others don’t represent a trust to those such as Donohoe and Samra but simply real are estate assets to be flogged by their exclusively contracted agent CBRE, the broker chaired by UC Regent Richard Blum, husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Although not for sale yet, the decay of the classically inspired buildings at the core of the UC Berkeley campus suggests that those who run the university ever more like a business, rather than a public trust, regard them as plum sites of opportunity for more profitable ventures. While they have recently poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new sports and biotech facilities, buildings such as the magnificent women’s gymnasium designed by Julia Morgan and Bernard Mayberk as a memorial to UC benefactor Phoebe Hearst slouch toward ruin.

The physical decay and outright sale of what their builders intended as monuments of unaging intellect represents not just a betrayal of the public trust but also the loss of an ethical language that created a world-class university and universal postal service. We must recover that language to understand what is being taken from us and to whose advantage it is taken at our collective loss.

In a jarring example of the ascendancy of corporations and decline of democratic government, on Wednesday, July 24, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted along party lines to approve a postal bill introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa. All 22 Republicans on the Committee voted to advance the bill while all 17 Democrats on the Committee voted against the extreme proposal.

This bill would spell disaster for the Postal Service and customers who rely on it. H.R. 2748 would close post offices, stations and branches; consolidate plants; privatize operations, and degrade service standards. It also would harm workers by prohibiting postal unions and management from negotiating protection against layoffs; increasing health insurance costs, and limiting collective bargaining rights.

Deprive Customers of Vital Services

• Impose a two- to three-day delivery standard for first-class mail;
  
• Close post offices, stations and branches;
  
• Consolidate plants;
  
• Reduce door delivery and end Saturday letter delivery.

Punish Workers

• Prohibit postal unions and management from negotiating protection against layoffs;
  
• Increase health insurance costs for employees;
  
• Limit workers’ collective bargaining rights;
  
• Reduce compensation for injured workers with dependents and force them to retire.

Privatize Operations

• Establish “competition advocates” to promote contracting out;
  
• Prohibit customers from appealing decisions to close post offices, stations or branches if a “contract postal unit” is opened within two miles;
  
• Establish a “temporary governance authority” whose broad powers would end only after the USPS achieves two consecutive years of profitability.

Washington, DC – July 19, 2013 – Congressman José E. Serrano today announced that he had succeeded in including a provision in an annual appropriations bill moving through the House of Representatives that would ensure that the Postal Service’s proposed sale of the historic Bronx General Post Office receives extra scrutiny.

“I feel strongly that the US Postal Service’s plan to sell the Bronx General Post Office is ill-considered, and perhaps did not follow the requirements of the laws governing such transactions,” said Congressman Serrano. “With the inclusion of this provision in the annual spending bill guiding parts of the USPS budget, Congress now shares my concerns, and we are going to ensure that all laws and guidelines have been followed.

“These actions follow on the heels of an ongoing investigation--undertaken at my urging--by the Inspector General of the Postal Service into whether the Postal Service has followed all relevant laws in the sales of historic post offices, and whether they have followed those laws in the case of the Bronx General Post Office. My provision in the bill calls for the suspension of the sale of historic properties like the Bronx GPO until this investigation is complete, and all the laws and guidelines have been satisfactorily complied with.

“It should go without saying that we expect the Postal Service to follow every single requirement if they are determined to sell the Bronx General Post Office. It is too important of a building to our community, especially with its historically significant murals, which were created by artist Ben Shahn in the Depression, and have been enjoyed by Bronx residents for generations. They should not be given to a private party never to be seen by the public again.

“We cannot have the gems of our communities, often landmarked and
protected, sold by the USPS to the top bidder in a wanton and careless manner. These properties have unique circumstances and deserve great care and thought if the USPS can truly no longer use them. I am concerned that this is not happening in the rush to reduce costs, and I am glad that my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee share this concern.”

click for a copy of Congressman Serrano's Press Release

On Wednesday, May 29, 2013, representatives of Save the Berkeley Post Office met with Jennifer Tang, Senior Field Representative in Senator Boxer's Oakland office. After brief introductions, we presented Ms Tang with letters from over 270 of Senator Boxer's constituents asking Senator Boxer to co-sponsor S.316, the Senate version of Sanders-DeFazio (the Postal Protection Act of 2013), and take immediate action to stop the sale of America's historic post offices. We also gave Ms Tang a petition for Senator Boxer.  The petition was signed by over four hundred California residents and demanded that the Downtown Berkeley Post Office remain in the public trust and that the USPS not sell the building.

Brian Turner, Senior Field Representative for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, along with Gale Garcia, Annie Hallatt, Ying Lee, Mike Lonergan, Harvey Smith and Margot Smith of Save the Berkeley Post Office, answered questions from Ms Tang and Maria Henderson, a constituent services representative from Senator Boxer's staff, on the current manufactured financial crisis of the US Postal Service and its affect on historic town center post offices like Berkeley's downtown post office.

On behalf of the Berkeley community, we again asked Senator Boxer to join twenty-seven of her Senate colleagues and sign on as a co-sponsor to Senator Bernie Sanders' Postal Protection Act of 2013. Further we repeated the need for protections for historic post offices that are not in Sanders-DeFazio and because of the imminent loss of many historic post offices we asked that Senator Boxer lead her colleagues in a call for a moratorium on the sale of historic post offices.

We also included in our package and discussed letters from State Senator Loni Hancock and labor leader Dolores Huerta urging Senator Boxer to support the Sanders-DeFazio bill.

National Trust representative Brian Turner stressed that historic post offices are frequently an anchor for traditional Main Street commercial and civic centers and that their loss has a broad affect on the health of historic districts. Currently, the Postal Service is not protecting historic post offices with a consistent, sensitive and transparent process that follows established federal preservation law.

Ms. Tang advised us that Senator Boxer is aware of the issues confronting the Postal Service and that Senator Boxer's policy on the Postal Service is still developing.  Ms Tang assured us that our concerns will be made known to Senator Boxer. 

As of June 19th, 28 Senators have signed on to Sanders-DeFazio as co-sponsors and 162 Members of the House, including 31 members of California's Congressional delegation. Below is a map of support in the House of Representatives.

In a five-page letter dated June 3, 2013, USPS Facilities Vice-President Tom Samra denied all appeals received on the relocation and sale of the Bronx General Post Office.
Samra's letter groups the appeal concerns into six categories: impact on historic resources (including the murals), failure to follow historic preservation rules, failure to follow community relations rules, failure to follow environmental law, access to postal service, negative impact on the community.
Samra dismisses all concerns with "the objections expressed do not outweigh the financial exigencies facing the Postal Service."
The entire decision and appeal process has taken place inside the Postal Service Facilities Department but the letter concludes: "This is the final decision of the Postal Service with respect to this matter, and there is no right to further administrative or judicial review."

Click here for background on the murals, the Bronx General Post Office, and the fight to keep this national treasure open serving the public good.

Senator Dianne Feinstein recognizes that Congress must act to restore financial stability to the U.S. Postal Service. 

John Murray, Senator Feinstein’s field representative for the East Bay, met with Annie Hallatt, Ying Lee, Mike Lonergan, Sharon Maldonado, Harvey Smith and Margot Smith in Senator Feinstein’s San Francisco offices last Tuesday, May 21st. 

We were there to ask Senator Feinstein to join with twenty-seven of her Senate colleagues and become a co-sponsor of Senator Bernie Sanders Postal Protection Act of 2013.  We also asked Senator Feinstein to sponsor an amendment to protect historic post office buildings and their art, and to lead her colleagues in calling for an immediate moratorium on the sale of our historic downtown post offices.

But first we presented Mr. Murray with a stack of over 250 letters written by Senator Feinstein’s constituents and a petition list with over 400 signatures.

Mr. Murray advised us that as a matter of policy Senator Feinstein does not intervene on behalf of an individual community that may be adversely affected by a U.S. Postal Service decision.  Harvey Smith, president of the National New Deal Preservation Association, pointed out to Mr. Murray that in this case we are asking Senator Feinstein to act to help a broad number of California communities and to save what is a national heritage of historic town center post offices and New Deal Art.  

At least seventy per cent of USPS financial losses are due to a Congressional mandate to prefund retiree healthcare.  Mr. Murray assured us that Senator Feinstein not only supports changing the current formula for funding retiree health care but voted to do exactly that in a previous session of Congress.  Unfortunately the bill did not pass the House and Mr. Murray cautioned us that, in his opinion, the passage of postal reform remains more difficult in the House than in the Senate.

On an encouraging note Mr. Murray assured us that Senator Feinstein pays close attention to the concerns of her constituents and that the senator is briefed every week on all meetings with constituent groups.

UPDATE ON 6/19/2013: 162 members of Congress are co-sponsors of H.R.630.  And 28 Senator are co-sponsors of S.316!

June 19, 2013: Yesterday Hawaii's Senator Mazie Hirono signed on as co-sponsor to Senator Sanders S.316.  And last week Los Angeles Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard became the thirty-first California Congressional Representatives to sign on as a co-sponsors to Pete DeFazio's H.R.630.

Nationally six Republican members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors of Pete DeFazio's amendment.  California has fifty-three Congressional Reps but all the co-sponsors from our state are Democrats.  Seven California Democratic Congressional representatives have not signed on. In Northern California, House Leader Pelosi, George Miller and Mike Thompson.  In Southern California, Xavier Becerra, Brad Sherman, Scott Peters and Henry Waxman.

We've been giving your letters to representatives of Senators Feinstein and Boxer.  Let's hope California's senators join our congressional delegation in supporting this common sense postal service reform.
Read or download the list of senators and a complete list of California congressional representatives.

(Sacramento) – Tuesday, May 21st, the California State Legislature took an unusual step by passing a measure that urges the United States Postal Service (USPS) to rescind its proposal to sell the Berkeley Main Post Office building, located at 2000 Allston Way. 

Senate Joint Resolution 12, authored by Senator Loni Hancock and Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, was initiated after the USPS unilaterally decided to relocate and sell the historic building that is located in the heart of Downtown Berkeley. 

Built in 1914, the Berkeley Main Post Office has many significant historical features, including  a bas-relief sculpture and a mural from President Franklin Roosevelt's public art program, a designation as a City of Berkeley Landmark (1980), a listing on the National Register of Historic Places (1980), and a listing on the National Register as a significant contributor to Berkeley’s Civic Center Historic District (1998).  

Unfortunately, the USPS continues to move forward with the sale despite the City of Berkeley’s requests to suspend efforts for one year to allow the City and USPS to work together to find an alternative solution.  Those efforts would put a historic building up for sale and close down a post office that serves over 100,000 people a year at its central downtown location, less than one block from one of the Bay Area’s major transit hubs.

Read or download Senate Joint Resolution 12.