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.

In a surprise development Monday, the Postal Service tacked up an announcement at the Berkeley Main Post Office that appeals on the sale & relocation must be postmarked by May 22, 2013. 
When the USPS approved the sale & relocation of our historic post office, they set an appeal deadline of May 7th. 
We cried foul and noted that fifteen days was not consistent with USPS regulations, was not the practice on the east coast and was a policy applied only in California. When we asked the Postal Regulatory Commission they said the USPS has the discretion to use either fifteen or thirty days. 
Then Congresswoman Barbara Lee's office asked the question.  And now Berkeley has the thirty days it is entitled to by USPS regulations.

Click to view or download the USPS posting.
  

At a press conference on the steps of Berkeley's historic Main Post Office on Friday, May 3rd, Berkeley's elected officials spoke out against the Postal Service's decision to sell the landmark building.   Loni Hancock and Nancy Skinner stated: "We are deeply disappointed and concerned about USPS unilaterally making a decision 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. In light of the legislation pending in Congress, S. 316 by Senator Bernie Sanders and H.R. 630
by Representative Peter DeFazio, there should be a moratorium placed on the sale of all historic post offices."

Mayor Tom Bates was joined by Berkeley City Council members Susan Wengraf, Jesse Arreguin, Laurie Capitelli, Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington.  The joint letter from the Mayor and City Council to the USPS reads in part: "Berkeley's Main Post Office sits at the heart of our civic center and our city. To privatize this much loved landmark will diminish all that we have done to improve the downtown. It will also deprive citizens of their right to view the incomparable WPA murals, created with public funds and owned by all of us."

The letter from the Berkeley city officials was co-signed by Senator Hancock, Assemblymember Skinner and County Supervisor Keith Carson. 
Berkeley's Congressional Representative Barbara Lee's letter to the Postal Service objects to relocation of services: "I would also like to strongly emphasize that this building was constructed at a time when the Postal
Service was directly funded through taxpayer dollars and was designed specifically to be a post office. It
would not be serving its true and original purpose if it was something other than a post office. Relocation
is not a suitable option for my constituents, and I wholly agree with them and support their concerns"

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, State Senator Loni Hancock and the Berkeley City Council will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Friday on the steps of Berkeley's Main Post Office.  Afterwards they will go into the post office to mail their letters of appeal.

Click to read the appeal letter from the Berkeley City Council and Mayor Tom Bates.

Come to a Community Meeting at 2133 University Avenue (near Ace Hardware).  Help plan our next steps.  Help plan for the Halt the Heist! Rally.

Halt the Heist! Rally
Tuesday May 7th 3pm
Music & Protest Noon to 5 pm Post Office Steps

It’s not just the post office
that’s being privatized.
Our schools, our public spaces,
parks and services are all at risk.
Join Us!
Help save our public commons!