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Report on Meeting with Senator Boxer's Oakland Staff

6/9/2013

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Senator Boxer is developing a policy on the Postal Service and on protecting historic town center post offices.

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. 

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Click to view or download a copy of the packet used at the meeting

S.316 needs Senator Boxer's support.  And Senator Boxer needs to hear from her constituents that we demand a Postal Service that serves the public good and insist on preserving America's historic town center post offices. 

Please take the time now to contact Senator Boxer.

112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3553

(202) 224-0454 fax

email Senator Barbara Boxer

click for a sample letter

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.
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1 Comment

USPS denies all appeals on Bronx General Post Office

6/6/2013

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The Bronx Post Office belongs to all Americans
The deadline for appeals on the Bronx General Post Office was April 13, 2013, or about 40 days before the deadline for appeals on Berkeley's Main Post Office.

Click here to view or download a copy of the Bronx decision letter from Tom Samra, USPS Facilities Vice-President.
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.
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    ABOUT

    The USPS wants to sell Berkeley's historic main post office. Citizens to Save the Berkeley Post Office is a grassroots group that has come together to block the sale of our heritage, stop service cut backs, and preserve living wage postal jobs.

    Our fight is not unique. Thousands of post office closures across the country mean the largest private auction of public history our nation has ever seen.

    Join the movement and spread the word. Our post office is not for sale.

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