Letter to USPS Facilities Vice-President Tom Samra from our community
We ask all--especially elected officials-- to sign this appeal of the USPS decision to sell our Post Office! (edits welcomed...)
Please let us know and we will pick up your signed copy.
Commmittee to Save the Berkeley Post Office.
SavetheBerkeleyPostOffice@gmail.com
April 30, 2013
Mr. Tom Samra
Vice President, Facilities
Facilities Implementation – Pacific Area
1300 Evans Ave. Ste. 200
San Francisco CA 94188-0200
Dear Mr. Samra
We are writing to ask you to keep and maintain the Berkeley Main Post Office as a public building for the following reasons:
1. It is a core building in our civic center and local businesses rely on it for its services. Its closure will have severe economic, cultural and environmental implications for our entire city.
2. It would not be of financial benefit to you to sell a building you own and relocate to a downtown space that would cost you a high rent into the foreseeable future.
3. It is your duty to manage the public property entrusted to you by Congress--this was paid for by our taxes, and It is your responsibility to maintain it in the public sector,
4. The building is historic, designated a landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior, the State of California and the City of Berkeley.
5. The citizens of Berkeley, CA are opposed to the sale of this historic building, and are doing everything that they can to prevent its sale.
6. The elected officials of Berkeley have requested a one year moratorium on the sale to work with the US Postal Service to develop a solution that meets both the public trust obligations and economic needs of the Postal Service.
Moving the building and its New Deal murals to the private sector will violate the public trust delegated to you when the buildings were moved to your control by Congress, and when the public art within them was financed by the New Deal. If sold, the public art may no longer be available to the public--to date, other historic post offices have been abandoned, razed, remodeled and sold to owners who refuse access to the art by the public. The sale reflects on your ability to manage the property entrusted to you, and we appeal your decision to sell it.
The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association recently published a book called "Berkeley Landmarks" by Susan Cerny. She notes that the Post Office was designated a Berkeley Landmark in 1980. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
According to Cerny, "The elegant facade of the Post Office could be described as a free adaption of Brunelleschi's Foundling Hospital in Florence, Italy, with its high round arches on plain Tuscan columns. The style of the Post Office is referred to as Second Renaissance Revival."
The building was authorized in 1910, but it was not completed until 1915. During this period government buildings were designed to educate and develop the public taste. The Berkeley Post Office is an excellent example of this sense of mission. It is a handsome and well-preserved architectural statement of the U.S. Treasury Department Supervising Architect's Office headed by Oscar Wentworth.
In 1915 it symbolized the city's coming of age, coinciding with a period of great economic and population growth. Downtown Berkeley still has its historic Main Street, developed in the 1910's and 20's, with another spurt of growth in the 1930's. We are one of the few cities in California with a more or less intact historic Main Street.
Together we are adamantly opposed to the sale of the Berkeley Main Post Office. We cannot imagine that anyone with any knowledge of the importance of this building to Berkeley would consider the relocation of its retail services and its closure.
We urge you to reconsider your decision and keep this historic landmark in use as a post office, the purpose for which the building was constructed.
Sincerely,
Gray Brechin, Ph. D.
The Living New Deal
Ying Lee
Grandmothers Against War
Former Legislative Director, Congresswoman Barbara Lee
David Welsh
Retired Letter Carrier
Delegate, San Francsco Labor Council
Harvey Smith
National New Deal Preservation Assn.
Margot Smith
Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers
Mr. Tom Samra
Vice President, Facilities
Facilities Implementation – Pacific Area
1300 Evans Ave. Ste. 200
San Francisco CA 94188-0200
Dear Mr. Samra
We are writing to ask you to keep and maintain the Berkeley Main Post Office as a public building for the following reasons:
1. It is a core building in our civic center and local businesses rely on it for its services. Its closure will have severe economic, cultural and environmental implications for our entire city.
2. It would not be of financial benefit to you to sell a building you own and relocate to a downtown space that would cost you a high rent into the foreseeable future.
3. It is your duty to manage the public property entrusted to you by Congress--this was paid for by our taxes, and It is your responsibility to maintain it in the public sector,
4. The building is historic, designated a landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior, the State of California and the City of Berkeley.
5. The citizens of Berkeley, CA are opposed to the sale of this historic building, and are doing everything that they can to prevent its sale.
6. The elected officials of Berkeley have requested a one year moratorium on the sale to work with the US Postal Service to develop a solution that meets both the public trust obligations and economic needs of the Postal Service.
Moving the building and its New Deal murals to the private sector will violate the public trust delegated to you when the buildings were moved to your control by Congress, and when the public art within them was financed by the New Deal. If sold, the public art may no longer be available to the public--to date, other historic post offices have been abandoned, razed, remodeled and sold to owners who refuse access to the art by the public. The sale reflects on your ability to manage the property entrusted to you, and we appeal your decision to sell it.
The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association recently published a book called "Berkeley Landmarks" by Susan Cerny. She notes that the Post Office was designated a Berkeley Landmark in 1980. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
According to Cerny, "The elegant facade of the Post Office could be described as a free adaption of Brunelleschi's Foundling Hospital in Florence, Italy, with its high round arches on plain Tuscan columns. The style of the Post Office is referred to as Second Renaissance Revival."
The building was authorized in 1910, but it was not completed until 1915. During this period government buildings were designed to educate and develop the public taste. The Berkeley Post Office is an excellent example of this sense of mission. It is a handsome and well-preserved architectural statement of the U.S. Treasury Department Supervising Architect's Office headed by Oscar Wentworth.
In 1915 it symbolized the city's coming of age, coinciding with a period of great economic and population growth. Downtown Berkeley still has its historic Main Street, developed in the 1910's and 20's, with another spurt of growth in the 1930's. We are one of the few cities in California with a more or less intact historic Main Street.
Together we are adamantly opposed to the sale of the Berkeley Main Post Office. We cannot imagine that anyone with any knowledge of the importance of this building to Berkeley would consider the relocation of its retail services and its closure.
We urge you to reconsider your decision and keep this historic landmark in use as a post office, the purpose for which the building was constructed.
Sincerely,
Gray Brechin, Ph. D.
The Living New Deal
Ying Lee
Grandmothers Against War
Former Legislative Director, Congresswoman Barbara Lee
David Welsh
Retired Letter Carrier
Delegate, San Francsco Labor Council
Harvey Smith
National New Deal Preservation Assn.
Margot Smith
Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers