Priority Mail
When the Post Office Declares a Historic Downtown Building an Insufficient Address
By Willa Reinhard | Online Only | June 27, 2001
Downtown post offices like this one in Brewster, Minn., are being abandoned.
Credit: Postmark Collectors Club
Last year, Plymouth, Wis., population 8,000, lost several of its downtown anchors. The hardware store, an appliance store, and two banks moved outside the town center. So when the United States Postal Service notified residents last spring that the 3,700-square-foot downtown office was too small, the community feared it would move, too.
"It would be a real blow to Main Street," says Nancy Smith, executive director of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce. "The post office attracts a regular stream of consumers every day," says Smith. "If they're located somewhere else, that stream will follow."
In November 1999, after the postal service determined the downtown office was too small, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D) wrote the USPS on behalf of Plymouth, encouraging them to look at the possibility of expanding the present building. The post office responded with a form letter.
Last April, postal officials held a public meeting to gauge the community's interest in keeping the 1941 postal building in town. According to Smith, about 40 community members attended. They presented a petition of over 160 signatures in favor of a downtown facility, along with letters of support from local and state officials. Only one person who attended the meeting was in favor of relocation. Plymouth hasn't heard anything since the meeting. "The communication process leaves a lot to be desired," says Smith.
The postal service is clear about its priorities. "The first consideration is always to stay right where we are," says John Sorenson, federal preservation officer for the postal service. But, he says, "We also have to deliver mail."
The scenario being played out in Plymouth is happening in many small towns across America. Across the board, residents are asking the USPS to acknowledge its social and economic impact on their communities, and postal officials insist they are listening. Ultimately, however, cost is the deciding factor—and expansion is often as expensive as relocation.
A first-class dilemma
Carl Wolf, a policy analyst at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, thinks the postal service's seeming indifference to local concerns lies partly in its unique federal designation. "It's a quasi-public/private monopoly," explains Wolf, who has been monitoring post office relocations for the past two years. "It is a federal entity, but it is not required to adhere to the same regulations as other government agencies."
The USPS does have a federally enforced process for closing a facility that includes alerting citizens of its plans and demonstrating to them that closing its operations will not negatively impact the community. However, there is no congressional oversight of expansions and relocations. Over the last four years, members of Congress have introduced legislation in both houses that would create federal guidelines for postal relocations. None of the bills have gotten far.
Beetown, WI post office
So it is left to the community and their representatives in Congress to hold the postal service accountable. In the town of York, S.C., residents and downtown business owners fought hard to keep their historic post office at its location in the town center. Their efforts were successful only in delaying the move. This February, almost three years after the postal service first announced its need for more space, the USPS moved into its new digs—a 20,000-square-foot facility, 1.5 miles away from downtown, across the street from Super Wal-Mart.
Compromising Positions
Residents of Blackshear, Ga., have had more success. After an 18-month battle, the community of 3,000 managed a compromise with postal officials. Instead of moving the downtown facility to a distant location alongside a four-lane highway, the USPS agreed to split operations; its retail facility will remain downtown, and only the carrier annex will be moved out to U.S. 84.
Robert Williams, publisher of the local Blackshear Times and a vocal opponent of the proposed relocation, says he was disappointed. "They were virtually deaf to our concerns," he says, so he watches the current success with a suspicious eye. Williams questions why the USPS chose expensive commercial land with heavy traffic for the site of its new carrier annex. "We think they will eventually move the retail there, too."
Back on the banks of the Mullet River, Nancy Smith is left to wonder about the future of Plymouth's Main Street. Recently, Wal-Mart approached the city about building a Super Wal-Mart on the edge of town; its presence would create yet more sprawl drawing commerce away from the downtown corridor, says Smith. "I think this is a call for the city to wake up and have a say in what our town is going to look like."
Subscribe to the Today's News RSS feed
Comments
