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| U.S. Post Office Santa Monica CA Fifth Street and Arizona Avenue Closed 2013 |
Post Office Dreaming
SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist
March 27, 2015
Wonderful mailman
and mailwoman stories are the norm in Santa Monica. But post office stories are of long lines, waiting until
it’s your turn and then having the person close for an unexplained reason,
counter clerks who often look as if being behind the counter is forced
labor. Hard parking next to an
industrial issue building adds to the many reasons people keep turning to other
choices, more convenient choices, even if they are more costly.
To be fair to the Post Office, they were put in
a financial vise by Congressional regulations that single them out for budget
failure. The USPS is fighting for
its very existence. But is it
making the best decisions to win that fight?
Karl Frish wrote, in September of 2011, on Huffington Post,
“I guess
no one ever thought it would be the Republican Party finishing off the Postal
Service... The power to create post offices is enumerated in our Constitution. Our Postal Service is
even fully funded by the sale of stamps,
not through tax dollars. That is a combo that should bring tears of joy to the
eyes of tea partiers and Republicans alike.”
The
Postal Accountability Enhancement Act (PAEA) was a creation of the Republican
controlled 2006 Congress with California Republican Darrell Issa leading the
charge. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/hr6407/text
The Act
mandates a prepayment on the health care benefits for all postal workers for 75
years into the future. No other
government agency has been required to do the same. This Act forced the USPS into the red.
As part of a plan to raise money the USPS
decided to sell off valuable historic properties. This decision was made against the protest of Historic
Preservationists in communities across the United States. Santa Monica’s New Deal era Art Deco
post office on 5th and Arizona was one of many that was lost to the American
people due to the budget dictates of PAEA.
“I
think they got it wrong,” Congressman Waxman was quoted as saying about the
sale of the Santa Monica Post Office in the NYT 3.7.2013. “It’s a
Depression-era structure, it’s an historic structure, one of the few Art Deco
buildings in Santa Monica.”
Santa Monica Conservancy President Carol Lemlein
said, “The Santa Monica post office on 5th and Arizona was worth
more to the USPS as a property asset than as a working post office. The issue was to raise money by selling
property. It was part of a
strategy employed by the USPS and many historic post office buildings across the
country were sold.
“The Santa Monica Post Office building was
purchased by Skydance Productions and the Conservancy has been in discussions
with them as they have committed to preserving the building and restoring
historic features of the lobby,” said Lemlein. “As a result of work by the Landmarks Commission and the
Conservancy they were required to sign a Covenant to protect the building and
the lobby. I’m optimistic that
they will do well by the building.”
It’s a loss to the communities of their historic
buildings either by demolition or because they will no longer be buildings for
public use even if they are preserved by private companies. But it’s only part
of an ongoing struggle for the USPS.
Ruth Goldway, a former Santa Monica Mayor, and a
past Member of the Postal Regulatory Commission took the USPS to task for
further cuts for which other options had been identified.
In the January 13, 2015 issue of The Hill she
wrote: “While we have experienced increased access to electronic
communications options, particularly in metropolitan areas, a great many
American homes and businesses rely upon the mail. It remains essential
that all Americans can rely on a fundamental communication service and avenue
of commerce that provides equal access and prompt service to all, regardless of
region. Binding the nation together is the founding principle of the Postal
Service’s mandate.
Goldway served on the Postal Regulatory Commission from 1998 and
Chaired the Commission from 2009 to 2014, at the time of the closing of the
Santa Monica Post Office.
Post offices in
historic buildings in small towns across the Country offer welcoming lobbies
and helpful postmasters and postal clerks who have found ways to make the post office
a place people want to come; to get their mail, to sit and talk, to get the
news of their neighbors and the town.
The future of our
venerable postal service is in jeopardy.
A business plan that made each post office a place people wanted to be
would go a long way toward building a constituency for the USPS. A business plan that made each post
office central to the fabric of the community and listened to the community
served seems to me to be essential for protecting the future of the USPS.
It’s not the
whole answer but it’s an important part of the answer. USPS are you listening?
