Mayor Asks Other Cities to Join Save-the-Post-Office Campaign

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is recruiting other mayors across the country to join with Berkeley in an effort to stop the sale of local post offices.

So far, he's sent letters or emails to 54 local governments, mainly cities along with a couple of counties, Bates' aide Nils Moe said Monday.

Bates' action follows the 8-0 vote by the Berkeley City Council vote on March 5 opposing the U.S. Postal Service's plan to sell the main Berkeley Post Office, a century-old landmark that occupies a prominent place in Berkeley's downtown.

The United States Postal Service says it must sell many of its large, typically neo-classical buildings across the country to offset declining revenues.

But Bates and others who oppose the sales of post offices say the agency's financial plight is an artificial one.

"In many ways the national post office issue has been a manufactured crisis," said a news release from Bates' office late last week. "The Postal Service’s own figures and statements show the major cause of its financial problems is not – despite conventional wisdom – Internet competition. Recently, the USPS has seen a sharp rise in the shipping of packages ordered online which contributed to a profitable 2012.  One of the major issues is the fact that the Postal Service has been unfairly required to pre-fund its retiree health benefits fund 75 years in advance in the next ten years, something no other government service has ever been asked to do."

Bates said in a statement: "Collectively, we may be able to lobby the federal government to halt the sale of post offices across the country and express our outrage at the privatization of publicly funded buildings. In addition, Congress needs to reverse their prepaid benefit policy and allow the Postal Service the flexibility to do its business.”

His letter to other local leaders also stresses the local jobs provided by the Postal Service: "We do not want to lose living wage postal service jobs in our community." 

A Postal Service notice about a meeting it sponsored in Berkeley on Feb. 26 said the agency "is in a very serious financial situation and facing insolvency." It has endured a 26-percent drop in total mail volume over the past three years, the notice said.

The Postal Service says a number of its grand buildings that have been sold are now being put to productive use as museums, offices, court houses and combined commercial structures.

The sales have stirred considerable community opposition in Berkeley and elsewhere. 

Bates' letter to other leaders says more information can be found at the "Save the Post Office" website.