Newton Corner, Massachusetts
It's not enough that Newton Corner has lost its library, lost its post office (many years ago), and lost its "villageness" with the building of the Massachusetts Turnpike, now the residents of Newton Corner may not even have the wonderful little New Town post office in Watertown to walk to.
According to Sean Collins Walsh writing in the New York Times on July 26, 2011, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has indicated that nearly 4,000 U.S. post offices might close. Walsh writes that most of the offices to be closed are primarily in rural locations and produce little revenue. Kind of sweet to think that any part of Newton, Massachusetts, be considered rural by the powers that be! Bitter sweet, that is. On the list of targeted offices are Boston College (Chestnut Hill 02467), Newton Lower Falls 02462, Newton Upper Falls 02464, Nonantum 02458, and West Newton 02465, and New Town (Watertown 02472) used by many if not most Newton Corner residents.
An email was sent out yesterday to area post offices from Dennis Tarmey, USPS Communications, Greater Boston District, stating that should the media have any inquiries about the closings, they should contact Mr. Tarmey at 617-654-5982 or email him at dennis.p.tarmey@usps.gov. Mr. Tarmey promises to respond to every media inquiry, so if any of you have contacts with the media, please use your voice.
Our always-busy little post office in Upham's Corner is also on the list. For years, any held mail has been retrievable only at the Dudley Sq office, a 15-minute (minimum) bus ride away. But the local office was fine for stamps, money orders, overnight mail, and the special weigh-ins for overseas mail.
ReplyDeleteI have used the post office in Nonantum and Lower Falls within the last 5 years. I used to go use New Town on Galen St for many years, but it became too difficult for me to deal with the traffic. There must be statistics on how much use a branch has by the USPS to determine keeping keeping an office open or closing one. I don't like it when we lose government services, either. Did you know that all sorting goes to central processing now? I used to think that all mail that is slated for Newton which originates in Newton is sorted here... This is no longer the case... I helped someone with a mailing in 02458 and wanted to drop it at the Nonantum PO. The PO told me all mail goes through South Station, regardless of its destination. Unfortunately, with the financial problems our government is having, these closing are going to be hard to stop.
ReplyDeleteWe ran into the same situation a few years ago with the threat of the Nonantum Post Office closing. Congressman Frank, Scott, Carleton and I along with many others from the community spoke at a public meeting with representatives from The Postmaster Generals Office to convince them this was not a post office which should be closed. With great effort and support the post office stayed in operation.
ReplyDeleteJimmy and Phil are great guys who go beyond the normal postal worker and have been at this post office for many years as well. They are a part of the Nonantum Community and are present at a lot of events which go on in Nonantum.
We have 2 elderly housing developments in walking distance to the post office and these folks use this location weekly, some daily. The local businesses have expressed the need for this post office for them to survive as well.
I will again talk with my colleagues as well as reaching out to Congressman Frank to do what ever is necessary in keeping this post office running and operational in Nonantum.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me and I will do what ever I can to help.
Jay
Allan L. Ciccone Jr
Chairman, Public Safety
And Transportation
Newton Board of Aldermen
Ward 1 at Large
I've heard that the Post Office in Lower Manhattan, near the South Street Seaport, will be closing (interesting to note, though, that it was not on the list of closings published at usps.gov). But, I've also heard that the building will be turning into a school. And, if there is one thing that Downtown Manhattan needs more of, it's schools!
ReplyDeletethe government which cannot run a post office efficiently, is now going to take on running our health care with obamacare. go figure.
ReplyDeleteHope your campaign to save
ReplyDeletelocal post offices successiful...they are heart of small town life in Vermont.
Alex Wilson from Congressman Frank's office sent me a power point presentation from the post office. It looks as though this is what they will present during their public hearing. This is similar to the way it was done a few years ago. It generally describes the reduction of mail and mail services. It has graphs and scales of these reductions as well as their procedure for determining where various changes are to be discussed. My feeling is we will get a date for a public hearing somewhere in the fall to winter months where the post office most likely will make this presentation and then the public would be able to address the closing of Nonantum. As more info becomes available I will be in contact with you and the ward one community as well.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Jay
Allan L. Ciccone Jr
Chairman, Public Safety
And Transportation
Newton Board of Aldermen
Ward 1 at Large