Postal Service meets objections to post office closings in Arlington

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Postal Service officials ran into opposition in Arlington Monday over proposals to close two of the town’s three post offices because of the federal organization’s financial problems.

The East Arlington and Arlington Heights post offices are being studied for closure, which would leave the post office on Court Street in Arlington Center as the town’s only remaining location.

But residents said there is little parking for the Court Street post office and urged James Holland, the postmaster for greater Boston, to keep the other branches open.

“I do not like going to Court Street,” said Eda Roth, a small business owner from East Arlington. “The lines are long. It’s unpleasant. At Christmas I can’t even imagine what is going to happen.”

Holland, who lead the meeting in Arlington Town Hall in which about 30 residents and postal workers attended Monday, said the local offices are among 31 in the Postal Services Greater Boston District that have been targeted for closure in part because they generate less than $600,000 per year in revenue.

Statewide, 43 Postal Service retail outlets are being considered for closure, and a total of 3,600 locations are being considered for closure nationwide under a proposal released by US Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe in July.

The meeting in Arlington Monday was the first community meeting held by the Postal Service’s Greater Boston District regarding the 31 post offices in the district being considered for closure.

Holland said the Postal Service is facing financial challenges in part because it is required to pay about $5.5 billion a year into its future healthcare retirement system under a 2006 postal reform act. Holland said that if the Postal Service wasn’t required to make the payment, some studies have shown the organization possibly could still have been turning a profit in recent years despite the economic downturn.

But Holland said that at the same time the Postal Service is seeing a sharp decrease in the amount of mail as people shift more of their bills and services online.

He said the Postal Service has seen a drop of 43 billion pieces of mail since 2008 and expects first class mail to continue to drop by five to seven percent per year from now until 2020.

Holland said it would be irresponsible not to respond to that drop in the amount of mail and every aspect of the Postal Services operation is being affected, including post office closures and the possible closing of processing facilities.

But Patrick Lally, an aide to U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, read a statement from the congressman at the meeting Monday saying the way to fix the Postal Services problems is to free it from the arbitrary rules Congress has placed on it and reform the way the Postal Service funds its pension fund.

“We don’t need Massachusetts Post Offices closings to close this budget gap,” Lally said reading from Markey’s statement.

Lally said seven post offices in Markey’s 7th District are being considered for closure, including locations in Arlington, Medford, Waltham and Watertown.

Others, including Paul Kilduff, the general president of the Boston Metro Area Local 100 representing postal workers, said closing post offices such as East Arlington and Arlington Heights will only drive customers to other businesses, such as UPS.

“These people are going to go elsewhere and we’re going to lose money,” Kilduff said.
Holland said no postal employees would be laid off because of the two proposed closures in Arlington. He said the Postal Service does want to do what is best for the community, and no final decisions have been made about what post offices would be closed.

The study that was initiated on Sept. 27 about the local closings will continue for 60 days, he said. If a decision is then made to close the post offices, Holland said the decision will be posted at the respective offices and there will be a 30 day period in which anyone can appeal the decision.

Brock.globe@gmail.com