East Bay Times: As postal officials affirm their intention to close the downtown post office, Richmond’s mayor and Congressman say the battle to save it is far from over.

“I think it’s important that people understand that we’re working hard on this,” Mayor Tom Butt said in a telephone interview last week. “We are talking (to postal officials). There are some substantive proposals being discussed. I would say this is more the beginning than the end.”

Butt said he is working toward two goals — preserving the building, and, perhaps more difficult, keeping the post office in operation there.

The U.S. Postal Service announced its decision to close the 1938 Art Deco-style building, at 1025 Nevin Ave. near Harbour Way, in a letter stamped Aug. 10 and posted on the glass front entrance door. Postal retail services will relocate to the McVittie Annex, at 2100 Chanslor Ave., the letter said.

The move, which postal officials say is guided by attainable “operational savings,” followed a public comment period that closed June 30, a June 15 town hall meeting at Nevin Community Center, and a community meeting with postal officials in the City Council chamber on May 31. It came over the strong objections of community members and elected officials who argued the closing would deal a devastating blow to the post office’s customers, especially seniors and disabled people, and to a downtown business community on the cusp of a boom.  Read more.