Ukiah Daily Journal: The city of Ukiah got an early Christmas present this month when the mural that used to hang in the former downtown Post Office was finally returned. “It came in the mail in a big tube,” said Tami Bartolomei, Community Services administrator for the city, explaining that she did not open the package, but immediately gave it … Read More
Ukiah tries again to bring back post office mural
The Ukiah City Council has been trying to come to an agreement with the Postal Service that might allow a mural displayed in the former downtown post office to return to Ukiah. The mural, “Resources of the Soil,” was painted in the 1930s, and was on display until January 2012, when the former post office on North Oak Street closed. … Read More
Old Ukiah post office becoming eyesore
Press Democrat: "Nearly two years after the Postal Service closed Ukiah's historic downtown post office, it remains shuttered and has become increasingly derelict in appearance. 'This is exactly what people were afraid of, that it would become a blighted building in the middle of Ukiah,' said Alan Nicholson, a leader in the city's failed fight to save the post office … Read More
Ukiah post office mural to be returned, but not to post office
A large mural that hung in the lobby of the former Ukiah Post Office on North Oak Street has been restored and will hopefully be returning to Ukiah soon, according to the United States Postal Service. The mural, painted in 1936, was taken off its wall after the post office closed in January of 2012 and brought to Chicago, where it underwent a … Read More
It don’t look good, news is bad: New Deal P.O. in Ukiah, CA, to close
The post office in Ukiah, California, was built in 1937 under the New Deal. It may close in a few weeks. On Feb. 23, the Postal Service announced its intention to close this downtown post office and move its services to an annex at the edge of the city. A meeting was held on April 21, and more than 200 … Read More
Legislation to end postal facility closures reintroduced in House
Daily Journal Lifestyle: Representatives Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), David McKinley (R- WV), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Evan Jenkins (R-WV), and Gwen Moore (D-WI) have reintroduced the Stop Postal Closures Act (H.R. 6282), bipartisan legislation to end the closure and consolidations of mail processing facilities across the country. (The bill was introduced during the previous session of Congress as H.R. 4656.) In … Read More
The Postal Service gets a new real estate provider
The Postal Service has ended its contract with CBRE as the agency’s exclusive real estate provider. A few months ago, the Postal Service awarded a contract to a new broker, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Los Angeles-based CBRE (aka CB Richard Ellis), the world’s largest commercial real estate firm, became the sole provider of real estate services for the Postal Service in … Read More
Historic Plant City post office discontinued, headed for sale
Earlier this week, the Postal Service announced that the historic post office on Reynolds Street In downtown Plant City, Florida, is being discontinued. It’s the first such discontinuance in over 16 months. The Plant City post office has been closed since June 2013, when the Postal Service shut down the 1935 facility for an emergency suspension due to deteriorating conditions, … Read More
New OIG report faults USPS on post office relocations
The USPS Office of Inspector General has released a long-awaited audit report on the post office relocation process. The report faults the Postal Service on a number of counts — lack of transparency, not following postal regulations, the conflicting roles of the Vice President of Facilities — and it has already led management to promise to make some changes. The full … Read More
Regarding the sale and preservation of historic post offices and their art: An open letter to the Inspector General
Last summer, the USPS Office of Inspector General announced that it was doing an audit investigation on the preservation and disposal of historic post offices. The audit was due out in October, but the release has been postponed until later this year. The audit announcement itself has been removed from the OIG’s website, but there’s an archived version with … Read More
Relocation, relocation, relocation: The new M.O. for closing post offices
The Postal Service may no longer be talking about closing thousands of post offices, but it has been busy “relocating” them. In dozens of cities across the country, a downtown post office is being closed and the building, often a historic landmark, is being sold. According to the Postal Service, however, the post office isn't actually "closing." Because a new, … Read More
USPS properties for lease: Business as usual or a new approach to excess space?
The Postal Service and its real estate broker CBRE have created a new website advertising postal properties for lease. It’s the companion site to the USPS-CBRE Properties for Sale website, which went up in November 2011. The domain name for the new site was registered in April 2013, but the site may have gone online just in the past few weeks. … Read More
Opponents of historic post office’s closure in Glendale speak out
The Postal Service is moving forward on its plan to sell the 1936 post office in Glendale, California. As with so many other New Deal post offices in California — Venice, Santa Monica, La Jolla, Ukiah, and Berkeley — the Postal Service says the building is too large and it would prefer to lease a small space. As usual, the … Read More
Legacy at risk: The OIG audits the Postal Service’s disposal of historic properties
The USPS Office of Inspector General is preparing an audit report about the sale of historic post office buildings. The objective of the study is “to review the Postal Service’s process and plans for the disposal and preservation of historic properties.” The OIG poses two main questions: “Do you think the Postal Service follows proper procedures when disposing of historic … Read More
Resources on historic post offices
Lists & Maps Post Offices sold aad for sale: An update on the inventory Historic Post Office Sold or For Sale Post Offices (active) on the National Register [Google Fusion Tables (with the maps) was shut down on Dec. 3, 2019. A spreadsheet version of the data is here. A Carto map is here.] Post Offices on or … Read More