A few weeks ago FactCheck.org examined a blog post that's gone viral accusing Richard Blum, chairman of the board of CBRE, and his wife Senator Dianne Feinstein of profiting off the sale of post offices. Now the website Fact Checker takes another look. As this article points out, selling post offices is not likely to enrich the already quite … Read More
Postal Service to La Jolla: Sorry, the dismantling must go on
The Postal Service has issued a Final Determination to relocate retail services in La Jolla, California, thus paving the way for the eventual sale of the historic New Deal post office. Tom Samra, Vice President, Facilities, was responsible for reviewing the appeals, and not unexpectedly, he came to the same decision that he made regarding the relocation of the Bronx … Read More
Panel discussion on the Postal Service, the media, and CBRE
Too Big to Name? How the Press is (not) covering the story of how the Postal Service is being destroyed Thursday, July 11, 7:00 PM First Unitarian Universalist Church 1187 Franklin St. at Geary San Francisco Free admission More information suppresses embarrassing information about those who own the country The mass media has been almost entirely missing in action on … Read More
Brands at risk: The OIG looks at the USPS-CBRE contract
The USPS Office of Inspector General has just issued an audit report about the Postal Service’s contract with CB Richard Ellis. CBRE became the Postal Service's exclusive real estate agent in June 2011. Considering that the Postal Service leases 24,000 properties and owns 9,000, that's a big portfolio to manage, and outsourcing to CBRE was a big step. The … Read More
FactCheck.org: Feinstein’s Husband & the Postal Service
Q: Does Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s husband, Richard Blum, own a company that has an exclusive contract to sell United States Postal Service property? A: Blum has an interest in the CBRE Group, which won a competitive contract to sell postal properties. He is chairman of CBRE’s board and owns an investment firm that holds less than 5 percent of its … Read More
In bad faith: How the Postal Service is selling the Redlands post office
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Main Post Office on Brookside Avenue in Redlands, California. It's a downtown landmark, it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and it even has its own postal museum. Now the Postal Service is closing down the Redlands Main Post Office and selling the building. Plans for the sale were first … Read More
Dismantling the legacy: More post office suspensions, relocations, and sales
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The Postal Service is continuing its push to dismantle the country’s vast network of brick-and-mortar post offices. Post offices are being suspended over minor lease disputes, historic buildings are being sold to the highest bidder, and retail services are being moved to smaller, usually less convenient locations. Post offices just don’t seem very important to the leadership of the Postal … Read More
Historic La Jolla Post Office headed for closure & sale
Despite a very well organized resistance effort that's been going on for over a year, the Postal Service has decided to go ahead with the sale of the historic post office on 1140 Wall Street in La Jolla, California. The final decision to relocate retail services was posted today on the wall of the La Jolla post office. … Read More
What are the USPS and CBRE up to? The case of the historic structure report on the Berkeley Post Office
The fire sale of the country’s post offices seems to be picking up speed. Yesterday the Postal Service confirmed that it was in contract with a buyer for the 1858 post office in Georgetown, a historic neighborhood in Washington, DC. The sale of the New Deal post office in the Bronx, New York, also appears to be moving forward with … Read More
A done deal in Derby: The Postal Service decides first, consults later, ignores the law
On Monday, the Postal Service announced that “it is considering plans” to sell the historic post office in Derby, Connecticut. Such a sale requires a formal review process, and the Postal Service has taken the first steps in that process by informing city officials and the public of its plans. The process involves a fairly complicated legal procedure, and it … Read More
A Bronx Cheer for the Postal Service: The Fire Sale of Historic Post Offices Continues
Earlier this week the Postal Service announced that it planned to sell the historic post office on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, New York. There's an excellent article about the post office by David W. Dunlap in Friday's New York Times. The Bronx General Post Office is the largest of twenty-nine Depression-era post offices in New York City. Built in … Read More
Murderous Reform: A Plan to Privatize Postal Profits at Public Expense
BY GRAY BRECHIN The National Academy of Public Administration has released a “Work-in-Progress” report entitled “Restructuring the U.S. Postal System: The Case for a Hybrid Public-Private Postal System.” The Academy is now embarking on a study of this proposal, which would privatize a large portion of the country’s postal system. The Academy’s study is billed as an “Independent Review of a … Read More
Constructively closed: The emergency suspensions continue
The Postal Service continues to close post offices by emergency suspension over problems renegotiating leases. Many of the problems are caused by the Postal Service. A suspension is an easy way to close a post office — it avoids a lengthy discontinuance process and the possibility of an appeal to the Postal Regulatory Commission, and it makes it look like the closure … Read More
The Postal Service won’t make a commitment: More emergency suspensions over lease problems
The post office in Tamms, Illinois, is on the POStPlan list, and it was supposed to have its hours reduced to six a day. But this week the people in Tamms learned that instead of having its hours cut, their post office will be closing completely. It’s another case of an emergency suspension over a lease issue. There are nearly … Read More
Manufacturing Emergencies: An open letter to the PRC on post office suspensions
BY MARK JAMISON [The following letter was recently sent to the Postal Regulatory Commission and Chairman Goldway in response to issues arising from the implementation of POStPlan.] Dear Chairman Goldway, I am writing to you directly but I hope you will share these comments with the other commissioners. As you are aware, I was very critical of the decision in … Read More
Holler for help: There’s no stopping emergency suspensions
According to a USPS service disruption report issued on November 10, over 330 post offices were impacted by Hurricane Sandy. About 120 were completely shut down, and another 30 had the retail operations suspended. Many of these offices remain closed, but it’s likely they will all eventually reopen once power is restored. The same cannot be said for several other post offices … Read More