Gilroy needs a new post office. It’s that simple. What to do?
Mount a campaign, led by our new City Council and Mayor Al
Pinheiro.
It’s long past time for our growing community to have a post
office that serves the people adequately and efficiently.
Gilroy needs a new post office. It’s that simple. What to do? Mount a campaign, led by our new City Council and Mayor Al Pinheiro.
It’s long past time for our growing community to have a post office that serves the people adequately and efficiently.
We suggest a City Council resolution – one of those with all the fancy words – that beseeches our elected representatives, federal and state, to come to our aid in seeking this new facility. If we start now, perhaps 10 years down the road Gilroy will have a new facility.
To simplify the task we provide this letter as an outline to the United States Postmaster General John E. “Jack” Potter and Louis J. Giuliano, member of the Board of Governors USPS and Chairman of the Capital Projects Committee. Mr. Giuliano’s term does not expire until December 2014.
Dear Postmaster General Potter and Member of the Board of Governors Mr. Giuliano,
Though our growing community is located in one of the most technologically savvy regions on earth – Silicon Valley – our post office is a throwback, an example of inefficiency and inadequate customer service.
Space, design and location are all issues, and we sincerely hope to work with the United States Postal Service to rectify this situation. The space is inadequate for postal workers to do their jobs efficiently, and it’s far too small to serve customers. Parking is horrendous, and residents actually have to drive through a narrow alley to get to the two drop-off boxes.
Allow us a simple comparison: Our neighboring city to the north, Morgan Hill, has 10,000 less people to serve yet there are 43 parking spaces – including adequate parking for the handicapped. In Gilroy, there are only 13 parking spaces.
Gilroyans routinely wait in long lines to find a parking space – and once they park, they wait in long lines for a clerk to wait on them. In addition, our local postmaster, Penny Yates, who without reservation fully supports our city’s efforts to gain a new facility, says that she can’t handle any additional routes after 2013.
Clearly, now is the time to place Gilroy into the pipeline for a new facility, and we are asking for your assistance in this matter.
We have the support of all our legislative representatives – federal and state – who have all consented to be named in the attached city resolution.
Please let us know what we can do to move this process forward.
Sincerely,
Mayor Al Pinheiro and members of the Gilroy City Council
Our postmaster, of course, must be in full support. Without her assistance, this process will be much more difficult. It’s disheartening to hear Mayor Pinheiro say “… there was not a whole lot of support from her” in characterizing his conversations with Ms. Yates about getting a new post office. Why not?
We understand it will take planning work, but her job should be to best serve this community, and starting the process now is essential in order for Gilroy not to fall woefully behind in customer service. Perhaps a meeting with a number of Council members would change Ms. Yates’ tune.
This is classic case of the “squeaky wheel gets the grease,” and the Gilroy wheel needs to get a whole lot squeakier. Federal elected representatives like Congressman Mike Honda (D-San Jose) and our community’s old friend, Zoe Lofgren, can help. But they need to understand why and believe this is a priority for Gilroy. The mayor and the City Council need to let them know – without reservation – that they intend to deliver a new post office to Gilroy.
Act now:
Send an e-mail to Mayor Al Pinheiro at:
Al*********@ci.us
Write the United States Postal Service at:
Board of Governors
475 Lenfant Plaza SW
Washington, D.C . 20260-0004
