Maybe you’ve seen a sign that says
”
PLAN AHEAD
”
but the
”
D
”
is cramped into the right margin. That kind of describes our own
local post office here in town, which has become downright cramped.
It raises a question that needs an answer: What is planned for a
new post office facility, and when will it happen?
Maybe you’ve seen a sign that says “PLAN AHEAD” but the “D” is cramped into the right margin. That kind of describes our own local post office here in town, which has become downright cramped. It raises a question that needs an answer: What is planned for a new post office facility, and when will it happen?
Now I’m not complaining about the staff. They are always cordial, courteous and friendly. But you don’t have to visit our Gilroy post office very often to conclude that we residents have a postal facility that has become inadequate for our growing city. Holiday mailings exacerbate the problem, as witnessed again this past holiday season. Unfortunately, it appears no new post office facility is on the horizon for Gilroy, even though our city continues to grow in population and retail businesses.
In the meantime, Morgan Hill, our good neighbor to the north with a population less than Gilroy, has a post office facility that’s newer, larger, well located, parking friendly, and easy to drop off mail. In the world of politics and pork barreling, Gilroy somehow got the short end of the postal stick.
Our post office is now deficient in a number of things. First is street location. Because it’s not located on a major street, (and I don’t consider Fourth Street to be a major street like Monterey Road, First or Tenth streets) it’s simply not conveniently located any more for the number of people that need to use it. Some folks I know dislike the location so much that they take the time to drive to the post office in San Martin.
Then there’s the matter of its geographical location within the city. When Gilroy’s population was centered around the downtown area, I suspect its corner location was OK for a city of less than 20,000 people. But as more and more homes have been built in Gilroy’s northwest quad in particular, the post office’s location for these residents is not convenient.
For parking, there simply aren’t enough parking spaces for the number of people who use the post office. Street parking can be the rule in order to conduct business in the post office. The tight U-shaped entrance and exit from the lot goes hand-in-hand with the inadequate parking space.
If you drop-off your mail into the outside mail depository boxes, you have no choice but to drive down the narrow alley to exit. At night, it’s not well lighted, and with residential and business parking sharing the alley, it’s simply, well, a safety concern exiting onto Fifth Street.
When I’ve asked various postal clerks their thoughts about having a “second class post office” compared to Morgan Hill, their comments typically are “contact your local representatives and complain to them.” To complicate the matter, I’ve been informed by Councilman Russ Valiquette that this is a “federal problem” and “in as much, they don’t care what we think or need.”
Furthermore, Councilman Craig Gartman has said “The City of Gilroy has expressed our desire to the postmaster to have a larger post office. We cannot force them to relocate or enlarge but we hope they will take us up on this request.”
Well folks, it’s time for us Gilroy residents to let our federal politicians know how we feel about this matter, and insist that as our “public servants” they need to blast through bureaucratic red tape and take action to get the Postal Department to fund a new post office facility for Gilroy within the next couple of years. Since the greater Gilroy area is split into three Congressional Districts, a good start would be to e-mail all three Congressional representatives Richard Pombo (ri***********@********se.gov), Mike Honda (mi********@********se.gov), and Zoe Lofgren (zo*********@********se.gov) and request for them to do something. Maybe e-mail from a few thousand people will get their attention.
I’d also like to know what our Gilroy postmaster Penny Yates thinks about this, so I’d appreciate her comment.
If you’re powerless to do anything about a new facility Penny, at least give us postal patrons some psychological relief. Since customer service is such a big issue in business, it would really help if it was the practice to open up all customer service windows whenever the number of people in line stretches out the door. There’s nothing more frustrating than standing in a line of 18 people, with only two customer windows open, and one of those is tied-up by a person with a mail carton full of packages that need to be weighed and have postage affixed.
Perhaps people will stop complaining if they see the post office opening service windows in a timely manner. Or maybe add some elevator music to soothe frayed customer nerves, and help the wait time go faster.
Located in the right place in Gilroy, a new post office facility could be a community asset. But as time passes, it appears our existing post office will become more and more of a Gilroy frustration for those who must use it.
