[StBernard] Elimination of Post Offices

[Westley Annis]

Westley,
We want to get this message out but we don't know how wise an idea it would
be to publish all our names with it. Please read this and let the right
people know what is going on. I've emailed our state senators and reps and
Vitter and Landrieu. I attempted to send it to the official parish email
address but it was sent back as undeliverable. 
Thanks

The U.S. Postal Service has decided to eliminate 4 post offices within St.
Bernard Parish. The only one to be left open is the Chalmette Post Office,
which incidently services the area hardest hit by the hurricane. Reasons
given were because there are no people to deliver to in lower St. Bernard
and not enough for delivery east of Chalmette. This is very far from the
truth. Meraux to some degree, Violet, and St. Bernard will have more return
to their homes because they, by and large, were without flood insurance and
can't afford to walk away. Many, many of these people are already living in
FEMA trailers on their properties. There are also numerous businesses open.
Postal workers have been notified they will not be returning to St. Bernard
La. 70085 because it no longer exists, along with Violet 70092, and Meraux
70075. Our customers have a right to RFD - Rural Free Delivery. Are they
second class citizens tha t can no longer have their own post office. Monies
are already budgeted to support each of these offices. Eliminate them and
you won't ever see new money come in to bring them back. Customers will have
to travel up to 30 miles or so to pick up their mail at the Chalmette (only)
Post Office. Please do what you can to see to it we keep our offices.
Katrina knocked everyone down, but please, help them recover. Permanently
closing postal facilities has not been an issue with devastation on the
North Shore or Westbank - why are we being discriminated against? There are
no plans to reduce the size of the populated areas of St. Bernard so why is
the federal government reducing the service areas for your voting taxpayers.
This is truly adding insult to injury. Please help in any way you can.
Letters have been sent out to the employees to choose an office to be
transferred to, with most choices in the Shreveport area. It would be very
difficult for us to return to our homes in St. Bernard with us working
across the state. We need to make the right officials aware of what will
happen if a stop is not put to this plan. What's needed is reasonable
discussion with postal officials letting them know they were either
misinformed about the amount of people currently living in the parish or
they need to update their figures, and that the people of eastern St.
Bernard Parish will not allow their identities to be taken from them. We see
our customers come to pick up mail at the back lot of the Covington Post
office daily and they tell us how many other neighbors have returned. 

St. Bernard Parish has always been the butt of many jokes and slurs. Please
do what you can to see to it the citizens there have their rights to postal
delivery upheld. Also, note that an alternative plan that has previously
been discussed was to place cluster boxes in certain areas so people would
still have to travel to get their mail. Aside from the inconvenience, these
boxes have proved to be a security risk and you certainly can't enjoy the
"Post Office on Wheels" service a rural carrier can bring out to their
customers. The cluster boxes discussed, were not going to be placed at the
end of a street or at an apartment building or trailer park. They were
considering putting the cluster boxes at the Junction for down the road so
that Delacroix, Yscloskey, Hopedale, etc. would travel to this remote site. 

No more money orders purchased at your box, no more packages and certified
mail to your door, no more stamps brought out or put on your envelopes. Our
people in St. Bernard deserve what everyone else has the right to. We didn't
do anything wrong to deserve this. We also haven't heard of any other parish
anywhere losing their post offices over a hurricane, not the Gulf Coast
either. 

Hopefully these matters can be straightened out so we will have our jobs,
and provide our First Class service to our customers. We miss them very much
and hate the thought of us all losing our jobs there in St. Bernard and
never seeing them again.

Thank you, 

St. Bernard Postal Employees