Threatened Loss of Piedmont Station, U.S. Post Office, Oakland CA 94611

A developer has come forward with a plan to build condos on the site of our heavily used U.S. Post Office at 195 41st Street, Oakland CA. The proposal requires Design Review and permits for condos from Oakland’s Zoning Department. No formal application has been submitted as of January 31, but both of those permissions will involve public notification and public comments, possibly in the next month. The post office’s lease runs until some time in 2018.

In the meantime, the Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Improvement League (PANIL) is working with Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s office, as well as with Oakland Councilmembers Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan, and the mayors of Oakland and Piedmont to save the post office.

Why the post office is important:

1. This post office is heavily used, and no nearby facility is large enough to handle this volume.

2. The location is within walking distance of a large number of patrons, but also provides parking for those with packages or volume mailing.

3. It would be highly inconvenient for thousands of neighborhood residents to pick up packages, mail, or vacation holds at more distant locations.

4. Many seniors live in the neighborhood and do not have cars.

5. Post Office Boxes here are heavily subscribed.

6. This post office is critical to the vitality of Piedmont Avenue businesses, both for the services it provides to businesses and for the customers it draws to the area.

Please stay tuned for further news. Sign up for our email list at contact@panil.org.To Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Mayor Libby Schaaf, Councilmembers Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan, Piedmont Mayor Jeffrey Wieler:

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Petition

To Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Mayor Libby Schaaf, Councilmembers Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan, Piedmont Mayor Jeffrey Wieler:

We, the undersigned patrons of the Piedmont Station of the U.S. Post Office, 195-41st Street, Oakland, CA, 94611, strongly object to the possible loss of this facility’s services, and urgently request a solution be found to keep these services in the neighborhood. Solutions may include, but are not limited to negotiating a new lease for the Post Office in its current facility; placing a retail Post Office in the ground floor of the new project, where patrons could buy stamps and mail packages; or locating such services in another nearby facility within walking distance.