Joe Wright/File

Students, like others who pass by the tents pitched on the steps of Berkeley’s century-old Downtown post office, may well wonder what all the fuss is about. After all, we’re all using the Internet now instead of popping letters to Mom in those disappearing street mailboxes, and the lines at that post office and many others grow irritatingly long as the clerks who used to staff them vanish as well.

A recent article in The Daily Californian attributes U.S. Postal Service spokesman Augustine Ruiz as explaining that as a result of a decline in mail volume, the Postal Service only needs to retain 4,000 of its 57,000 square feet of space and that keeping ownership of the entire building would not be economical. Disposing of a tax-exempt property one holds to lease space elsewhere doesn’t make long-range economic sense, but doing so doesn’t enter into the accounting of current Postal Service management. That the public paid for Berkeley’s post office also goes unmentioned in the service’s press releases. Indeed, the very notion of the public good represented by the ennobling architecture of the Downtown post office as well as the buildings at the center of the UC Berkeley campus has faded in tandem with the right of every American to have quality and tuition-free education along with a cheap and efficient postal service mandated by the Constitution.

Take a look at the materials, craftsmanship and design of buildings such as Doe Library, Wheeler Hall, the Campanile and Hearst Gym. Equivalent to those of expensive Ivy League colleges, those buildings and others at the heart of what was once simply the state university represent that taxpayers and wealthy individuals previously believed students from even the remotest parts of the state deserved to to become fully-rounded citizens. They were elements of two Hearst-sponsored plans that sought to create an ideal City of Learning on the hills facing the Golden Gate Bridge. By 1914, the treasury allotted a generous bonus to erect a post office in Berkeley worthy of the nearby university. It was modeled after Brunelleschi’s famous Foundling Hospital in Florence, Italy. During the Great Depression, the Treasury Relief Art Project further embellished the post office with both a mural and a sculpture at the same time that the Works Progress Administration set female artists to work laying mosaics on the university’s brick powerhouse east of Sather Gate. Those mosaics celebrate the expansive power of the humanities.

The language of the public good is neither spoken nor understood by those who now run both our postal service and once-public universities. Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe let Mayor Tom Bates know that he feels Berkeley’s pain, informing the mayor that “the Postal Service is the first to acknowledge how important it is to preserve our historic buildings, which is why we are going through a lengthy and transparent process to assure their protection before they are sold.” Three months later, Tom Samra, vice president of facilities, wrote that though he was “sympathetic to the concerns raised by (the city, elected officials and numerous other parties),” he was denying their appeals so that there “is no right to further administrative or judicial review of this decision.” Though listed on the National Register and paid for by the public it serves, Berkeley’s post office and others don’t represent a trust to those such as Donohoe and Samra but simply real are estate assets to be flogged by their exclusively contracted agent CBRE, the broker chaired by UC Regent Richard Blum, husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Although not for sale yet, the decay of the classically inspired buildings at the core of the UC Berkeley campus suggests that those who run the university ever more like a business, rather than a public trust, regard them as plum sites of opportunity for more profitable ventures. While they have recently poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new sports and biotech facilities, buildings such as the magnificent women’s gymnasium designed by Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck as a memorial to UC benefactor Phoebe Hearst slouch toward ruin.

The physical decay and outright sale of what their builders intended as monuments of unaging intellect represents not just a betrayal of the public trust but also the loss of an ethical language that created a world-class university and universal postal service. We must recover that language to understand what is being taken from us and to whose advantage it is taken at our collective loss.

Gray Brechin is the project scientist of the Living New Deal based in the UC Berkeley Department of Geography.

Contact the opinion desk at opinion@dailycal.org.

The post Lost buildings mean lost history appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Recently, I’ve been moved and inspired by two pieces in the Daily Cal: Caitlin Quinn’s op-ed regarding harmful discourse was a clarion call about not only how we speak, but also of our own self-awareness vis-a-vis our position and lot in life; and Doug Taylor’s Op-Ed regarding the status quo spoke to me directly, since I could identify with the alienation he feels, as I am also a 30-year-old transfer student.

Yu’s piece serves as a lovely exemplar of what Ms. Quinn and Mr. Taylor were referring to. She writes off the “citizenry of Berkeley” as a bunch of rabble-rousing ne’er-do-wells, contriving their protests based on false assumptions and overeager fanaticism. This immediately defines an “other,” the interests of which Yu writes off as irrelevant to the current debate surrounding the future of the post office.  This is exactly the sort of harmful discourse, in spirit and tone if not in word, which Ms. Quinn was warning against in her piece.

By attempting to turn the people of Berkeley into an “other,” Yu simply reveals her own status as an outsider.  Many of us who attend this campus also live in parts of Berkeley other than the area directly adjacent to campus and feel a full integration between our city and university lives.  Perhaps Yu has not yet had occasion to feel that integration, outside of the warm confines of the campus community. In the real world, people use the post office frequently. Berkeley has literally thousands of post office customers, myself included, for whom the post office provides a vital necessity: a place to retrieve our mail. But those people don’t exist at UC Berkeley, according to Yu.  We are “zero people” and “nobody.” When I read those words, I immediately felt the stab of exclusion.

Upon reading the rest of her pieces on local government, I’m going to give Yu the benefit of the doubt and assume that her glib and dismissive tone are a part of an affect she puts on, a sort of Colbert-esque satire on local politics. However, without explicit knowledge as to whether this is true or not, her piece comes across as embodying the shunning, exclusive, myopic mentality that Taylor bemoans in his article, conscientiously ignoring the self-awareness of having a privileged position in life (in this case, the privilege of living in a neighborhood safe enough to leave packages at the mailbox or door).

And indeed, this greater debate about the validity of the concerns of the people of Berkeley hides a greater truth— that the corporatization of the Postal Service is not some whacko-Berkeley-townie conspiracy but an actual agenda item for the GOP.  According to its 2012 platform, the party wants Congress to “explore a greater role for private enterprise” in the operations of the U.S. Postal Service, ostensibly in order to shrink budgets, but one can’t help but see a common ideological bent in the proposals to privatize Social Security, school funding, Medicare, Amtrak, etc. By choking the budget for the U.S. Postal Service, the GOP has given that venerable government agency no choice but to liquidate assets and seek the lowest common denominator.

The Daily Californian is one of the most revered student newspapers in the United States — and even the world: an independent newspaper run by students, with a rich history and publishing four days a week in a world in which actual newsprint is a rarity. I think that Yu’s jaded tone and overly simplified viewpoint is a disservice to both the readership of thisw newspaper, and to the reputation and legacy of the Daily Cal as an institution. There are standards to be upheld, and Yu’s piece does little to advance the integrity of those standards.

Neither the post office nor the Daily Cal benefits from a discourse full of banalities and generalizations, a discourse that doesn’t bother understanding or arguing the substantive points. The university and the people of Berkeley deserve better than that.

Patrick Donnelly-Shores is a UC Berkeley student.

Contact the opinion desk at opinion@dailycal.org.

The post Berkeley’s post office matters appeared first on The Daily Californian.

“OMG, I use the post office all the time!” said no one ever. For all zero people at this school who regularly use snail mail to communicate, you may have heard of the proposed sale of the Downtown Berkeley Post Office. You may also not care.

This, however, is not the case for the citizenry of Berkeley, which has taken up arms and regularly protested against said sale over the past year. The Downtown Berkeley Post Office is special, you see, for it’s listed in the National Register of Historical Places, and its facade, crafted in 1915, is decorated with Works Progress Administration art. As such, it’s an expensive piece of real estate and costly to maintain.

Berkeley City Council formed a subcommittee last year to address the concerns arising from this proposed sale. As of a meeting held this past Tuesday, Feb. 12, the council stands with the people — it is very much in favor of preserving this historic building if at all possible.

Now, let’s make something clear — the post office isn’t closing altogether. If the sale of the building does go through, the post office will simply be moving to another more affordable location.

So what are some reasons for keeping it going in its current carapace?

Harvey Smith, president of the National New Deal Preservation Association and a staunch supporter of our lovely post office, wrote in an op-ed to the Daily Cal last summer that “The proposed sale of the nearly century-old Downtown Berkeley Main Post Office is yet another close-to-home example of the public surrender to corporate America.”

Wait, what? But actually … what?!

This reminds me of a Berkeley City Council meeting I attended last summer that was focused on Berkeley’s unsuccessful ballot measure that would have banned sitting on commercial sidewalks. Protesters congregated outside to express their dismay over the proposed ban, and to one side stood a group participating in the protests loudly shouting, “An acorn is no more a tree than a corporation is a person! A tutu is no more a ballerina than a corporation is a person!”

These both happen to be true statements, but what do they have to do with anything? Why does the supposed desecration of a public entity somehow have to link back to corporate power in America?

Dear Lord, it’s not as if we’re going to install a WalMart or Starbucks in the post office building. “Don’t give in to corporate entities!” is a great slogan to get the people riled up, but pitting public versus private in this matter is the incorrect way to frame this debate.

Simple facts: The Downtown Berkeley Post Office is suffering financially; the plight of the post office is so bad that it has been placed on the “2012 List of America’s 11 Most Endangered Places.” However, the proposed sale does not arise out of an insidious attempt to privatize public goods but an unfortunate reality brought about by technological shifts in the industry.

Let’s not turn this into an ideological debate where one doesn’t exist.

Another reason for not selling has been the consistent cry that this building is part of Berkeley history and that historical preservation is paramount. As a fellow history nerd, I can sympathize.

But let’s be honest here, folks; this isn’t Monticello, this is a freakin’ post office. It’s like saying, “Oh gee whiz, it’s 1932, but for history’s sake, don’t sell that Pony Express outpost that’s falling apart and not making any money! It’s pretty!”

At the last subcommittee meeting on the topic, Councilmember Jesse Arreguin said, “We paid for it,” in reference to the fact that taxpayer money has allowed for the building’s development and maintenance all these years.

I can understand how you can feel attached to a building because you’ve paid for it. That’s where I stop comprehending, though, because the arguments that are being made to save the building don’t follow logically.

If you love the building because it’s historic, well … the building isn’t going anywhere. It will remain a beautiful facade, regardless of its inhabitants. If you love the U.S. Postal Service because you would have been that person in 1932 using the Pony Express, well … that’s not being eliminated with the sale, only moved.

Why insist on maintaining a costly building/service and paying taxes for it when neither the building nor the service will be significantly tarnished by a sale?

The council’s next subcommittee meeting on the issue will take place next Tuesday, Feb. 26; voting on the issue will occur on March 5. As noted before, the council is fully in support of historic preservation. To which I must ask: To what end?

Or better yet: How often do you use the post office?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Contact Lynn Yu at lyu@dailycal.org or follow her on Twitter: @lynnqyu.

The post You don’t got mail appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Gracie Malley/File

Residents filled the Berkeley City Council Chambers to voice their concerns about the relocation of the Downtown Berkeley post office during a public meeting Thursday.

The U.S. Postal Service expressed interest in relocating its 97-year-old Downtown Berkeley branch to help offset declining revenues from a decrease in first-class mail and the increased costs of a 2006 congressional mandate to prefund retiree health benefits.

First-class mail volume is down 25 percent from its 2006 peak, according to the Postal Service’s “Plan to Profitability” presentation.

“When you lose that much volume, a lot of revenue goes with it,” said Augustine Ruiz, Postal Service spokesperson.

The plan to relocate the branch at Allston Way was proposed in June, as the current 57,000-square-foot location is too big for the Postal Service’s needs. Under the plan, retail services would be moved to a yet-to-be-determined location of about 4,000 square feet, and postal carriers would be moved to a nearby annex. There would be no service interruptions to postal customers, Ruiz said.

“It would be unfortunate if it closed, and we don’t know what it would be used for if it were sold,” said Councilmember Jesse Arreguin.

Arreguin said that he plans to propose other options for the use of the building to the Postal Service, including partly leasing the building, allocating the front of the building for post office retail space and having another tenant use the rest of the building.

“Is it really cost savings to sell a building you own and lease a building you don’t own?” Arreguin said.

“This is an amazing legacy that was paid for by our parents and grandparents,” said Harvey Smith, part of the Committee to Save the Berkeley Main Post Office. “It’s stripping part of our national heritage.”

Ruiz noted that whatever happens to the building — which is on the National Register of Historic Places — it must adhere to the proper historical requirements.

The date of the next public meeting has yet to be determined and will be preceded by a 15-day advance notice. After the meeting, the public will have an additional 15-day comment period before recommendations are sent to Postal Service offices in Washington, D.C. After the comment period, Postal Service representatives in Washington will make the final decision about the relocation. There will be a 15-day appeal period following the decision.

Still, Ruiz said that this will not be a hasty decision.

“We need to make sure we do our due diligence,” he said.

Contact Mitchell Handler at mhandler@dailycal.org.

The post Meeting held for residents to voice concern over post office relocation appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The unanimous vote — with Mayor Tom Bates absent and his vote consequently not counted — approved the sending of a resolution that formally urges the U.S. Postal Service not to sell the main post office, asks it to provide the council and public with more information on the sale and asserts the council’s allegiance with the community affected by the closure.

The vote also authorized a subcommittee including Bates and Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin, Laurie Capitelli and Susan Wengraf to work with local congressional representation to navigate through the intricacies of formally opposing the building’s closure and sale.

“There is a very strict procedure for the process of dealing with the U.S. Postal Service,” said Bates’ Chief of Staff Judith Iglehart at the meeting, referring to the full report on both the interior and exterior of the building from the state agency in charge of landmarks.

According to Iglehart, Bates is already working with Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, with whom the council previously collaborated in the failed attempt to save Berkeley’s Parks Station post office, to keep the main post office open.

At the meeting the council members resolved not only to work with local government but also to reach out across the country to other cities fighting to keep their post offices open and set a national example for keeping a post office open.

“I think it was an excellent suggestion that we work with other cities that are facing the same thing so we have a much stronger block and a much bigger voice,” said Councilmember Linda Maio at the meeting. “In the course of doing this, we need to work with the workers and the union. We’re all furious about this because it’s a legacy that the prior generations worked for, paid for, struggled for, and made beautiful for us.”

The building’s proposed sale has sparked community outrage and has led to multiple protests — including a small one before the start of Tuesday’s council meeting — in light of the building’s historical and community importance, as well as its significance in the public sector.

U.S. Postal Service spokesperson Augustine Ruiz said while there are always “strong sentiments” from the public when closing a post office, it is a necessary business decision in the face of declining mail volume and an excess capacity of equipment.

Ruiz also said the Postal Service is hoping to hold the required meeting with city management and the public within the next three weeks to provide all the information currently available on the closing of the building, including the reasons for the sale and a timeline of action moving forward.

The post Berkeley City Council votes to oppose post office building sale appeared first on The Daily Californian.

— Kathryn A. Klar
Lecturer emerita, UC Berkeley Celtic studies

The post Letter: Greater transparency needed in Postal Service building sale appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Joe Wright/File

After nearly 97 years at its Downtown Berkeley location, the United States Postal Service decided in June to close its main post office branch on Allston Way and move to a new location.

The service has not yet determined an asking price for the current building, nor to whom it will sell the building, according to Michael Caplan, the city’s manager of economic development. The final closure date of the post office will not be decided until the appraisal process is finished.

Caplan also said the new site would not impact customers because the retail services and shipping items will be transferred to a new mailing site and staffed accordingly.

One of the issues that prompted the move was a revenue decline that stemmed from competition from other businesses that provided the same mailing services as the Downtown Berkeley branch, according to postal service spokesperson Gus Ruiz.

“People are going online, to Costco centers and other places,” Ruiz said. “We have fewer and fewer customers walking in and out of our doors.”

According to Ruiz, the postal service’s plan is to adopt cost containment strategies to re-generate revenue for the agency. Based on this strategy, cuts will be made in areas like infrastructure and employment concentration and a deeper focus will be on shipping since Ruiz said that is how most people choose to mail packages today.

Post office supervisors declined to comment on the agency’s plan to move to another location in Berkeley.

The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association — a nonprofit organization that promotes appreciation of Berkeley’s historical buildings — has stated that the post office location holds historical significance for the city.

According to the association’s description of the building in 1981, the building represented early Berkeley’s coming of age, since its completion in 1915 — a time that symbolized a boom in economic and population growth as well as a rise in political refinement.

“The Berkeley post office is a public space, and when it’s sold, it will turn into a private space,” said Save the Post Office Editor and Administrator Steve Hutkins. “Selling historic post offices is a form of ‘divestiture of assets’ — a step toward privatization.”

Save the Post Office is a website that gives information regarding postal office closures and upcoming consolidations.

According to Gray Brechin, a visiting scholar in the UC Berkeley Department of Geography and a Berkeley resident, the post office on Allston Way is very important for the city. Brechin said the post office was built during a period when many believed architectural beautification could bring harmony to urban living.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cneKmj4bAbo&w=560&h=315]

“The federal government went to special lengths to give Berkeley one of the handsomest postal facilities in the state and possibly the nation,” Brechin said. “It represents the high idealism of the City Beautiful Movement.”

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin said although the city would see increased revenue as result of sale of the building, he is concerned with the future use of the building. Whether the building becomes privately owned or not, Arreguin said he hopes it will be in positive use and benefit the downtown area.

“It’s important to have a post office in the middle of the city,” said Anthony Bruce, executive director of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. “Its best use is the original use (of sending mail).”

The post Downtown Berkeley post office to close after 97 years appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Beginning Feb. 20, 61 post offices in six Bay Area counties will have shorter hours, with most opening 30 minutes to an hour later, according to Bay City News. The new hours will be updated online on Feb. 20.

Soumya Karlamangla is the city news editor.

The post Bay Area post offices to shorten hours appeared first on The Daily Californian.