Good Bye Chelsea good bye USPS

Such a sad news about this post office being put on selling block.      
I go by there all the time.  It’s such a beautiful place that by coming in it takes you back to another era which was not too far away. The post office was slated to come down and go out the day it was taken away from the wing of the Federal Government and Congress and put to compete with companies like Fedex and UPS.— But like Conservatives say the government should not be made to deliver the mail (unless is a letter by a congressman telling what great things 'he' did in the name of the American people with their money).

The US Postal Service is quietly beginning the process of selling off a decades old post office in the heart of Chelsea, shocking neighbors and elected officials who say they were given no notice of the plans.   adamfoxie*

(below By Mathew Katz)

The Old Chelsea Station at 217 W. 18th St., which was built in 1937 and landed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, is on the chopping block, the USPS announced in a letter posted in the station.

"The above-referenced property is slated for sale, which will transfer the property out of federal ownership," USPS facilities specialist Ann M. Yarnel wrote in a letter dated Jan. 11 and posted on the foyer of the Chelsea post office.

The roughly 41,600 square foot, two-story Colonial Revival building is known for its iconic red brick facade and limestone interior, along with two relief panels of a bear and a deer carved by artist Paul Fiene in 1938.

The USPS' letter to the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation argues that the sale will have "no adverse affect" on the building's historic value because the postal service will attach a "preservation covenant" with the deed to the property that would require review by the state before any changes are made to the interior lobby or the front facade.

The Postal Service, reeling from a $15.9 billion net loss last year, has been slashing its ties to buildings across the city, including a similarly landmarked post office in The Bronx, as part of a nationwide plan to downsize.

Critics — including local elected officials — said they were blindsided by the news. 

"We should not learn of an impending sale and closure only through a letter to the state agency on Historic Preservation," Congressman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement.

"This post office is heavily used and provides a critical service to Chelsea residents, many of whom are seniors or otherwise unable to travel far to conduct postal services."

Nadler, along with other Chelsea elected officials, was in the midst of drafting a letter to the Postal Service urging it not to sell the station, a spokesman said.

According to the letter, the Postal Service intends to give the public 30 days to comment on the plan.

A spokeswoman for the Postal Service did not respond to requests for comment.

For many in the neighborhood, the building's historic importance is secondary to the fact that it's a large, convenient post office within walking distance of their homes and businesses.

"This has huge ramifications for many people," said Lesley Doyel, co-President of Save Chelsea, whose business, like many in the neighborhood, has a P.O. box at Old Chelsea Station.

"It's a very crucial address for a lot of businesses and individuals. Everybody uses this post office."

Dianna Maeurer, who said she only discovered the plan to sell the building last week, said she disagreed with the post office's manner of announcing the closure.

"It's just this one tiny paper taped to a wall," she said, "that's not the way to do it."

Mauerer, who said she visits with friends at the post office and is on a "first-name basis with my postal person," said she's not happy with the USPS' decision.

"I know the staff there. I have friends there," she added.

With the neighborhood swelling in size, Mauerer said it made little sense to shut down its central postal station.

"They build all these buildings, these condos, and they're bringing more people in who are going to need mail, and they want to close this place down?," she said. "How could they even consider such a thing?