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Post Ofce closure decision moved to next year | LoudounTimes.com

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Post Office closure decision moved to next year

Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 by Laura Peters | 9 comments | Email this story

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The Downtown Leesburg post office is located on West Market Street across from the Loudoun County Courthouse. Times-Mirror Photo/Beverly Denny

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The Historic Downtown Leesburg Post Office will not be closing just yet. The United States Postal Service made a statement on Dec. 13 that they will be delaying closing or consolidation of any post office until May 15, 2012 instead of by the end of 2011. Two post offices are in question in Loudoun County, one in downtown Leesburg and the other is the Dulles Finance Unit in Sterling. The Leesburg Post Office is one of 100 in Virginia facing possible closure and 3,700 in the country. The proposed closing of the post office would save nearly $47,000 a year. Should the building shut down, workers in the office would be either reassigned to vacant positions or relocated. The cost savings that are factored into that equation are the salary of the workers, utilities of the building and transporting the mail from building to building. The Postal Service said in a release that they will continue all necessary steps required for the review of these facilities during the interim period, including public input meetings. The Postal Service hopes this period will help facilitate the enactment of comprehensive postal legislation, the release said. Given the Postal Services financial situation and the loss of mail volume, the Postal Service must continue to take all steps necessary to reduce costs and increase revenue. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who also is the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the

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U.S. Postal Service, sent out a release urging his colleagues to address the Postal Services financial crisis as soon as possible. Carper co-authored the 21st Century Postal Service Act in order to save post offices across the country. If the bill is passed it would suspend all closings of post offices and set a new procedure for closing mail facilities. While we worked and continue to work, the Postal Services financial challenges grow worse with every passing day. In order to address those challenges, the Postal Service has moved forward with individual cost-saving measures in order to keep it afloat until Congress can approve comprehensive reform legislation, Carper said in a release. Many of my colleagues have very reasonable concerns with the Postal Service moving forward with these measures at a time when Congress is moving closer to providing the Postal Service a financial lifeline. This agreement appears to address those concerns.
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The Downtown Leesburg Post Office houses 600 postal boxes. During a public hearing held by the U.S. Postal Service on Nov. 9, Leesburg residents and business owners came to speak out on the possible closure of the office many of them not happy with the idea of closing.

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It would be irresponsible for Congress to permanently take away or curtail authority the Postal Service has had for more than 30 years to make operational decisions, Carper said in a release. It would be equally irresponsible to give those customers and employees who oppose specific facilities being closed the false hope that tough decisions by the Postal Service to downsize its operations that are likely inevitable can be avoided forever.

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Comments
Mon, Dec 19 at 04:38 PM by Shawn in Leesburg | Report this comment

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@disgustedtaxpayer, I might be okay with the closure of the downtown post office if there was actually an alternative in place that could adequately serve a townand one day perhaps a Cityof 41,000+ people. Were not some village of 750 where theres a post office 5-10 miles down the road (Im looking at you, Markham, VA.) We are part of one of Americas fastest-growing counties. The Catoctin Circle location is impossible to get in and out of during the regular workday; Ive had to park over at the old Indian restaurant and walk to the post office on more than one occasion. Ideally, the Post Office could sell off both the downtown and Catoctin Circle locations and build on some/all of the property thats zoned PRN on Harrison Street. I dont know how much itd cost to do that, however; but maybe theres another property relatively convenient to the entire town that could fit the bill.
Sat, Dec 17 at 09:06 PM by and odd hours | Report this comment

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