Bob Tracey, who served in World War II and the Korean War, has one more fight in him.
“Don’t take the heart out of Morristown and rip that Morris Street post office out of there!” growled the retired Morristown postmaster, to the cheers of about 40 residents who turned out Thursday night to oppose the proposed closure of the downtown post office.
Residents gave postal officials plenty of arguments for saving the facility.
As the county seat, Morristown deserves a post office. Historic Morristown, military capital of the Revolution, deserves a post office. Walkable, sustainable Morristown deserves a post office. Blind students and guide dogs from The Seeing Eye, for training purposes, deserve a post office. Seniors without cars and immigrants with distant loved ones, lugging packages to send, deserve a post office.
Their points were underscored, they said, by the meeting’s location. Morristown’s “Main Post Office,” which would pick up the slack if the Morris Street Station closes, actually sits in Morris Township. It’s too far to walk from downtown, and too dangerous–Ridgedale Avenue is busy.
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Some 3,700 of 32,000 postal locations nationwide are being eyed for closure. Postal Service officials said closure decisions should come by May 15, and may be appealed to the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Electronic communications have taken a huge bite out of the snail mail business over the last five years. The Postal Service is on track to lose $5 billion nationwide in the first quarter of 2012, according to MaryAnne Batten, post office operations manager.
Shutting the Morris Street Station, owned by the Postal Service, would save an estimated $948,000 over 10 years. Revenues there dropped from $771,376 to $615,590 between fiscal 2007 and 2010.
The Convent Station Branch, also on the chopping block, saw its revenues slide from $761,146 to $505,769 over the same period. About $1.4 million could be saved over a decade by closing that leased facility, according to the Postal Service.
Residents would keep their present zip codes and mailing addresses if consolidation moves their post office boxes to the Main Post Office, said MaryAnne. Allen Tanko, Phillipsburg postmaster and a member of the “District Discontinuance Team” studying sites for closure, said Thursday’s meeting was meant to gather public comments.
He got an earful. Residents were dismayed that he was unfamiliar with the Morristown area and one of its iconic institutions, The Seeing Eye. Pointedly, they also suggested that scheduling the meeting at the Morris Street Station would have drawn a bigger crowd. Flashy posters instead of bland legal notices might have helped, too.
Allen said he was required to follow regulations in a postal manual.
“You need to start thinking outside the box!” said Katrina Ferguson, a Morristown actress from Australia, where five-day mail delivery has been the norm for years.
The Postal Service should charge for mail forwarding and mail holds, among other services, said Morristown Councilwoman Alison Deeb.
Former Mayor Jay Delaney, who expressed nostalgia for the Postal Service dating to the holiday film Miracle on 34th Street, said he too was willing to pay more to keep the local post office afloat.
“Let’s not be afraid to spend money, because you’re cheap and you’re fabulous,” Jay said.
“If we’re really going to save this post office….we have to organize and get in our congressman’s face,” said Mayor Tim Dougherty.
But the most impassioned appeal came from 86-year-old Bob Tracey. Last fall the Morristown council voted to rename a park in his honor, to recognize his volunteer work for veterans. There was a sense of urgency because of Bob’s failing health.
Bob rose to the occasion on Thursday, delivering a five-minute history of the local postal scene that built to a crescendo.
“Don’t come into town where you really don’t know,” he lectured the postal officials. “I know this town. I played ball here, football, baseball and basketball. I’m in the Hall of Fame. I went through two wars, and came back to serve this community, and I’m still serving it now.”
When a postal spokesman said no determination had been made about the fate of the Morris Street Station, Bob didn’t miss a beat.
“Get me on it,” he snapped. “I’ll make a determination!”
MORE ABOUT THE PROPOSED POST OFFICE CLOSURE
