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January 28, 2010
Briana Terry
Local residents discussed the potential closure of the Niles post office at a community meeting held by the U.S. Postal Services at the Niles Elementary School auditorium, Jan. 5.
Niles joins 169 post offices on the list for closure because of the detrimental effects of the economic downturn. People favor using email communication, causing a reduction of mail circulation and overall declining post office revenues.
Residents spoke about losing a local post office that has been in business for 136 years. The office has poor road access to other Fremont districts and is four miles from the nearest full-service post office.
“It shouldn’t have to be this way. It’s a lot of gas to be going around to the next nearest post office,” parent Carmen Correia said.
Correia made one of 3,000 signatures on a petition drafted to defend the post office against closure. Information and the petition signatures will be handed over to the Postal Service district manager’s office in Oakland, to then be forwarded to the Postal Service area vice president in San Diego. The final decision will be made at the Postal Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 2010.
“I feel horrible! I grew up with it being around, and now we have to commute to another post office,” senior Angelina Correia said.
This article originally appeared in print on Jan. 26, 2010. It has been modified to correct style and grammatical errors.
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