Sunday, June 22, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Post Office going full service
IF the Postal Service again listens to its
patrons, it will send out postcards to
everyone living in ZIP codes 94102, 94103
and 94109 and give them the news: 101 Hyde
is converting to a full-service post office.
What had become a dangerous and almost
useless shell of a building — with reduced
hours and nothing more than 7,989 rental
boxes, 40% of them rented — now will have
all this: two windows where USPS staff will sell
stamps, weigh parcels, handle rental boxes,
serve general delivery patrons, accept applications
for passports. It may even have a place to
send out letters — the drop boxes were
removed from the site early this year.
A coalition of neighborhood
activists was the driving
force behind the change. They
collected 1,000 signatures on a
petition and sent it and a letter
to Postal Service District
Manager Winifred Groux,
cc’ing them to Rep. Nancy
Pelosi and the U.S. postmaster.
They got Super visor Chris Daly
involved as well as TL police
Capt. Gary Jimenez, and spoke
at a supervisors’ Operations
and Neighborhood Services
Committee meeting after holding
a noisy rally in front of the
Golden Gate and Hyde facility.
May 14, USPS sent out a
press release announcing the
people’s victory. “The community
asked us to consider
upgrading . . . to a full-fledged
retail center and we listened,”
Groux was quoted as saying.
Two weeks later, a small
gathering of winners in this
David vs. Goliath contest cut a cake to celebrate.
Renovation of the building will begin
in the next two months, and Rep. Pelosi’s
office wants to host a grand opening.
Somehow, the work’s never quite done:
POP (Post Office Patrons), a group of box
holders that started advocating for better box
services after the ’89 quake closed many
postal facilities, is surveying members, asking
what else they want: mail boxes; stamp
machine in the lobby; first-class mail sorted
into boxes daily; longer lobby hours;
Saturday retail services.
Michael Nulty, POP member and Alliance
for a Better District 6 president, says they’ll
use the survey results as they continue negotiating
with USPS. ■
Michael Nulty
(left) and brother
John Nulty (right)
with POP honoree
Paul Lovinger get
ready to cut the cake
at the post office
victory celebration.
BY MA R J O R I E BEGGS
Post office going full service
TL coalition gets Postal Service to bring back 101 Hyde St.
PHOTO B Y TOM C A R T E R
patrons, it will send out postcards to
everyone living in ZIP codes 94102, 94103
and 94109 and give them the news: 101 Hyde
is converting to a full-service post office.
What had become a dangerous and almost
useless shell of a building — with reduced
hours and nothing more than 7,989 rental
boxes, 40% of them rented — now will have
all this: two windows where USPS staff will sell
stamps, weigh parcels, handle rental boxes,
serve general delivery patrons, accept applications
for passports. It may even have a place to
send out letters — the drop boxes were
removed from the site early this year.
A coalition of neighborhood
activists was the driving
force behind the change. They
collected 1,000 signatures on a
petition and sent it and a letter
to Postal Service District
Manager Winifred Groux,
cc’ing them to Rep. Nancy
Pelosi and the U.S. postmaster.
They got Super visor Chris Daly
involved as well as TL police
Capt. Gary Jimenez, and spoke
at a supervisors’ Operations
and Neighborhood Services
Committee meeting after holding
a noisy rally in front of the
Golden Gate and Hyde facility.
May 14, USPS sent out a
press release announcing the
people’s victory. “The community
asked us to consider
upgrading . . . to a full-fledged
retail center and we listened,”
Groux was quoted as saying.
Two weeks later, a small
gathering of winners in this
David vs. Goliath contest cut a cake to celebrate.
Renovation of the building will begin
in the next two months, and Rep. Pelosi’s
office wants to host a grand opening.
Somehow, the work’s never quite done:
POP (Post Office Patrons), a group of box
holders that started advocating for better box
services after the ’89 quake closed many
postal facilities, is surveying members, asking
what else they want: mail boxes; stamp
machine in the lobby; first-class mail sorted
into boxes daily; longer lobby hours;
Saturday retail services.
Michael Nulty, POP member and Alliance
for a Better District 6 president, says they’ll
use the survey results as they continue negotiating
with USPS. ■
Michael Nulty
(left) and brother
John Nulty (right)
with POP honoree
Paul Lovinger get
ready to cut the cake
at the post office
victory celebration.
BY MA R J O R I E BEGGS
Post office going full service
TL coalition gets Postal Service to bring back 101 Hyde St.
PHOTO B Y TOM C A R T E R
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