Members of the public have 30 days after the date of the meeting to submit letters and messages to aid in the selection process of the post office relocation.
The post office located on Redondo Avenue is large enough to be used for postal operations, however, the Postal Service does not require that much space and is in the process of selling the lot where it is located.
The retail section of the post office is expected to remain where it is now, but the passport renewal offices will be relocated as well.
USPS held the open meeting in order to satisfy the requirements of Title 39 Code of Federal Regulations 241.4, which states that any meeting for the public must include information regarding other possible locations for the post office.
Those who attended the meeting were given maps that showed where the search for a new post office is being conducted.
The space they are looking in is bordered by north Bellflower Boulevard, East Spring Street, Long Beach Boulevard and California Route 1.
According to Richard Maher, USPS corporate communications spokesman, the relocation project of the post office is still in its beginning stages.
“I think a lot of people didn’t understand perhaps what we plan to do here, but I think by answering each of those questions by the time we were done here, people had a better understanding,” he said.
The two main options, as of the time of the meeting, are to sell the lot on Redondo Avenue and move to a new location, or stay where it is now.
Before USPS representatives got into details about the relocation, some of those in attendance expressed frustration concerning notification about the meeting.
Although some felt the meeting was a great chance to tell those in charge of the relocation project what they thought about it, others felt that parties involved in the project did not do enough to really engage with the surrounding community.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-30-at-2.11.46-PM.png” credit=”Sebastian Echeverry/Signal Tribune” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Signal Hill Mayor Larry Forester (center) extends his hand to Daniel Mastren, finance manager for postal services of the Los Angeles district, Tuesday, Nov. 24 during a meeting about the relocation of the 2300 Redondo Ave. post office.” captionposition=”right”] Michael Evans, president of the American Postal Workers Union, was not content with the process of the meeting, stating that it was run unprofessionally.
“I’ve been to a lot of these meetings,” he said. “Never have I seen this, inside the lobby of the post office, standing up where you can barely hear in the back, terrible.”
Evans said that the only notification he saw were two pieces of paper taped to the large windows of the post office facing out toward the parking lot.
“If they want to be transparent and they want the community input, they’re not going about it,” Evans said.
Others said they got word of the meeting through notices in the newspapers in the community and read officials’ newsletters.
Dean Cameron, real-estate facilities implementation specialist, spoke during the entire meeting and allowed for questions from the public.
“It appears as if the notice that was intended to go into people’s P.O. boxes was not put in there,” Cameron said. “We do [a] notice for the people as a courtesy, and we want to make sure it’s done.”
Most who attended the meeting questioned the future of their post-office boxes and wanted to know if the numbers and addresses on the boxes would change.
Maher said that there would be no changes to the addresses and numbers on the boxes during the relocation process.
Residents who have concerns can contact those in charge of the project. According to the press release about the meeting, letters containing comments or concerns can be submitted to U.S. Postal Service, 1300 Evans Ave. Ste. 200, San Francisco, CA 94188.
Long Beach 5th District Councilmember Stacy Mungo offered the public a solution to remedy the demands for public input into the project.
“We will send out emails to anyone that attended today to allow them to use email to provide feedback,” she said. “We’ll gather that feedback during the open period, and we’ll send that out to the postmaster general for consideration.”
Mungo also said residents could email district5@longbeach.com to provide feedback.
