09/12/2020
This is an email message that was sent to Mayor Lily Mei and all the Council members. We are planning a new and improved version that will be sent to all the major local politicians, congressional representatives and our 2 senators. Last time Barbara Boxer was our advocate and helped us win the fight. We hope that Eric Swalwell and Ro Khanna will step in to help.
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Hello Mayor Lily Mei and Council Members,
I wanted make sure that you were aware of the fact that the proposed USPS Post Office closures will disproportionately hit the poorest areas in the Bay Area as you can see from the analysis shown below. We are starting a campaign to save (again) the Niles Post Office here in Fremont and we ask for your active support. This effort will be getting a lot of publicity as we plan on being very loud (again). The analysis is from a spread sheet that we compiled from public sources of data. We then sorted it by Median Household Income and then highlighted the affected communities. As you can see the lowest income cities standout as being targeted and the peninsular would be relatively unaffected. If Fremont’s Median Household Income had not shot up from $94,000 in 2010 to what it is today, the contrast between the rich and the poor communities could not be more stark. You should also note that IF these cuts go through then Fremont’s Post Offices will service the third largest are in square miles per Post Office in the Bay Area at 26 SQ.MI. per Post Office after Hayward (45 SQ.MI.) and Concord (31 SQ.MI.)
This analysis will be sent to all our local politicians, our Senators and House Representatives, media and TV stations. As stated in the 1971 Postal Reorganization Act, the law that established the current Postal Service, “The Postal Service shall provide a maximum degree of effective and regular postal services to rural areas, communities, and small towns where post offices are not self-sustaining. No small post office shall be closed solely for operating at a deficit, it being the specific intent of the Congress that effective postal services be insured to residents of both urban and rural communities” (39 U.S.C. 101(b)). As you know, Niles is a very close and vibrant community and the loss of our Post Office would seriously impact the lifestyles of our residents especially the growing number of seniors here.
We will keep you fully updated as our efforts to keep our Niles post office open and in our efforts to stop the overall erosion of the USPS. We would really appreciate your support and involvement.
If you would like a copy of the spreadsheet file and the list of sources of information used, we will be happy to send those to you. Alternatively you can contact me at ###.###.###x.
David Price, Niles resident
