Norton Confirms T Street Post Office Customers Will Have Uninterrupted Service

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has confirmed that the T Street Post Office (14th St. and Wallach St., NW) will be moving to the Reeves Center (14th St. and U St., NW) after its lease expires in February. The move will allow T Street Post Office customers to continue to have convenient access to postal services without interruption.

"We insisted that the new lease be in the vicinity of the T Street Post Office, a convenience that we were certain presented no difficulty for the U Street area," Norton said. "Lease expirations must not become an excuse for closing a post office or making it any less accessible. As a member of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Postal Service, I fully realize that the Postal Service has an excess of facilities, but no good case has yet been made for closing any of this city's busy post offices. If one of our post offices is targeted for closure, I will work with the community throughout the appeals process until we get the same result we achieved two years ago, when none of the D.C. post offices on the preliminary closure list were closed."

Last month, Norton announced that eight of the 19 D.C. post offices on the United States Post Office (USPS) list for possible closure, the Expanded Access Study List, had been removed, and USPS announced that it would delay closing or consolidating any post offices until May 2012. Norton emphasized that even for post offices on the Expanded Access Study List, the timeline for review and study is long and complicated, ensuring no closings in the immediate future. The process includes sending out questionnaires to residents, holding public meetings, which Norton staff attends, issuing notice of a proposed closing with a 60-day public comment period, and significant internal evaluation between each step. A final decision to close a facility is also subject to appeal to the Postal Regulatory Commission. Norton continues to insist that if there must be closings, neighborhood post offices should be spared over those located in federal buildings.