Extra

Lawsuit

In an epic court battle, the City of Berkeley and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are taking on the U.S. Postal Service over the sale of the Berkeley Main Post Office and of our nation’s historic post offices. The two legal actions are separate but are being heard concurrently in federal court in San Francisco. When a developer pulled out of a purchase contract, the USPS started playing games about whether the post office is for sale. The USPS claims the suits are moot, or not ripe, or that Berkeley and the National Trust have no right to a judicial review of a Postal Service decision, or if there’s a right to judicial review, the basis of review was terminated when the developer pulled out of the purchase contract…. The judge will decide whether the case will go forward on or after March 19th. 

Save the Date!

Want to understand the lawsuits? Join us for a Community Meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 2133 University (between Shattuck & Walnut—the Arts Festival Space near Ace Hardware). We have two speakers you will want to hear. Tony Rossmann, who specializes in water and land-use law, is representing the City of Berkeley against the U.S. Postal Service. Brian Turner, attorney with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is representing the National Trust against the USPS. Both Mr. Rossmann and Mr. Turner will be at the meeting and will provide us with details of how the U.S. Postal Service has avoided complying with environmental and preservation law and why the City of Berkeley and the nation’s leading preservation organization are asking the court to intervene. 

Financial Services Resolution

Berkeley City Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin, Linda Maio, and Susan Wengraf are bringing forward a Council Resolution in support of increasing financial services at post offices nationwide. The resolution will be introduced on the consent calendar at the February 10th Council meeting. Attend the meeting and show your support! 

Garden of the Common Good Berkeley Post Office Defenders, First They Came for the Homeless and other volunteers planted the Garden of the Common Good on the west side of the downtown Berkeley Post Office. Stop by and take a look. What an improvement! 

National News

Preserving America’s Public Post Office

USPS intends to close 82 mail-processing plants nationwide in 2015. In the past three years the postal service has closed 143 plants….In August, 51 Senators asked the Postal Service to delay these plant closings and in September, 160 House members asked for a moratorium on closing mail processing plants expressing concern over slowed mail…. Nevertheless the Postal Service says they are going ahead…. As a case example in Oregon three mail processing plants are slated for closure: Current plants in Bend, Pendleton and Eugene are slated for consolidation into the Portland plant….These mail processing plant closures will increase delivery times, eliminate overnight delivery for a large portion of first class mail and slow mail currently subject to a two day standard to a three-day standard…. The USPS Inspector General issued a Management Alert on October 6, 2014, stating “The Postal Service has not analyzed the impact of planned service standard changes or informed stakeholders of the changes related to Phase 2 consolidations. Specifically, management did not complete the service standard impacts worksheet in 91 of the 95 AMP [Area Mail Processing] feasibility studies.” 

On November 14, 2014, the USPS Board of Governors named Megan J. Brennan as the 74th Postmaster General. Ms. Brennan joined the Postal Service in 1986 as a letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. When Patrick Donahoe retires on February 1st, Ms. Brennan will become the nation’s first female Postmaster General. 

The USPS Board of Governors is broken…

The USPS Board of Governors consists of nine governors appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate plus the Postmaster General and Deputy Postmaster General. At least six members of the BOG are required for a quorum…. As of December 8, 2014, the USPS BOG has six vacancies and is unable to form a quorum…. At the December 5, 2014 meeting, the BOG held a 3 minute and 37 second open session and then completed the meeting in closed session. According to the Federal Register, the Board of Governors has created a Temporary Emergency Committee that it says will have the ability to continue conducting official business in the absence of the quorum required by statute. The committee will consist of the Governors currently in office. The Postal Service General Counsel gave an opinion that the Temporary Emergency Committee can continue to conduct business as if the Board of Governors was able to form a quorum. On January 13, 2015, the USPS placed a “Sunshine Act Meeting” Notice in the Federal Register alerting the public that the previously announced meeting of January 7th was held by teleconference on January 6th…. “In addition, the members voted to close the meeting to public observation and to revise the items to be considered. The Committee determined that no earlier public notice was possible…. The General Counsel of the U.S. Postal Service certified it was OK under the Sunshine Act to conduct a closed meeting. 

Capitol Hill

In the House of Representatives...Congressman Darrell Issa’s reign as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is over. The new chairman is Jason Chaffetz (UT). We’re glad to see Darrell Issa go, but Chaffetz is a wing-nut Republican…. Besides the Post Office the Oversight Committee has responsibility for the District of Columbia and Chaffetz is remembered for his attempt as a freshman congressman in 2010 to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia…. Elijah Cummings (MD) continues as the Ranking Member. Chaffetz appointed Tea Party Republican Mark Meadows (VA) as chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations…. No changes at the top in the House Appropriations Committee…. Harold Rogers (KY) continues as chairman and Nita Lowey (NY) as the ranking member…. In the Senate, with its new Republican majority, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is headed by Ron Johnson (WI), the former chairman Thomas Carper (DE) is now the ranking member. 

President Obama and Nominations to the Board of Governors

On December 17, 2014, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee returned six nominations (Shapira, Barnett, Kennedy, Bennett, Crawford, Miller) for the USPS Board of Governors to President Obama….With the exception of Vickie Reggie Kennedy, the nominees gave little indication of commitment to a public postal service dedicated to the common good….On January 8, 2015, President Obama re-nominated David S. Shapira to the USPS Board of Governors…. Most of Shapira’s career experience has been with Giant Eagle, a large privately-held grocery chain headquartered in Pittsburgh, founded and owned by his family…. Shapira and Giant Eagle were investors in the discount drug chain Phar-Mor…. Mickey Monus, the co-founder with Shapira of Phar-Mor, was convicted in 1995 of fraud and sentenced to federal prison. Prosecutors estimated that the total loss to all investors exceeded $1 billion and Phar-Mor was the subject of a 1994 PBS Frontline report “How to Steal $500 Million”…. No more than five members of the Board of Governors can belong to the same political party…. So frequently nominees come with a party label. So far Shapira does not…. But the Federal Election Commission database shows that Shapira donated $100,000 to the (moderate Republican) American Unity PAC in October of 2014…. In 2012, Shapira gave over $45,000 to Obama’s presidential campaign and an additional $30,000 to the Democratic National Committee. 

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7 p.m. Tuesday February 10, 2015: Council Chambers, Resolution on Post Office Financial Services 

7 p.m. Thursday, February 19, 2015: 2133 University Ave, Community Meeting