The post office in the George Sherman Union is one of three in the Boston area recommended for closing after six others have been removed from the list of possible closings, officials said.’
Boston City Council’s Committee on City and Neighborhood Services will hold a public hearing Monday, Dec. 14 at the Boston City Hall to discuss the proposed closures, which include Logan Airport Retail and Faneuil Hall in addition to the GSU branch, American Postal Workers Union Vice President and Treasurer Bob Dempsey said.’
Dempsey said the recommendation from the U.S. Postal Service in Boston to close the GSU branch is partially due to a ‘lack of interest’ from Boston University administration after the post office requested a proposal from BU to help the branch.’ ‘
‘The postal service was asking them for a proposal on how they could work together to improve the revenue situation,’ he said.’
The GSU branch saw a $172,509 profit in 2009, compared to the Boston College branch at $100,475 and the Logan Airport Retail branch, which experienced $16,378 in losses within the past year.
Dempsey said BU did not respond by the original deadline for the proposal, Nov. 6, or the extended deadline, Nov. 20, despite 50 pages of signed petitions the union collected from students and faculty.
Some suggestions for BU included hosting a passport day for students to get passports made and generally raising awareness, Dempsey said.
‘I kept trying to stress the fact that they should at least have the courtesy of responding to that request for a proposal and they chose not to,’ he said.’
Administrative Services Vice President Peter Fiedler said he attended a post office meeting earlier this fall with Mail Services Director Albano Lacerda, during which representatives from universities in the area were asked for responses.
However, Fiedler said, he made the decision not to respond because he did not think it was the most official way of voicing BU’s stance.
‘I don’t think it’s my job to tell the post office how to run their business,’ he said.
While BU appreciates the service the post office has brought to the campus, Fiedler said, the post office is a well-run organization that should not be propped up by BU.
‘I’m not quite sure what they think we’ll be able to bring to the table,’ he said.
Instead of responding to the post office branch, BU contacted the congressional office directly, Fiedler said.
Fiedler said he never received the petitions, which Dempsey sent to Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, Executive Vice President Joseph Mercurio and President Robert Brown on Nov. 16 with a letter urging a response.’
Elmore said BU does not control which post offices are closed.’ ‘ ‘
Dempsey said he is not sure what effect BU’s response would have had; but responses from the other schools, whose post offices were previously recommended for closing, including Babson College, Boston College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University, helped.’
The four schools’ post offices and those at Nonantum Station and Soldiers Field were all removed from the list of recommended closings, he said.
‘I think [the post office] felt disrespected by [BU] not even taking the time to respond,’ he said. ‘All the other colleges took the consideration to sit down and talk to them.”
Fiedler said he sympathizes with the post office workers’ concern.’
‘I understand where they’re coming from,’ he said. ‘But Boston University can’t be a savior in this for them. We have to wait for them to make their own decision on how they can improve the services . . . We certainly won’t do anything to hurt them in that effort.’
BU graduate student Brian Sirman, who started a Facebook group called ‘Save the BU Post Office!’ in August, said the petition demonstrates how much the BU community appreciates the post office and said he was disappointed with BU’s lack of response.
‘I will try and get that point across to city council members and hopefully make up for the lack of action the BU administration has made,’ he said.’
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Tabitha Watson said she uses the GSU branch frequently to send letters and packages home to Illinois.’
‘ ‘It’s just convenient,’ she said. ‘I just like having a place on campus that’s devoted to something like that.’
‘ CAS sophomore Kayleigh Fretwell said she goes to the post office at Kenmore Square instead of the GSU.
‘ ‘I wouldn’t really care because I don’t use it,’ she said.’
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