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Clearwater to seek closure of downtown post office

 
Published Dec. 17, 2015

CLEARWATER — The Community Redevelopment Agency passed a resolution 3-2 on Monday requesting that the United States Postal Service close the downtown office on Cleveland Street so the city can buy the historic building for retail or commercial use.

The resolution is largely symbolic, since USPS must follow a litany of criteria laid out by Congress when closing locations, and that does not include closing a facility at a city's request. The General Services Administration operates a surplus property list that offers historic buildings to municipalities for preservation, but USPS does not participate in the GSA program, a USPS spokesperson told the Times in October.

The CRA, made up of the five City Council members, passed the resolution with Mayor George Cretekos and council member Bill Jonson in opposition.

Cretekos said he was worried about offering the post office up for closure without a plan for an alternate location downtown. Vice Mayor Jay Polglaze told the Times in October only one-fifth of the Cleveland Street building is being used and his plan would be to work with the USPS to identify another more efficient location downtown.