Published: June 25, 2008 11:55 pm            

TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Post office plans halted

Plans for a new post office in the town have been nixed due to the stagnant economy.

The news hit Supervisor Anthony Caruana’s desk on Monday, when he opened a letter that cited tough financial times at the U.S. Postal Service as the cause.

“It’s very disappointing, especially with the excitement the announcement generated,” Caruana said.

Residents were supportive of the idea to divert retail customers away from the Highland Parkway post office to a new location, proposed in early April before the town board. After that meeting, the postal service began looking for 2,200 square feet of retail space and solicited opinions from residents as to where they’d like to see the new facility located. But the price of gas and other commodities has hurt the post office just like it is hurting consumers, said USPS Customer Relations Coordinator Dick Laudisio.

“Volume is down and revenue is down,” Laudisio said. “Like other businesses, we’re struggling and that puts us in a deficit situation.”

The USPS doesn’t receive any tax revenue, so it’s solely dependent upon the volume of mail to fund new office projects. Right now those projects have been halted unless they’re at the absolute highest priority, Laudisio said.

“I’ve been involved with these sort of issues for many years,” Laudisio said. “I can say that whenever the economy goes bad and it affects businesses, they cut back on mailing.”

The current situation doesn’t necessarily mean the project won’t ever happen, but it does put any hope further in the future than town residents would like.

“The sad part for us is that the town doesn’t even have a mailing address,” Caruana said. “Some of us are 14217, which is Kenmore, and others are in 14150, listed as Tonawanda. The rest are in 14223 which is technically Buffalo. So that gives us something of an identity crisis.”

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.

        

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