ALBANY, GA. -- After community outcry, the United States Postal Service held a meeting in Albany to address questions and concerns about the closure of the downtown Albany Post Office.
Johnnie Williams, an Albany businessman, attended the meeting at the Albany Tech Kirkland Center.
After posing questions that he and others believe were necessary to understand why the postal service is proposing to shut down the branch, he left the meeting with no more insight than what he arrived with.
“The postal people have not returned any answer to anything,” said Johnnie Williams.
One by one community leaders and business people asked questions. Why not close other branches? Why close a business that's making you money? When will they know for sure if the branch will close? With each question came no answer.
“It's a slap in the face for this whole community and they must understand that we need this service,” said Williams.
North Florida District Postmaster Ron Bradley was the only representative from the U.S.P.S in attendance at the meeting. He stated that others were on the way but they never showed up and many thought he wasn’t equipped to answer the questions placed before him.
“The public is speaking and we would like for the postal service to be responsive to our communities,” said U.S. Congressman Sanford Bishop, Georgia (D).
As the postmaster stood with no rebuttals and no one on his side, Congressman Bishop addressed the crowd with reasons why the postal service is facing a $15 billion deficit. He says it stems from the prefunded healthcare system used by the U.S.P.S.
“We need to put pressure on the leadership of the House to pass that senate bill which would relieve some of these problems and would set up a process by which the post office can become more operationally efficient,” said Congressman Bishop.
Until then, locals simply want to keep the doors of their downtown hub open.
Sanford Bishop says he will continue to put pressure on legislatures to address this issue.
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