West Las Vegas residents fear possible closure of post office

Gloria Brown's post office box number has become an anchor in her life over the past 25 years.

Her family members, who are scattered across the country, know the number by heart.

And stopping at the King Station post office, now at 1801 N. Martin Luther King Blvd. near Vegas Drive, has become part of her daily routine.

Brown and at least one leader of the historical black community of West Las Vegas were shocked to find out Monday that the King Station is one of five Las Vegas post offices under review by the U.S. Postal Service for possible closure as mail volume and revenue decline.

"I would be devastated," Brown said outside the post office. "They shouldn't close this one; it's the only one in the area."

Las Vegas City Councilman Ricki Barlow said he was shocked to hear about the possible closure, saying it would inconvenience residents, business owners and even him.

"I would be very disheartened to know that the only post office in the area is closing," Barlow said. "I hope and pray they will reconsider and take a harder look at the impact on one of the older if not oldest areas of town that has already been gravely affected due to the economic climate."

With King Station, the post offices under review include the Desert Inn Retail Unit, 2478 E. Desert Inn Road, near Eastern Avenue; Garside Station, 1801 S. Decatur Blvd., near Sahara Avenue; Huntridge Station, 3115 Olive St., near East Fremont Street and Charleston Boulevard; and Strip Station, 3100 Industrial Road, near Desert Inn.

They are among the 3,100 offices nationwide that the Postal Service is evaluating for possible consolidation with other offices.

A study has been launched to evaluate factors such as customer access to services, traffic, transportation and retail services.

Of the 57 locations in the Las Vegas Valley, five were selected to be studied because they "merited a further formal review," Postal Service spokesman David Rupert said from Denver.

"Several (of the other locations) we didn't consider at all because they served a specific community, and there weren't other postal options for residents," Rupert said. "These were the ones that had some redundancies or ability to consolidate services with other locations."

The closures would help counter a 15 percent drop in mail volume nationally and an expected $6.5 billion loss in revenue this year.

The battle for services and equal treatment is one West Las Vegas residents have fought for decades. It dates to at least 1968 when members of the predominantly black community marched in protest after Las Vegas threatened to wall off their neighborhood from the rest of the valley by closing D, F and H streets.

More recently, they have fought for a grocery store.

They successfully fought against a recent closure of F Street beneath Interstate 15, which they saw as a move to segregate the neighborhood from the downtown area.

They lost a senior center.

And conditions at one of their schools, West Prep Academy, is the subject of debate. The campus houses 28 portables that contain 56 classrooms.

Now they could lose their post office.

"The folks in the community have mixed emotions," Barlow said of the community's struggles. "There are conspiracy theorists, then you have those who are realists and everyone in between. It's tough to put your arms around."

Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said that post offices are "very important institutions," not only because they are essential for business transactions, but because they also provide convenient neighborhood voting locations.

"The process for making the decision about which post office to close should be one that is transparent, one that is fair and one that is carefully considered," Peck said. "If the process fails in those regards, that would be problematic."

Rupert said a final decision about whether the offices will close will not be made for several weeks.

He also said that any employees of the affected locations would be transferred to other locations. The cost-cutting move would come mainly in eliminating the facility, not laying off a worker.

"We have to look at it like, 'Do we really have to have the lights on, the air conditioning on, be paying the rent, the lease for that building?'" Rupert said.

In January, the Postal Service made adjustments to carrier routes throughout Las Vegas because of a dramatic drop in mail volume between 2007 and 2008, when more than 9 billion fewer pieces of mail were delivered. And even more adjustments are in the works.

Rupert said routes were reduced and lengthened, administrative cuts were made, and automated machines were added to adjust to the lighter flow of mail and revenue. Nationwide rate hikes were also implemented.

"It's a hard reality losing an expected $6.5 billion," he said. "We are a self-sufficient government entity. All of our revenue comes from stamp dollars; we get no tax money."

Customers are encouraged to voice their opinions about the possible closures and consolidations through a survey available at the affected offices. The Postal Service will be notifying everyone with post office boxes about the study and possible closures.

One resident who plans to voice her concern is Phyllis Morris, who used to frequent the Garside Station when she was a secretary in a nearby law office.

"I don't want it to close," she said. "I know how many businesses it takes care of and the thousands of people, too."

Morris said she would rather see the Mountain Vista Street location near her home be studied because it is rarely busy.

"A lot of people are doing business online and paying their bills online, which I refuse to do," she said. "Mountain Vista needs to get looked at. I don't want to see Garside go away."

Rupert said closures were not predetermined, and the Postal Service will take public comment into consideration.

"Will somebody be inconvenienced? Probably," he said. "But I don't think anybody can disagree that this kind of loss, $6.5 billion, is significant. We have to do something."

Contact reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.