Locals had fought to keep facility from the chopping block
May 11, 2011
By Steve Marschke News-Ledger Editor
The old Bryte Post Office at 1548 Lisbon Avenue in the city’s northeast has served customers in the neighborhood for decades. But it looks like the last time for customers to check their P.O. box or buy some stamps there will be at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 4.
Gary Ruiz, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service, confirmed Monday that USPS has notified local customers of the closure. In the agency’s words, “a final determination has been made to consolidate the Bryte Branch Post Office. . . with the Broderick Branch Post Office located at 900 Sacramento Avenue.”
The Bryte Post Office on Lisbon Avenue has been serving this northwestern West Sacramento neighborhood for decades (News-Ledger file photo)
The Broderick branch will get new post office boxes to serve those customers transferring from Bryte.
Ruiz provided a copy of the USPS letter to the News-Ledger. The letter
also advises that P.O. boxes may be rented at 1601 Merkley Avenue or at
3775 Industrial Boulevard in West Sacramento as well.
Neighbors
and community activists have fought for several years to keep the
branch open in the face of USPS budget cuts. They’ve argued that local
residents – many of whom do not drive – needed a postal branch in Bryte.
The wood-panelled interior of Bryte Post Office -- which has generally been staffed by a single postal employee at a time (News-Ledger file photo)
Bill Kristoff, a West Sacramento City Councilman and former postal
manager in West Sacramento, talked about the branch to the News-Ledger
in 2009:
“It gives a lot of residents who live in the Bryte
area someplace to go, even if it’s to walk to the post office and mail a
letter or buy a stamp. It’s something for people to do, especially for
the older folks. I realize the postal service has some real difficulties
right now, and I realize people can go all the way to Broderick, but
that’s a long walk.”
The property was leased by the postal
service, an other postal official told the News-Ledger. The USPS’s Ruiz
said he had no information on what will happen to the old building.
