Magnolia Post Office to close

MAGNOLIA PARK — U.S. Postal Service officials on Tuesday said they will close the Magnolia Park Post Office on May 21, merging operations with Burbank’s main postal station on Hollywood Way.

The 30-day notice to landlord Tim Davis ends the yearlong saga of small-business owners and elected officials trying to keep the branch open.

Councilman David Gordon, who lobbied to keep the post office in the well traversed shopping district, said since opening his optometry practice on Hollywood Way 28 years ago, not a week has gone by without several trips to the Magnolia Park Post Office.

“Not only serving as a great convenience for local residents, merchants saved much staff and travel time being able to get in and out quickly and efficiently, often without the need [to drive],” he said.

The branch at 3810 W. Magnolia Blvd. was slated to close in January amid speculation of a lease increase, but an outpouring of community support and thousands of signatures led to a meeting at the postal service’s office of lease and contracts in San Francisco, where Davis and U.S.P.S. officials brokered a month-to-month lease agreement.

While neither side disclosed specifics of the deal, Davis said at the time that “they are going to be there for as long as they want to be there.”

The postal service last year lost $3.8 billion and is facing more significant losses this year, mostly due to the recession and more people migrating to the Internet for bill payments and correspondence.

Postmaster General John Potter last month told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that the postal service “stand[s] on the brink of financial insolvency.”

The way Americans communicate has changed dramatically, and the postal service must change with it, Potter said.

He appeared before the committee to defend requests for greater flexibility to cut Saturday delivery, raise postage rates and possibly close or consolidate thousands of post offices.

Richard Maher, a spokesman for U.S. Postal Service, characterized the local consolidation as part of “an effort to operate more efficiently based upon our situation.”

Magnolia Park box-holders should go to the main office at 2140 N. Hollywood Way where their mail will be waiting for them on May 22, Maher said. Two clerks would also be relocated to Hollywood Way to help meet the extra load, he said, adding that patrons would now have Saturday service and longer hours.

“The news brings obvious disappointment,” said Gary Olson, president and chief executive of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce. “On the other hand, we appreciate Mr. Davis and his family for making every attempt to keep the post office on Magnolia Boulevard because we all realize how important it is to nearby businesses.”

For more than one year businesses up and down the boulevard gathered more than 5,000 signatures, stressing the financial blow that the relocation to Hollywood Way 1.5-miles away would have on foot traffic and their bottom lines.

Steve Alper, owner of Atomic Records, said he chose the storefront at 3812 W. Magnolia Blvd. about 14 years ago largely because of its proximity to the post office. The music store does a great deal of its business online through auctions and prepares a handful of daily shipments.

“We can say it’s not a surprise,” he said this week after post office staff there informed him of the move. “I guess we can say it’s as big a loss as any we’ve seen.”

David Hanna, co-owner of Bell Cottage at 3816 W. Magnolia Blvd., said the impact of the closure would transform he and his wife’s shop into mostly a destination store.

“This could mean as much as 10% to 15% of our business,” said Hanna, who was part of the signature campaign. “We get homemakers and people from the studios. A lot of them stop [in] knowing that they’re coming to the post office.”