Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a member of the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, today sent a letter to the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service (USPS) demanding a stop to a diversion of work for the Cleveland Mail Sorting Facility after discovering that two trucks of Priority Mail had been diverted from Cleveland to Pittsburgh for processing.  

“I am gravely concerned that the displacement of these two trailers will open the door for additional closures of mail processing facilities in the Greater Cleveland Area,” said Kucinich.  

The full text of the letter follows. Pdf available here. 

October 8, 2009

Mr. John E. Potter

Postmaster General

United States Postal Service

475 L'Enfant Plaza, Southwest

Washington, D.C. 20260-3500

Dear Mr. Potter:

I have just been informed that the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) Cleveland area office has made a decision to divert two trailers of priority mail to Pittsburgh for processing.  This latest development has significant ramifications for the people of Cleveland who depend on the jobs created by priority mail processing there.  I am gravely concerned that the displacement of these two trailers will open the door for additional closures of mail processing facilities in the Greater Cleveland Area.  The news also comes shortly after Cleveland’s Airport Mail Facility (AMF) was decommissioned from mail processing after many successful years of serving this important function.  When Deputy Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe testified before the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, on which I serve, he informed me that mail processing would continue in Cleveland at the Orange Avenue mail facility in Downtown Cleveland while the AMF would continue to operate its retail facility.

Recently, I learned that despite promises made at the July 24, 2008, Subcommittee hearing, the AMF retail facility is now being considered for closure.  This facility is extremely important to the people of Northeast Ohio because of its late operating hours and its proximity to FedEx which competes with USPS for business.  I am on record as protesting this proposed closure with the USPS and with the Postal Regulatory Commission.  Now I am learning that the USPS is reneging on its other assurance made at the 2008 hearing that the AMF’s processing work would be done in Downtown Cleveland.  

I am shocked and disappointed that the USPS would take this action without warning after misleading me and the other members of the Subcommittee into thinking that the AMF’s processing work would continue in Cleveland.  I ask that you immediately retain the processing work which would have been done at the AMF in Cleveland at the Orange Avenue facility.  If the two trailers cannot practicably be retained in Cleveland on such short notice after the decision was made to divert them, then I ask that no future mail be diverted to Pittsburgh after these two trailers are diverted. In addition, I ask that no other changes be made other than those discussed at the 2008 hearing until you or Mr. Donahoe revisit the Subcommittee to clarify USPS’s position.  I further ask that you respond to this letter immediately.

Sincerely,

Dennis J. Kucinich

Member of Congress

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