Revenue Losses

This post office location has experienced a decline in revenue, from roughly $507,000 in 2007 to $381,000 in 2011.

Proposal

USPS proposes to “discontinue” the East River Park location and move its retail functions and post office boxes to Northeast Station at Hechinger Mall, 1353 Benning Road, NE, about two miles away.

The Northeast Station is open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., M-F with a lunchtime closing between 2-3 p.m. It is closed on Saturdays.

This would take place sometime after the close of the proposal posting period, which began on 11/10/11 and ends 1/11/12.

“Advantages”

1) Stamps are available by mail order
2) “Savings for the Postal Service contribute in the long run to stable postage rate and savings for customers”
3) Customers would not have to change P.O. Box numbers [contradicted below]
4) No change in street delivery

“Disadvantages”

1) loss of retail outlet
2) “potential of some to have to travel additional distance”
3) reduction in retail hours due to closure for lunch and on Saturday

“Effect on the Community”

This section of the proposal provides one paragraph of basic demographic information, including this: The area has experienced a 0.7% increase in total population, between 2000 and 2010, and an 8.2% decrease in the number of children. It concludes with the following sentences, reproduced in their entirety: “The area is 97% Black, mostly headed by females. Many residents commute to work in Washington DC or nearby Prince Georges County.” (Presumably, the report intended to reference female-headed households and to indicate that many residents work in other parts of the District.)

“Based on the information obtained in the course of this discontinuance study, the Postal Service concludes this proposal will not adversely affect the community and every effort will be made to maintain the identity.” (No further explanation of what “identity” is meant.)

Budget

The USPS notes first that it expects 10-year savings of $3,569,414 with a breakdown as follows:

EAS Craft and Labor — $2,518,970

building maintenance — 0

transportation — 0

utilities — 62,950

contracts — 100,635

rent — 967,644

Relocation, one-time cost — -50,000

TOTAL, as provided by USPS — $2,821,659

TOTAl, based on above items — $3,600,199

Miscellaneous Notes

The location is not listed as a historical landmark.

“P.O. Box customers may have to change their P.O. Box number should they decide to continue their P.O. Box service.” [Contradicting the above "advantage."]

“The Postal Service has identified no other factors for consideration.”

Note on the Proposal Availability

Proposal at East River Park Post Office

USPS staff at this location, when asked about the proposal, said the local post office “only have surveys” and suggested calling Consumer Affairs. (No mention was made of the copy on the bulletin board.)

The Consumer Affairs line was busy, and I received no response to a message left on their line. A 20-minute wait on the line at 1-800-ASK-USPS yielded a suggestion that I call the local post office. No one I contacted, including the press office for the region, was able to provide a copy of this proposal.

See community meeting blog for information about forwarding comments to the Postmaster.

Community meeting, held at Height/Benning Library, 11/10/11

Key elements in the proposal, still under study, are:

• The Post Office in East River Park would close, sometime after the first of the 2012;
• Post office boxes currently offered at East River Park would relocate to Northeast Post Office, 1563 Maryland, NE (Hechinger Mall), about 2 miles away, at the same size and same fees;
• Street delivery functions would be relocated to 3621 Benning Road, NE. This is not a customer facility;
• Customers would need to conduct retail functions — stamp purchases, e.g. — at Northeast or another location.

Stamps are currently available for purchase at many locations — CVS, Safeway, Giant, banks — as well as on-line, by phone and through the mail. The nearest additional full service Post Offices are as follows:

• Randle, 2341 Pennsylvania, SE (2.3 miles)
• Fort Davis, 3843 Pennsylvania, SE (2.5 miles)
• Capitol Heights, 6089 Central Avenue, Capitol Heights (2.6 miles)
• Frederick Douglas, 2833 Alabama Avenue, SE (3.0 miles).

Following the 60-day comment period, there will be a “determination.” If closing is recommended at that time, a “closeout” period will begin.

The USPS encourages customers to submit impact statements at this time: How and how often do you use the Post Office at East River Park? How would closing affect your regular routine? Would it pose a hardship for you or your neighbors? Do you envision other impacts for the neighborhood?

Comments may be sent to:

Donalda E. Moss
District Discontinuance Coordinator
900 Brentwood, NE
Washington, DC 20066-7300

A number of local leaders are working on this issue. Check back here and at East of the River for updates. A copy of the proposal will be posted here as soon as it’s available.

UPDATE: here are the proposal basics. A copy of the proposal, as promised at the November 10 meeting, was still no made available to citizens as of November 23, although one copy is pinned to a bulletin board at the post office, 3937-1/2 Benning Road, NE.

Here is some of the updated information provided. (More will be posted as time permits; the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which parallels the Christian holiday of Pentecost, begins tonight at sundown.)

Retail Reduced; Community Space, Incubator Gone

In 2008 materials, the Donatelli/Blue Skye project included 40,000 square feet of retail space, which included a 5,000 square-foot business incubator and 2,500 square feet of “community space.”

The update shows only 23,000 square feet of retail space, and the business incubator and community space are no longer listed. Queried by Wanda Aikens of the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative at the meeting, developer Chris Donatelli said that community groups were welcome to pay market-rate for retail space.

Melvin Deal’s African Heritage Drummers and Dancers center, once prominent on Minnesota Avenue — see “meeting unmet needs”/4018 Minnesota photo here — was forced to move as part of a District land acquisition for an office project that was later abandoned. No provision for the return of this Ward 7 treasure has been part of this project; no other support of Ward 7 arts was part of the May 2010 presentation.

Development Vision

Donatelli shared renderings similar to those presented in 2008. I personally cannot find any recognizable elements of the existing Ward 7 or even orient this picture — which I’m told represents a view from Minnesota Avenue — to a future vision of the intersection of Minnesota and Benning.

Donatelli 2010 Vision

If anyone else sees how this building fits into the surrounding landscape, please use the comment function on this blog to orient me and others. THANKS!!

Townhouses Line Benning Bridge

Here is one of the floor plans for the project, showing how the 48 for-sale townhomes — reduced from 60 for-sale units in 2008 — are oriented.

FloorPlan

You are Invited to Attend:

Minnesota – Benning Intersection Project Community Update from the following Agencies:

Department of Real Estate Services

DC Department of Transportation

Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning & Economic Development

When: Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Time: 6:30 – 8:00pm

Where: Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington Metropolitan Police Clubhouses Richard England Clubhouse #144103
Benning Road, NE Washington, DC 20019

Although this notice does not mention developers, Latisha Atkins, Ward 7 Outreach and Services Specialist in the Executive Office of the Mayor, reported earlier that Donatelli/Blue Skye will be present. Please see May’s East of the River newspaper.

The Executive Office of the Mayor can be reached at
(202) 442-8150 Main
(202) 340-8248 Mobile
(202) 727-5931 Fax
www.DC.Gov

__._,_.___

Community requests for information about final construction plans have so far yielded no response from developer, Chris Donatelli. DC’s office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development promised a community update meeting in late February or early March. No such meeting had been scheduled as of April 15. Below are pictures of the site — showing the unsecured conditions which have been on-going — additional photos on Flickr.

4018 Minnesota Avenue, NE, April 15, 2010

“This is a collective effort to building a transparent vision we can be proud of and reap the benefits our community deserves. I look forward to working with you and North Ward 7 by coming together to create a cross-border network to hold developers, city leaders, service providers and other accountable to our needs,” says Willette Seaward, Chair of ANC 7D.

Contact Willette Seaward (wseaward at yahoo.com) for more information on the project and the team’s work and to provide your suggestions. Please share this information with others, so they can be involved and share their suggestions, too.

Donatelli/Blue Skye CBA Timeline

August 17-20
Team compiles and prioritizes suggestions

August 20 – 23
Community members asked for comments/recommendations by e-reply by: August 25

August 25 – September 7
Community outreach/update

September 8
ANC 7D meets and makes CBA recommendations “final”;

September 8 – 11
Ad Hoc Committee reviews and forwards CBA recommendations to Donatelli for comment and to relevant DC Council Members and DMPED;

September 15
Commissioner Seaward forwards Donatelli response to CBA recommendations for inclusion in LDDA to CBA Ad Hoc Committee members and relevant DC Council Members;

September ??
CBA Ad Hoc Committee members meet with DC Council members re: CBA /LDDA inclusion and approval process;

September ??
DC Council and Donatelli conclude LDDA


Additional suggestion: walkthrough with Council Members Gray, Alexander and K. Brown to a walk through of the site with assigned talking points for selected members of the CBA Ad Hoc Committee.

Is this land “surplus”?

On July 8, two DC Council committees held a Joint Public Roundtable to consider Land Disposition Agreements for three Ward 7 developments (plus two west of the river). Community members, developers and a representative of the Deputy Mayor’s office testified before the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment, chaired by Mary Cheh (Ward 3), and the Committee on Economic Development, chaired by Kwame Brown (at-large). (Watch hearing here.)

Questions were raised about the Minnesota-Benning “Phase II” project -– $13 million in land awarded to the Donatelli/Blue Skye team in October 2008 for affordable and market-rate housing with ground-floor retail: Is the land entirely “surplus”? Or should part be reserved for a project designed to alleviate dangerous congestion at the Minnesota-Benning intersection?

For East of the River’s coverage of this topic, see “No One Asked Me” in the August issue. (Also, please note that Capital Community News is working to improve its website with enhanced search/archives features.)

Planning/Vision for Minnesota-Benning

At the Roundtable, two community members — Dennis Chestnut, lifelong resident of Ward 7 and neighborhood/environmental activist, and Cheryl Cort, policy director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth – reminded Councilmembers in their testimony of long-discussed plans for the intersection of Minnesota and Benning. Among these plans is creation of a new road, intersecting Benning, just west of Minnesota.


This road was designed to alleviate dangerous, crowded conditions at Minnesota-Benning intersection and improve traffic flow at this central intersection in the new Downtown Ward 7. The concept was proposed as a “related project” in the Minnesota Avenue Great Streets plan. (Related projects appear near the end of this DDOT presentation.


Attached are the Coalition for Smarter Growth’s testimony (7-08-09) and addendum (7-13-09) on this project.

Also, as a matter of background, the road was included in the City Interests proposal for this development. See earlier posts tagged “Phase II.”

Road to Nowhere?

Ayris Scales, project manager at the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, told a recent ANC 7D meeting that the planned road improvement is a “road to nowhere” that does not constitute a “community benefit.” She testified at the Roundtable that this project was an unfunded “option.”

The DDOT concept drawings linked above show a fully functional, signaled road, however. It is also worth noting that the new Metro parking garage, the DOES headquarters and the Phase II development will add 800 parking spaces to that particular block.

The DC Council is expected to consider the Land Disposition Agreement for Phase II and four other projects when it reconvenes in September. Meanwhile Cheh’s office is considering if/how to rewrite this agreement. Options discussed have included holding out the parcels involved in the potential road and an easement.

Councilmember Yvette Alexander (Ward 7) spoke at the Roundtable of the importance of this road to the traffic flow at Minnesota and Benning and stressed the importance of the Phase II project to the overall vision for Downtown Ward 7.

Recent plans by Donatelli place a row of townhouses lining the Benning Road viaduct. While these townhouses were added to address the request that the project provide more homeownership units, we are deeply concerned that the placement of these townhouses next to the bridge is the wrong approach. We request that the Council reexamine this proposal – first by requesting current proposals and drawings be provided to the Council and the public before any action, and second, by assessing the viability of townhouses close to the Benning Road bridge. In addition to the question of limited daylight to the townhomes, and exposure of residents to noise and air emissions from vehicular traffic, we are concerned that the townhouses are not the appropriate building form or use for enhancing focus and public-orientation for the corner of Ward 7’s downtown at this prominent intersection. We suggest that commercial uses, including offices or gallery space, along with public space, would be more appropriate for this busy corner of the downtown district.

These townhouses were added, apparently, in response to community protest against Donatelli’s original plan to make the entire project “affordable housing.” The RFP had called for 30% affordable housing, to include 15% for those at the lowest income levels; Donatelli’s proposal, as originally accepted by the Mayor, called for 100% affordable housing, with none set aside for the lowest income levels and no market rate housing — which many in the community believe is essential to the development of “Downtown Ward 7.”

For more information/discussion, see

DCMud
and
GreaterGreaterWashington