Euclid Post Office (click on photo for larger image)
St. Petersburg is a city filled with people who like what they like. And when something comes along that poses a threat to something that they like, St. Petersburg’s residents are usually willing to come forward to do whatever is possible to try to ensure that they don’t lose whatever it is that’s being threatened.
Case in point – the Euclid Station Post Office, located at 901 34th Avenue North, at the corner of Haines Road/Dr. ML King Street North/34th Avenue North. It’s on the ‘hit list’ for consideration by the United States Postal Service to shut down. This is a small, branch post office, and one might assume that closing it down wouldn’t create a big stir. After all, there are two full service facilities nearby – the Open Air Post Office in downtown St. Petersburg, maybe a ten minute drive south of this post office, and the Gateway Post Office at 701 77th Avenue North, maybe a ten minute drive north of this post office.
But the Euclid Post Office is ‘our’ Post Office, in the hearts and minds of the many local neighborhood residents who patronize this facility, whether regularly or occasionally. There are staff members here who feel like family – residents know their names, and the staff know some of the residents’ names. When you walk in, you know which staff member is serious, and which one is always ready with a joke. It just feels different here, almost like you’re stepping back in time, in a good sense. To be sure, they offer the same services here that they do in any other branch post office. But the feeling you get when you walk in and you see your neighbors and you’re greeted by the staff is one that’s just hard to let go of, truly a feeling of entering a small town post office.
Petition Drive at Euclid Post Office (click on photo for larger image)
And so, this morning, from 9:00 AM until noon, there was a petition drive held in front of the post office, and lots of local residents went and signed a petition to urge the USPS not to shut down this facility. I don’t know how many people showed up over the entire morning, but there was a constant stream during the time that my wife and I were there. The petition drive was spearheaded by Mike Sullivan of the Suncoast Area American Postal Workers Union 1228. And if there was any doubt about whether there would be solid support for the petition drive, I can tell you that, in addition to lots of ‘regular’ citizens who showed up, I saw St. Petersburg’s Mayor Rick Baker there, I saw Mayoral Hopeful Bill Foster there, I saw Senator Charlie Justice there, along with a few other local political figures. I was pleased to see them there, and I hope that they’ll do whatever they can to encourage the USPS to save this facility from the chopping block.
Sometimes, when I’m trying to decide what to publish in this blog, I have to think about a post for awhile before going ahead and publishing it. This was one of those occasions, not because it’s controversial, but because I’m sure that there are lots of petition drives like this in lots of towns around the country. But I guess what makes me want to publish this is the fact that it shows that, although St. Petersburg is, in all matters that count, a ‘big city’ with all the amenities that a big city has, it also retains a lot of the ‘small town’ feel that makes it such a nice place to live. And this little show of support for our neighborhood Post Office is a perfect example of the small town flavor.
Supporting the Petition Drive (click on photo for larger image)
