“It’s astonishing. It really is,” U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Monday. “If they don’t respond to two U.S. senators and a representative … how does that make everyday people feel that their government is working for them?”
MONTPELIER — “We deserve a post office! We deserve a post office!”
That was the chant led by U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., at a Monday afternoon rally on State Street in Montpelier, in front of a gutted federal building that until last summer housed the capital city’s post office.
Nearly six months to the day after catastrophic flooding inundated the post office and left it inoperable, Balint, U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and a representative of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., addressed a modest crowd of onlookers to call for a permanent replacement.
Despite having repeatedly written to the U.S. Postal Service requesting information, members of the congressional delegation said they knew little about the federal agency’s plans for Montpelier, which has been without even a makeshift facility since November. On Monday, they took to the streets of Montpelier to decry the Postal Service’s lack of action — and call out U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy by name.
“It’s astonishing. It really is,” Welch told reporters on Monday. “If they don’t respond to two U.S. senators and a representative — and our governor, by the way, who’s been very active — how does that make everyday people feel that their government is working for them?”
The problem was in plain sight at Monday’s rally. Lean over the barricades surrounding the building, 87 State St., and peer inside the windows and one can see evidence of some construction work to mitigate flood damage, with several feet of drywall gutted down to the studs. But no one is moving back in anytime soon, according to the Postal Service.
“We’ve been told that the damage from last summer’s flooding required extensive repairs and the building would not be fit to reoccupy until at least next year,” Postal Service spokesperson Stephen Doherty told VTDigger in an email Monday afternoon.
According to Doherty, a new temporary location is in the works. He told VTDigger that the Postal Service has toured “several sites in and around Montpelier” and has narrowed down its list to “those most feasible.” But what location is chosen, and how long it will be until doors open, remains unclear.
“Our real estate folks are in the process of negotiating a lease at this time. Once we have a signed lease, a public announcement will be made on the new location,” Doherty wrote. “The amount of time needed to complete any build-out and open will depend on the location chosen. But we’ll be better able to estimate that once we have a lease agreement.”
Since last summer’s flooding, the Montpelier post office has operated out of at least three temporary locations: parking lots at the National Life building, the Vermont College of Fine Arts and 367 River St., close to three miles from the city’s downtown. The last of these closed in November as temperatures dropped and the congressional delegation spoke out against the makeshift nature of the operation.
These days, many residents are making use of post offices in nearby towns, such as Barre and East Montpelier, at least a 15-minute drive away. That’s a challenge for storm-battered small businesses and residents with mobility issues.
Johanna Nichols, a member of Montpelier’s Senior Activity Center, told the crowd gathered downtown Monday afternoon that residents have been dismissively told to simply “drive to other towns.”
“What do you do if you are 92 years old, don’t drive and have been able to walk to the post office? You feel stranded,” Nichols told the crowd. “What do you do if you are a retiree and your mail order prescriptions are diverted to East Calais, sometimes Barre, or are held up in other sorting facilities? It is very cumbersome to replace lost prescriptions.”
Sanders had been scheduled to attend Monday’s rally but flew back to Washington, D.C., at the last minute to attend leadership meetings related to pending government funding legislation, according to a spokesperson. In his place, his state director, Kathryn Becker Van Haste, took to the microphone to say that to expect a functioning post office in a state’s capital is “a very simple thing” to ask of the federal government.
“The people of Montpelier, the people who work in Montpelier, should be able to come here to their capital city and know that they can buy a stamp, send a package,” Van Haste said. “This is pretty simple stuff we’re asking for here.”
Story Written by Sarah Mearhoff, VTDigger