The United States Postal Service invites you to mail them your comments. Here are some of the letters shared with us.
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Ill Advised Post Office Relocation
ATTN: Key Colony Beach, FL, Main Office Relocation
United States Postal Service
P.O. Box 27497
Greensboro, NC 27498-1103
Dear USPS:
You requested comments on the proposed Key Colony Beach, FL, main office relocation. I urge you to demand a more suitable leasehold from the city.
The Key Colony Beach, FL, main office relocation has been mismanaged by the City of Key Colony Beach from the beginning. The proposed new space subject to these comments is 25 percent smaller than the original city hall leasehold and will have approximately half the boxes of that original post office. That's unacceptable.
Here are some facts:
- Our beloved. long time Post Office had twenty-eight modules with 1,580 P.O. boxes.
- On May 27, 2023, the Post Office moved from City Hall into the rented double wide trailer.
- There are just 944 P.O. boxes in the "temporary" trailer, a major loss of capacity.
- Many of my friends and neighbors lost the addresses they have had for decades.
- The LIVS floorplan shows five rack modules of E302 Parcel Lockers plus seventeen modules of E301 P.O. boxes capable of holding about 824 P.O. boxes of different sizes, a significant added loss of capacity.
- The official drawings show the space may not meet ADA accessibility requirements.
- City Administrator Dave Turner has apparently signed the contract with USPS for this space. Mr. Turner blamed the USPS for the shortfall(s) in emails to residents.
My family has had Post Office Box XXX through three generations since 1983 so I have some "skin in this game." It's a city-wide problem, though. I know how crucial the mail service and these addresses are to the community here. And I know how devastating losing even more addresses will be.
As our most important partner in this City Hall restoration, I urge you to demand a return to the space the USPS originally used. If the original USPS space at City Hall needs expansion, we citizens will work with you to accomplish just that.
Sincerely,
Richard B. Harper
P.O. Box 510xxx
Key Colony Beach
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Turmoil in Key Colony Beach
Dear Postal Authorities,
We are in turmoil here in KCB. We understand that our city commission/city administrator has made a verbal agreement with you to move the Key Colony Beach post office into a new complex that is under legal opposition from the residents of Key Colony Beach.
After nearly 6 years of doing as little as possible to bring the existing post office up to its pre-Hurricane Irma condition, the City has moved the boxes lock stock and barrel into a trailer that cannot accommodate all the boxes. That move eliminated my post office box and those of several other residents.
When we showed up on Tuesday (5-30) morning to the temporary trailer, our box was gone. Not only was our box gone, but we had to turn in our keys and then pay for new keys to a new box with a new number. We were determined to change postal addresses on our checks, return addresses, the IRS, the 20 charities that we contribute to, our banks, our investment firm, social security, Medicare, credit cards, health insurance, house insurance, flood insurance, mortgage, brokers, magazines, doctor's, hundreds of relatives, and friends and on and on. One cannot send a change of address to most of these organizations. It was hours on the phone waiting on hold to talk to the person in charge of address changes.
We neglected to tell the Monroe County Property Appraiser that our box had changed before being sent our tax documents. When the appraiser's office received our returned tax forms (they may not be forwarded even to a new box within the same post office), it precipitated a cavalcade of events causing us to lose our Homestead Exemption which would cause us to lose thousands of dollars in protected property taxes. After days and hours and copying and gathering multiple documents to prove we are worthy of homesteading in our own home, we were able to reestablish our homestead exemption.
The proposed new building referenced in your letter is not wanted by the people of Key Colony Beach. Most of us want the existing post office to be spruced up and flood proofed. Although it is below projected flood levels it has been fitted with flood gates which the city neglected to install prior to the hurricane in 2017. In addition, the existing, now vacated post office, had an estimated 1,580 boxes while the proposed new post office will have just 824. Citizen Serve shows that our post office now has 831/1400 boxes in use. Not only are the boxes fewer but the square footage is less. We are not opposed to building a new post office above the floodplain. We want to be sure that the new post office meets our needs and yours.
In many ways the people of KCB are dependent on our post office not only to pick up mail. It is a place to greet our neighbors, to find what is being sold and bought locally, to catch up on upcoming events, classes as well as read the local government's notices of meetings and job openings. We have been very happy with our postal workers. They are friendly, efficient, and always make us feel welcome.
We are all for maintaining a functional post office in KCB. You must admit, the price is right.
Thank you for asking,
Laurie and Fred Swanson
P.O. Box 510xxx (formerly 511277 for 16 years)
Key Colony Beach
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Key Colony Beach
