Tucson, Ariz. – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva will hold a press conference Feb. 24 at 11:00 a.m. local time at his Tucson district office to protest the announced impending closure of the Tucson postal sorting center at 1501 S. Cherrybell and to discuss potential legislative action.
“This closure is unfair,” Grijalva said. “This plan will economically devastate the good people who work at the center and the wider Southern Arizona community. There has apparently been no consideration of the fact that local and regional economic losses will offset any savings the closure might produce.”
Grijalva signed a letter earlier this month, along with 110 other Members of Congress, calling for a moratorium on U.S. Postal Service closures pending a review of the methodology postal officials are using to determine which branches to close. As that letter stated, “the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) reviewed the Postal Service’s Retail Access Optimization Initiative (RAOI), which is being used as the basis for the possible closure of more than 3,600 post offices and other retail facilities, and found serious flaws with the analysis that call into question the USPS’s current consolidation plans.”
Issues cited in the letter include incomplete post office data, inaccurate usage and revenue figures at certain branches, inaccurate distance measurements between branches and an overall study methodology that wrongly targets rural post offices. That letter is reviewable at http://1.usa.gov/xoIRxC.
If You Go
What: Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva press conference on impending Tucson postal sorting center closure
When: 11:00 a.m.
Where: Grijalva district office at 738 N. 5th Ave