“When the post office is closed, the flag comes down. When the human side of
government closes its doors, we’re all in trouble.”
— Jennings Randolph, U.S. Senator from West Virginia, 1958-85
Closing Historic Ewa Village Post Office Makes No Sense
Add your signature to the petition of over 500 names, Call your
representatives, send a letter or email to your representatives asking that
the Ewa Village Station Post Office NOT be shut down!
HERE'S WHY IT SHOULD NOT BE SHUT DOWN:
Ewa Village Post Office is at the center of one of the fastest growing communities in West Oahu according to the last census. There are thousands of nearby customers, many of whom would use it if there were reasonable service hours...
Even Ewa Village has been adding more homes recently and many more are planned nearby.
This is by no means a "dying community" even though a large elderly population lives in the village and is very grateful that this type of very friendly island village post office still exists.
The closure letter states that the building is "not listed as an historic landmark"- but in fact it is now over 50 years old and National Register eligible. The historic plantation era building was built in 1958 and was given to the City when the plantation closed.
This is one of the least expensive Oahu post office's to run as far as space rent is concerned. It costs a little over $4000 a year in lease rent, or around $340 a month.
The postal letter informing about the possible Ewa Village P.O. admits that the historic cinder block building has "no known structural defects, safety hazards or security issues."
Just last year the entire parking lot was resurfaced, a new wheelchair ramp was added with a lower service window and lower box access for the disabled as part of a Federal "shovel ready" funding source.
WHY would these handicap, user friendly new Federal tax paid alterations now be wasted?
Franciscan Vistas Ewa, a "healthy independent living community" was recently added, as well as more nearby homes being built or planned for construction within the local village.
There is ample parking for even very busy days like Christmas season and even more, rarely used, parking is in the back of the building. If ever needed the building lot even has more space to add additional parking in the back.
This is actually one of the best post offices, but least known, in all of West Oahu.
People who do know about Ewa Village Post Office come from considerable distance just because it is one of the very last friendly, classic village post offices found on Oahu.
One of the rationale for closing is that the post office has experienced "declining revenue and/or volume." This is clearly because the Ewa Village P.O. hours were cut BACK to just 12-2 PM!
This is an extremely short time window and very inconvenient for working people. These ridiculous hours are no doubt the number one reason for decline in revenue. Also many new area residents don't even know this historic post office even exists!
Any place of business in a busy location would have such a decline in revenue if they were only open just M-F for two hours a day...
The Ewa Credit Union says that people regularly stop in their adjacent office asking about postal services when the P.O. window isn't open. They have over 500 names on a petition opposing closure of the 55 year old Ewa Station Post Office.
There is a huge market for the Ewa Village P.O. if most people in the Ewa Gentry community even KNEW it existed- or if window hours actually allowed working people, especially the large DoD-military community, to stop in after work. The Ewa Village P.O. is also closed on Saturday when it would likely be one of it's best periods to be open to serve the huge nearby commuter community of Ewa Gentry.
The post office closure rationale is that alternatives like Waipahu or Kapolei P.O. exist... For the many elderly this is not a simple or easy thing to do. Those post offices are often very crowded with long lines.
Not everyone is physically able to jump into a car and drive through considerable traffic to get to one of these other "nearby and convenient" post offices in Waipahu or Kapolei miles away. A round trip by City bus would be at least around an hour and a half.
Ewa Beach P.O. also exists... However, that post office is often very crowded with long lines and Fort Weaver can often be a nightmare of heavy traffic.
If Ewa Village P.O. had logical hours for most working people it would be an extremely busy post office too and save a lot of gas and time, which would be greatly appreciated by the community.
Anyone who has spent time in this Ewa area knows that closing this great little post office makes no sense at all!
John Bond
Ewa, Oahu
Community wants postal service to hear them out - KITV
Sep 20, 2013 By Justin Fujioka, KITV NEWS
Ewa Station Post Office headed for closure - by Save the Post Office
http://www.savethepostoffice.com/makes-no-sense-all-ewa-beach-post-office-headed-closure
http://ewafield.blogspot.com/
