Solve the problem; don’t move post office

The Lihue Post Office is strategically situated in the heart of town to serve the community around it. Almost 80 years after the facility was dedicated, thousands of people use it each day, and it continues to play a central

So what’s the problem?

On Jan. 23, a notice posted by the U.S. Postal Service announced that it considers the Lihue site an “excess” location “no longer necessary for postal operations,” and that its plans for “disposal action” are to sell the property at fair market value.

A second notice, posted near the first one four days later, walked back the original’s decision-already-made stance. It claimed that the USPS is “considering relocating” the facility and announced a public meeting to be held on Feb. 23.

A third notice, this time in letter form, was slipped into Lihue PO boxes on Feb. 1. Signed by Postmaster Junlin Rivera, it asserted that USPS officials would “solicit comments” at the public meeting about the proposal to move Lihue operations to its Kapule Highway annex.

The Garden Island estimated that 150 people attended the meeting. Far from soliciting comments, however, postal officials offered no sign-in sheets, took no notes, and collected no statements. Late in the meeting USPS real estate specialist Dean Cameron announced, to the dismay of the audience, that comments should instead be made in writing and mailed to him.

What are the issues that the postal service has identified?

Parking and congestion

The postmaster’s letter cites “challenging parking and access issues” as its main reason for a move. Few of us would disagree about the occasional difficulty of finding a space near the building.

But solutions to the problem are in the works. The U.S. Department of Transportation is investing $13.8 million of our tax dollars to increase traffic flow and alleviate parking — 80-90 new spaces — in the Rice Street area as an aid to town core revitalization.

Our County Council wisely accepted that federal grant and chipped in another $2 million for the project.

Moreover, county officials have expressed a willingness to work with USPS officials to find additional spaces dedicated to short-term PO parking.

Accessibility

USPS officials assert that the annex would be conveniently “accessible via a traffic-light-controlled intersection that will offer a safe and simple way to enter the parking lot.” But only designing for car-driven access is old-style thinking. Current planners view mobility more broadly to include pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchairs, skateboards and more; both state and federal departments of transportation are now aligned with those concepts.

Such accessibility is far greater at the Rice Street location than at the annex.

Planning

Cameron acknowledged at the public meeting that the USPS does not consider community planning in its decisionmaking.

He also admitted that the agency has done no transportation studies to determine the shifting traffic impacts of facility relocation, so officials may be unaware that Kapule Highway becomes backed up between Ahukini and Rice streets beyond the signal at the PO annex during certain times of the day.

Nor have they considered how much worse the Kapule Highway congestion will get if all post office traffic is re-routed to the annex.

Moratorium

Public sentiment at the meeting was, by a large majority, in favor of retaining the Rice Street location. Even most who like the idea of retail services at the annex wanted it opened in addition to the Rice Street location.

But Cameron reported that the USPS has declared a moratorium on opening new or closing existing facilities, which is why the Lihue PO would be “relocated,” not closed.

Yet neighboring Hanamaulu and Puhi enjoyed their own post offices until recent years. With Lihue growing in both directions, there is an argument to be made for reclaiming those locations once the moratorium ends.