March 8, 2013

Congress to Postal Service

http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu/congress-to-postal-service-drop-dead/

Congress to Postal Service: “Drop Dead!”
America’s historic post offices are unique in their variety and quality as well as in the public art that make them the People’s Art Gallery. Without the magnificent post offices built during the New Deal and before, Voorhees said, “there would be a distinct loss to the spiritual and patriotic relationship between the citizen and the government if its activities were carried on in bare warehouses without architectural significance or dignity and constructed as cheaply and as shoddily as the average speculative structure.”

The sell off and relocation of the post offices is the nightmare that Voorhees foresaw. Perhaps it is precisely to break that relationship between the citizen and government that our post offices are now regarded not as our shared legacy, but simply as surplus real estate to be liquidated.

March 8, 2013

Privatizers, profits, and plums

The Postal Service owns a veritable treasure in real estate, both historically significant buildings as well as suburban sites built for large processing centers. Most of the old inner city offices are on prime real estate; the large plants generally have valuable access to transportation routes (contrary to FarCenter's perception of postal activities, the "shipping company" aspects emanate from those rather than innercity facilities.) I would guess every large city has one or more significant buildings such as this article features.

Our city's beautiful old “Main Post Office”, was built on land donated to the city and forbidden for any use except by the citizens of Memphis. I haven't been in the offices featured in this article, but here, our most historic office went through numerous iterations over the past 25 years - from full scale PO to a customer box operation and carrier station. Then, we used it many years as a Postal training facility, then turned it over to the University of Memphis Law School, which uses it now.

Postal Service real estate is just another “plum” being picked by those who will profit from the Congressional quest to privatize the Postal Service. I had been wondering which "crony" would get this plum pudding. I finally found out who was connected to CBRE, the corporation contracted to sell off Postal holdings. I'm sure other cronies will get bargains after CBRE takes their cut. In fact, since CBRE also tells USPS what to sell, that group of profiteers are probably busy now placing their orders with CBRE:

http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu/congress-to-postal-service-drop-dead/

The fire sale of our post offices is accelerating while the media remain largely asleep at the wheel.
In July 2011, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) gave an exclusive contract to liquidate the public’s property to the giant commercial real estate firm C.B. Richard Ellis (CBRE), which also advises the Postal Service on which properties to sell.

It’s no surprise, then, that so many of the post offices listed for sale or already sold happen to be in expensive real estate markets like Santa Monica, Venice, Palo Alto and Berkeley in California; Greenwich, Connecticut; Towson and Bethesda in Maryland; Northfield, Minnesota; and New York City.

CBRE is effectively owned and chaired by Senator Dianne Feinstein’s husband, billionaire private equity financier Richard Blum. If you visit the CBRE website devoted to marketing postal properties you will find no distinction between superb, historic post offices and blandly utilitarian processing facilities or vacant lots. For CBRE, it’s all simply real estate thrown into the same lucrative bin. A listing on the National Register of Historic Places and the presence of art works created during the New Deal only serve as impediments to moving those properties quickly.

The USPS seems only too happy to help with removing those obstacles. To get around historic preservation rules, for example, the USPS claims that it is not actually closing and selling the historic buildings that it is, in fact, closing and selling, but is simply “relocating services.”
(Skip)
America’s historic post offices are unique in their variety and quality as well as in the public art that make them the People’s Art Gallery. Without the magnificent post offices built during the New Deal and before, Voorhees said, “there would be a distinct loss to the spiritual and patriotic relationship between the citizen and the government if its activities were carried on in bare warehouses without architectural significance or dignity and constructed as cheaply and as shoddily as the average speculative structure.”

The sell off and relocation of the post offices is the nightmare that Voorhees foresaw. Perhaps it is precisely to break that relationship between the citizen and government that our post offices are now regarded not as our shared legacy, but simply as surplus real estate to be liquidated.

For more on the loss of America’s post offices, why it is happening, and what you can do, visit http://www.savethepostoffice.com/

March 7, 2013

Great link!

I learn so much on DU!

What a small world we live in. It's not surprising that BP and Exxon were ticked at Chavez, but I had no idea of the association of the Heinz family with Chavez (maybe I should say "dis-association.)

And after the kidnapping coup in 2002, our very irreverent Reverend Pat Robertson said:

"Hugo Chavez thinks we're trying to assassinate him. I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it."

...But why the Bush regime's hate, hate, HATE of the President of Venezuela?

...Reverend Pat wasn't coy about the answer: It's the oil.

"This is a dangerous enemy to our South controlling a huge pool of oil."
If we didn't kill Chavez, we'd have to do an "Iraq" on his nation. So the Reverend suggests:
"We don't need another $200 billion war….It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

The reader comments (there were only 9 when I read them-only 1 negative 1percenter) on the article are also very good.

Chavez had every reason to distrust Bush and the U.S.

March 6, 2013

I don't believe the US had anything to do with his fatal illness, but

I can understand his distrust of Bush and the US, I'm afraid.

I haven't had time to fully research this work by John Pilger, but the first 40 minutes of this 1-1/2 hr documentary is about Venezuela and Chavez. It is quite riveting. I have an appointment now but later want to do some research on the National Endowment for Democracy, which is named in the film as providing some support for the 2002 coup against Chavez. It is a nonprofit funded through our government.

Pilger's interviews with some members of the "elite" class who hated Chavez (around 18:00) sure does sound like some of our annointed ones.

THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY

February 16, 2013

Great comments from Wisconsin voters on this article and on Walker!

I remain amazed that Walker won the recall.

I continue to wonder if he really did.

February 8, 2013

I'm retired Postal (with almost 33 years). For at least 25 of those years we lived with the

Republicans trying to privatize USPS. It didn't get much press, but it was relentless. Greed is only one motivator. Power is another.

I'm not sure how many employees they have right now but it was about 500,000 last time I saw a number - (second largest employer in the US). About 90% of Postal employees were union when I retired. So they want to bust the unions BAD. That, of course, is for political power.

Sorry if my post sounded "excited" in any kind of negative way against unions, because I fully support them.

February 3, 2013

We've all known about the GOP's internal war

and I've been waiting for some clear signs on who is holding the power behind the Tea Party faction of that battle.

I'm placing my bet on the Koch brothers.