Postal Service to open 2 sites again

Giving in to overwhelming neighborhood sentiment, U.S. Postal Service officials said Tuesday they will reopen full-service branch offices at their old locations in Lakeview and Gentilly by late summer.

Resumption of service at the old locations at 6319 Marshall Foch St. in Lakeview, just off the Harrison Avenue retail corridor, and at 2051 Caton St. in Gentilly, in a neighborhood business district, were seen as critical to the general post-Katrina recovery in those areas.

In coming days, mobile Postal Service units will be set up at the two sites and at a closed post office near the Industrial Canal in eastern New Orleans, at 5619 Chef Menteur Highway, said Daisy Comeaux, a regional spokeswoman for the Postal Service. No decisions have been made on whether to restore and reopen the Chef office, she said.

While the Chef office is owned by the Postal Service, the Gentilly and Lakeview sites have private owners.

Location decisions were driven by neighborhood feedback and successful lease negotiations, Comeaux said

The Postal Service moved deliberately in deciding whether to open branches in the two bedrock residential areas, trying to gauge the rate of return of families after Katrina. The delays ultimately prompted a fierce lobbying campaign by many residents. Rita Legrand, a leader of the Lakeview grass-roots effort, said more than 3,000 e-mails favoring the Marshall Foch site were sent to postal officials.

"I am ecstatic. I have been working on this for over a year," she said. "It's been an uphill battle."

Gentilly residents were most adamant that the Postal Service re-establish an office somewhere in the neighborhood, but also felt that it would be logical for the office to return to its old site, near the intersection of Gentilly Boulevard and Elysian Fields Avenue, said civic leader Angele Givens.

"People are excited that there is a decision, so they could get it started," she said.

Postal Service District Manager E.W. Waldemayer Jr. announced in early March that offices would be reopened in Lakeview and Gentilly, but left open the question of exactly where they would go.

The owner of the Lakeview property plans to provide extra parking in a lot purchased next door, easing a past concern.

Renovation costs at the Lakeview and Gentilly facilities will be paid by the Postal Service, Comeaux said. Project details weren't yet available.

"We are expediting the construction and configuration process of these new post offices in order to ensure they will be up and serving the public by the end of summer," Steve Moreland, district manager for Louisiana, said in a news release.

Beginning Monday, the "Post Office on Wheels" units, providing stamp sales and shipping services, will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, the Postal Service announced.

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Coleman Warner can be reached at cwarner@timespicayune.com or at (504) 826-3311.