Raleigh's Century Post Office hangs on

RALEIGH -- The historic downtown post office has earned another reprieve.

Postal officials will wait until November to decide the fate of the 134-year-old Century Post Office. They say they need more time to evaluate customer traffic.

"It would be unfair to attempt to measure revenue growth in our slowest period of the year," district manager Russell Gardner wrote in a letter this week to Mayor Charles Meeker and local officials.

The new date marks the second 60-day extension for the Fayetteville Street post office, which was scheduled to shut down July 15 before lobbying led by Meeker convinced postal officials to hold off.

At the mayor's urging, city and federal officials made changes to improve access for customers.

A security gate behind the building is now open from 7 to 9 a.m. weekdays to let mail trucks make deliveries.

The city also added more 15-minute parking spots around the station to serve customers making quick trips.

Postal officials cited inadequate parking as a major factor in their decision. A lot at the station is too small for delivery trucks and cars.

"I'm hopeful this will increase business so it can stay open," Meeker said Wednesday. "Giving more time for things to settle out is helpful."

Meeker has been joined in the effort by the Downtown Raleigh Alliance and the bankruptcy judges who work in offices above the post office, which was the first built in the South after the Civil War.

The alliance mailed out 2,200 postcards to downtown businesses. Each was emblazoned with a bold-lettered message: "USE IT OR LOSE IT!"

"We've got to hold up our end of the bargain and try to get our business community behind it," said David Diaz, chief executive of the alliance.

Five years ago, the federal government spent $8 million to restore the building to its original splendor, including the cleaning of bronze mail boxes, brass writing desks and fixtures in the lobby.

But the postal service has said it must close stations and scale back services to deal with a dramatic decline in mail volume.

If the Century Post Office closes, services would move to a station on New Bern Avenue, about a mile away.