Tag Archives: oakville

On Weds night, at the Rutherford Grange in the Napa Valley, a passionate group of grape growers, business owners, residents and community leaders assembled to dispute the proposed re-location of the Oakville Post Office, established in 1857.. The crowd was like a casting call of famous napa celebs, which included Bill Harlan (Harlan Estate/Meadowood, etc), David Pearson (Opus One), Ren Harris (Paradigm), Larry Maguire (Far Niente), Linda Neal (Tierra Roja), Brian Tench, Joyce Stavert, Pam Bond (Swanson Vineyards Mgr)… And on and on!

The standing-room only crowd cheered as Brian Bottari, Representative for Congressman Mike Thompson, read a letter destined for the USPS in DC which demanded a feasibility study, list of alternatives and re-consideration of their decision to close the Oakville post office.

Two reps from the state and local USPS did not impress the audience with their reasoning that declining volume + revenues are the reason for cutting costs and consolidating over 3000 post offices just like Oakville around the country. In fact, they became uneasy when the crowd uncovered the fact that this particular post office – which runs lean at only $81k/year – currently operates IN THE BLACK!

Aside from being profitable, local citizens cited these other reasons to keep their post office open.. in OAKVILLE:

• Top-knotch service provided by postman, Mark Salvestrin ~ who received a standing ovation from the crowd!
• To keep money + business LOCAL
• Safety concerns about intersection near Rutherford post office
• Guarantee that the Oakville brand will forever be included in their address and letterhead
• History ~ the post office has been here 144 years!
• An offer by Leslie Rudd to keep the post office in the Victorian building next to Oakville Grocery is yet to receive a response.

bill harlan and others stand to show support of their favorite postman, mark salvestrin

Coming into the meeting, the sense was that the decision had already been made to close it down and re-locate to “expanded access locations” in Rutherford, Yountville and Saint Helena. However, the heated discussion uncovered the fact that no concrete decision has been made yet and the current ‘proposal’ is just that.. And that there is still time to save the post office!

At the end of the night, there were still far too many questions left unanswered and more time is needed to get detailed responses back to the dissatisfied + impassioned crowd.

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