When Antonette Pepe opened her mayoral campaign office in Indian Orchard this summer, her campaign said she chose that neighborhood in part because it’s not typically a hot bed of political activity.
“Indian Orchard often ends up as a forgotten neighborhood, in terms of politics. So we thought it would be a good spot,” Pepe’s campaign manager, Karen Powell, told the Republican.
The straight-shooting Pepe is, unfortunately, no longer in the mayor’s race; she was eliminated in the Sept. 20 preliminary election. And Indian Orchard? Well, it looks like the neighborhood is still being overlooked, at least according to a candidate running to represent the community on the City Council—Orlando Ramos, who is challenging incumbent John Lysak for the Ward 8 Council seat. (Lysak beat Ramos in a close race in 2009; this year, theirs is—rather appallingly—the only contested race for a ward seat.)
This summer, the U.S. Postal Service announced that the Indian Orchard post office, at 19 Oak St., is on the list of offices that could be closed, as the USPS struggles with serious financial problems. Indian Orchard isn’t being singled out—five of the city’s eight post office branches (out of a total of 43 across the state) are on the list. But, Ramos argues in a campaign press release, as the USPS nears a final decision on closures, the neighborhood’s voice is not being heard.
Earlier this week, Ramos attended a public hearing on the potential closings, held at the downtown Main Street post office—a location, he says, that was highly inaccessible to people from Indian Orchard. “It was not surprising to see that the meeting was poorly attended; it was held at a location that is 8 miles away from Indian Orchard, and it began at 6:30 at night,” the candidate said in a press release.
“This is exactly the problem that we are facing; many people—particularly seniors—in Indian Orchard have difficulty getting to other parts of town and thus do not want the Indian Orchard Branch closed. Had this meeting been held in Indian Orchard, I am certain that there would have been many, many more people there.”
Ramos is calling for the USPS to hold another meeting, this one in Indian Orchard itself. In a letter to postal service officials, he made an impassioned pitch for keeping the branch open—and referred to the independent spirit of the community he seeks to represent: “This post office is part of our identity—this is who we are; this is what makes us Indian Orchard. Though we are a proud part of Springfield, we also take pride in the fact that we have our own zip code, our own Main Street, and our own post office. There are many people in our community that have been using this post office for over 50 years. The many locally owned businesses in Indian Orchard that depend on the services would be devastated if it were to close. This could potentially create a domino effect—with businesses losing money leading to more empty store fronts and declining property values.
“Most importantly, Indian Orchard has the highest concentration of senior citizens in the city of Springfield,” Ramos continued. “In addition, there are many low income families living in this neighborhood that do not have their own transportation. It would be a shame to ask these folks to travel miles away for the services that they have become accustomed to having nearby. For these reasons, I humbly ask that you help us save our post office.”
Ramos also called on residents of the neighborhood to join a “Save Our Post Office” page on Facebook, where they can sign a petition calling for their local branch to be spared.
