Mail piles up outside abandoned Bethesda office building (Photos)

Somebody forgot to give a forwarding address to the U.S. Postal Service when tenants departed the doomed Apex Building at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. Mail and newspapers continue to be delivered, and are piling up outside the now-locked doors of the vacant office building. The Washington Post, Bloomberg and Barron's are among the publications not getting to their subscribers at the moment.

The paperboy has been tossing
these into the courtyard at the
Apex Building

Barron's

Bloomberg Businessweek
stays warm on a subway grate

UPS STORE OPENS IN BETHESDA 20816 ZIP CODE WHILE USPS DAWDLES (PHOTOS)

The USPS has been talking for nearly a year about opening a new post office in the 20816 area of Bethesda. Such an opening is still at least a year away.

Meanwhile, UPS has leapfrogged Uncle Sam, and opened a UPS Store in 20816, at 5237 River Road.

The store replaces Anessi Salon in the Kenwood Station shopping center best known as the home of Whole Foods (or, for longtime residents, as once being a Brunswick bowling alley).

The new UPS Store has - yes - mailboxes, printing services, packing and shipping assistance, faxing and notary services...pretty much the things most people need on a regular basis.

For downtown Bethesda residents, if you weren't aware already, there is a UPS Store on Hampden Lane.

VAN HOLLEN VS. USPS RE: BETHESDA POST OFFICE IS A FARCE FOR THE AGES

Congressman Chris Van Hollen released an "I really, really mean it this time" letter yesterday, grandstanding over the 6900 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda Post Office fiasco.

Van Hollen certainly knows how to provide a good chuckle to start the day.

By day's end, the USPS had once again asserted its primacy over our stumbling congressman, who was left wildly but ineffectually swinging at the Postal Service, which held him off at arms length.

Van Hollen is no dummy - keep in mind, he actually beat a Kennedy in Montgomery County (in Sargent Shriver's backyard, no less!) to get his seat.

But his two letters - written long after the new Post Office had already opened, and even longer after I had exposed the folly of the new location this past Spring - are an entirely farcical exercise.

Beyond the fact that USPS continues to ignore him, the larger question remains unasked by local media:

Did Van Hollen and the Montgomery County Council

a) Pay no attention to a matter as significant as the closure of two Post Offices in an area with many senior citizens, and have no familiarity with the town of Bethesda they represent, to the extent that they had no idea there was no parking at the selected site?

OR

b) participate in the relocation process, and give their approval to the move, despite the reality that there was no parking?

Either answer is embarrassing for these elected officials.

The county and national Democratic Party is letting Van Hollen twist in the wind for a while on this, partly as punishment for his failure to stop the Tea Party victories of 2010.

Pretty soon they'll step in to save him, though, and it won't be of much help to Bethesda.

That establishment is now floating the idea of reopening the historic Post Office near the Bethesda Metro station.  That would take care of the "walkability" issue for many downtown residents.

However, the 7400 Wisconsin Avenue site would do absolutely nothing to solve the problems for those who need to drive, are disabled, or are senior citizens who cannot walk safely and require vehicle access.  It is the loss of the former Arlington Road facility, with its ample parking and drive-up mailboxes, that is most devastating to the Bethesda community.

The fact is, this was a rush job allowed by local politicians to open the two sites for development as quickly as possible.  USPS has acknowledged it acted under great pressure.

Van Hollen is right; we need a new downtown Post Office.  The problem is, I wrote about that need last Spring, it was even linked to by Bethesda Patch, and yet Van Hollen had not a word to say about it at that time.

Then it opened, his constituents went nuts when they found out there was no parking, and all of a sudden Van Hollen is blustering and grandstanding.

Instead of answers to tough questions, we the taxpayers are being treated to a farcical fiasco.

SUMNER PLACE, WESTWOOD CENTER II LIKELY SITES FOR SECOND BETHESDA POST OFFICE

The second big postal story yesterday was the announcement that USPS is seeking space for a post office in the 20816 zip code of Bethesda.

A 2000 square foot space requirement has been cited.

Place your bets on The Shops at Sumner Place first (Sangamore Road), and the Westwood Center II (Ridgefield Road at River Road) as potential homes for the new post office.

Frankly, there is no other appropriate space in the zip code.

Both offer ample, free surface parking.  And both currently have vacancies.

Sumner Place has a vacancy between Starbucks and the future Passion Fin sushi restaurant.  Its largest available space is 2361 square feet, well over the 2000 requirement.  Another space is just under 2000.

Neither site is convenient for downtown Bethesda residents, but may offer some relief for senior citizens and the disabled, who have virtually no access to the new post office at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue.

Both sites are also accessible via Ride On Bus 23 (Friendship Heights Metro to Sibley Hospital).  And both are adjacent to apartment communities.

The 20816 post office won't solve the downtown Bethesda post office fiasco, but that part of Bethesda would certainly benefit from the convenience.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN ON NEW BETHESDA POST OFFICE: "WHAT ROBERT DYER SAID."

Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D - 8th District) made his first public statement on the Bethesda Post Office fiasco yesterday, and it was remarkably similar to what I said three months ago.

He said we need a different location.

Duh!

It's clear that Mr. Van Hollen and the Montgomery County Council either lack familiarity with downtown Bethesda, or were not engaged in the process of selecting a new post office site for their most affluent constituents.  Many of whom are senior citizens.

Both cases are likely true, especially given the number of carpetbaggers on the council.

What is a bigger issue for a politician than the location of a post office?  This would be one of those hot button situations like the placement of a school or substation.

These are the kind of bread and butter issues that, when handled with great attention, diplomacy and a small amount of common sense, earn respect for politicians like Howard Denis or Barbara Mikulski even among their partisan opponents.  And - judging by the Denis/Mikulski records - keep them in office.

Managing a post office move is just the sort of close-to-home matter we elect politicians to deal with.  To represent our interests.  And to prevent from becoming a fiasco, which this has.

At least Van Hollen is speaking out now.  Not a single member of the county council has spoken about the post office issue as of this morning.

Where have these politicians been?  What have they been doing?

But despite Van Hollen's political power and large staff, all he can say is... what Robert Dyer said.

Three months ago.

The fact is, there simply is no space for parking at this site.  Any agreement now reached under political pressure will not provide adequate spaces for the customer base of an entire town.

We should be glad one politician has belatedly gotten religion on the post office issue.

"We need a new post office."

We need new leadership.

TIME TO "DWELL" ON

WACKY LOCATION

FOR NEW BETHESDA

POST OFFICE

Is 6900 Wisconsin Avenue Really the

Ideal Mail Hub for the Future of Bethesda?

You may have taken note of vague media announcements regarding the closure of Bethesda's post offices, and the "consolidation" of two mail operations into one new location at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue.

But no one is really talking about where that new post office will be, and the consequences of selecting that location.

Now, before we consider that, here's Grandpa, about to head out to mail in his tax return to the IRS. Grandpa lives in a building near the Bethesda Metro Center, and it's going to be quite a walk. So let's give Grandpa a head start here. OK, he's got his coat and hat on. He's picked up the cane. And he's off to the races...6900 Wisconsin Avenue.

While he's staggering along 355, let's consider this building at 6900 Wisconsin Ave. It has a modest parking lot between it and a mattress store. Behind the building is a sort of alleyway, which gives access to the rear garage doors of 6900, as well as some garden apartments.

This alley is accessible from both Leland St./Woodmont Ave, and Bradley Blvd. There is a narrow staircase that runs up to the future post office's surface lot. However, this alley is - by nature - narrow, and not really designed for heavy, bidirectional vehicle traffic. I'm not sure that the 6900 garage is even open to the public, or how many spaces it has.

How's Grandpa doing? He's made it as far as the Apex Building. Getting a little tired. Heading into Regal for a Coke.

Anyway, it's not clear at this point how the 6900 site will handle two post offices' worth of foot and vehicular traffic. The county, the developer, and the Postal Service are not volunteering answers, and the politicians and journalists don't seem too inclined to ask any questions. Maybe they've got a genius solution, but wouldn't it have been a good idea to tell us up front.

All I know is, the 6900 lot has less than half of the spaces the Arlington Rd. post office has. And 355 is a state highway. The current post office is a notorious congestion point on Arlington Road. But it's one of many such points in the Bethesda Row area, and is probably a positive for pedestrian safety on the busy crosswalk ahead of it.

Imagine that volume of traffic now zipping (crawling?) in and out of 6900 during rush hour. Yikes. Assuming they'll put a time limit on the spaces, the ingress and egress is bound to cause dist-ress. Can they allow the public into that garage? Will people illegally park in the alley, and run up the back stairs to mail something?

OK, Grandpa's as far as Starbucks now...

People like Grandpa, who live near the center of town, or even farther north in "Old Town" Bethesda simply aren't going to be willing and/or able to walk that many blocks. So they are likely to drive, and who could blame them? But Government and developers keep telling us they're going to "get people out of their cars" and make walkable communities. So why are they letting the USPS move to 6900?

It seems these days that there is no adult supervision for politicians and planners. Want to build something without the infrastructure to support it, while you make the profit and the taxpayer picks up the tab? Done. The folks are away, and the bigshots are throwing a party. We don't need a well-planned, underground subway; just throw some surface rail or bus line up so we can build, build, build!

Shouldn't Bethesda's main post office for the next 100 years be centrally-located in the urban core? After all, it is a basic utility everyone uses. You'd think the politicians could have worked out a deal to put the post office in the ground floor of one of these lackluster, boutique buildings they've approved recently, closer to the center of town.

The USPS chose not to reopen in the future development at its current Arlington Rd. site, Dwell Bethesda. There are no pictures of the proposal so far, but the name is already getting things off to a bad start. "Dwell Bethesda?!" And the historic Wisconsin Avenue Post Office, complete with Madonna of the Trail statue, adds no value to the community as a private building for the private profit of Donohoe, the new owner.

But the big problem is that both sites - which together provided walking-distance mail services to all of downtown Bethesda - are closing at once. Forever. And the new location woefully underserves the urban population.

Forget about the farmers market moving; this is the issue Action Committee for Transit should be at least equally concerned about. Farmers markets are informal affairs that can be moved at will, and it is certain to return to Bethesda Row once The Darcy opens.

But the post office is going to be stuck at 6900, way out of walking distance for the average busy person. For many decades. It's just poor planning, but it's probably too late to stop the process now. Just tell us what the plan is. Can the Bethesda Circulator add the Post Office, Safeway and Bradley Shopping Center to its route sometimes? That might be an easy but insufficient fix. Are they going to somehow expand parking, since they've chosen a site beyond walking distance?

And don't say we won't use mail in the future. Unless you know how to squeeze that box of shoes-that-were-the-wrong-size into the USB port, so you can email them back for a refund!

So let's check back on Grandpa. He's finally made it down to the new post office. The sun is going down. He's going in! He's mailing his package! He's coming out! Uh-oh! He's starting to get a chest pain from overexertion. Fortunately, the new post office is convenient to CVS, and Grandpa can get a refill on his heart medication. At least it's convenient for something!