The City Council was scheduled to hear testimony from the developer, the neighborhood associations affected, and the public on November 19 (thank you to all our residents who attended).  After the staff summary, Council Member Scot Ludwig requested a “site visit” before voting on the appeal. This motion was highly irregular as an appeal record is supposed to consist only of information received in the P&Z hearing. No new information is supposed to be allowed during an appeal process. However, the mayor supported Council member Ludwig’s idea and the council voted 4 to 2 to approve the site visit. No public questions, answers or testimonies were allowed.  Many of the nearly 100 residents who had given up their evening and prepared to testify were visibly upset by this decision.  There was a story about a possible conflict of interest that may have influenced the process as well on the news this week.  We don’t have more information at this time.

Regardless, as of today, the city is still planning to hold a site visit at 3:30 pm on December 10 followed by a 6 pm hearing back at City Hall.  If you signed up to testify on November 19, you will have the opportunity to testify at the beginning of the December 10 hearing.  As we understand it, the public will not be allowed to interact with the city council members during the afternoon site visit but many residents are planning to attend.  You can also view the city council’s November 19 deliberations online starting at the 37 minute mark here.

A few weeks ago, the Postal Service announced that they were closing the Collister Post Office located in the Collister Shopping Center.  We were surprised by the announcement since the former owners of the Collister Shopping Center had signed a long term lease for the little post office.  Many residents contacted us and asked why the Postal Service was considering closing it.  Only 8 years ago, the Collister Neighborhood Association helped to successfully save the post office so we knew it was time to engage the public. We conducted an online survey and 96% of our residents who took the survey said the post office was important to them.  We wrote letters to the Postmaster General, our congressional representatives, and did a KTVB news interview to express these concerns.

The Postal Service held a public meeting on the morning of Tuesday November 26 but also announced that they do have a valid lease and plan to stay in the current location until 2022.  Thank you to the neighbors who attended the meeting and shared their concerns.  This post office is important to those who cannot drive across town to ship their packages.  Stay tuned.  We’ll keep you posted but it looks like we’ll get to enjoy our little post office for a few more years or more.