The fading genius of the US post office | Gray Brechin

magnificent post offices of the New Deal era are a monument to American democratic spirit. We are now selling the legacy of FDR

The

June 9, the General Services Administration threw the center of Modesto post office at auction. Like many other postal services, the Renaissance palace, had long served as an anchor for the downtown shops of the town of California, a public space where citizens gathered to exchange news and business transactions in the lobby of a polished travertine marble and murals in local farming activities.

The federal government once its post offices to elevate and inspire the public, whose assets are now available. An architectural journal in 1918, spoke of the value of saving post offices

"They are generally the most important buildings premises, and as a whole, [are] seen daily by thousands of people who have little opportunity to feel the influence of the great architectural works great cities. "

• The administration
• President Hoover in Modesto facilities constructed as a final effort to end the Great Depression, before the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt unleashed a flood much of public works that followed Hoover had failed (pdf). In less than a decade, the Roosevelt administration has built more than 1,100 post offices, which are distinguished by good architecture, materials and details, and a program of waste of public art for the first time and referred customers and employees of regional identity.

established by the Constitution of the United States as an essential service to democracy, the post office was subjected to structural adjustment, and electronic communication. The Congress called on the U.S. Postal Service to run itself more like a business and what is a quasi-corporation in 1971. Required to provide universal service and the Internet and private companies have reduced their profit centers, the USPS has turned into a death spiral, increase employment rates, such as bars and services. Now is stripped of its assets, too.

Since January, the U.S. Postal Service has closed 280 post offices, despite resistance from communities and local entrepreneurs objections horrified at the center of town shopping centers magnets Decamp and trailers. These closures only a warm up for what was coming. On July 26, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe list of nearly 3,700 more, saying: "The postal service of the future will be smaller, more agile and competitive." These facilities are more than a tenth of offices office in the land, buildings of this culture once the government realized the honesty, efficiency and uniform. Perhaps this is why we should go.

Find best price for : --Shlaes----Amity----Modesto----Roosevelt----Hoover----Franklin----postal----General----Deal--