The flags are flying outside. The lights are on inside. And the 95947 ZIP code is prominently painted in 3-foot red numbers on the wall of the retail window area.
Why isn’t the Greenville Post Office open for business?
The U.S. Postal Service is making “significant progress” on reopening the building that serves 467 customers, said Kristina Uppal, media liaison for the USPS district that includes Plumas County. Uppal, however, provided no specifics about when that progress would culminate in a functioning post office.
“To not have a post office for unexplained reasons is simply unacceptable.” — Pamela Grant, district representative for Congressman Kevin Kiley
That leaves Greenville residents facing a fourth year of driving a 50-mile round trip on mountainous roads for their mail. And it continues years of frustration for everyone from local would-be postal patrons to the staff of United States Congress members.
“Not everyone can afford to make that journey,” said Plumas County Supervisor Kevin Goss said.
Pamela Grant, a district representative for Congressman Kevin Kiley, agreed: “To not have a post office for unexplained reasons is simply unacceptable.”
The Greenville Post Office was destroyed Aug. 4, 2021, when the Dixie Fire roared through on its way to burning nearly 1 million acres of mostly forested land in California’s largest single wildfire. Downtown Greenville was devastated along with 800 houses in Greenville, Canyon Dam, Indian Falls and Warner Valley.
The Greenville Post Office was one of 144 commercial structures lost. The fire also destroyed three public facilities owned by Plumas County. California fire officials found Pacific Gas and Electric Co. responsible for starting the blaze with faulty electrical equipment in the Feather River Canyon near Pulga.
All of the devastated communities are rebuilding. In Greenville, around 50 new homes are occupied or under construction, and plans are in development to build public safety and community resilience centers. The Roundhouse Council for Indian Education celebrated a ribbon-cutting in June.
Post office progress fizzles
The Greenville postal facility is leased. Uppal said postal officials worked closely with the landlord on the rebuilding, moving through various issues that included debris cleanup, insurance, bids and permits. The USPS controlled none of those processes, she said.
Once the building was complete, USPS officials began addressing the details to customize the retail window and post office box section, Uppal said. Because it is a federal facility, Kiley’s representative Grant has access to a government liaison, available to federal officials, to track that progress. She has followed the process from initial construction to completion of the building.
Grant told The Plumas Sun July 23 she expected to participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April. All that was missing was a certificate of occupancy, she said.
“We were all very excited,” said Grant.
But when she inquired with the government liaison, she was told there were issues with an internet connection and the retail window, where postal clerks sell stamps and deliver and accept packages. All of the equipment for post office operations must come from North Carolina, Grant said.
In May issues with the internet “started to explode,” she said. Grant told The Plumas Sun an internet router sent from North Carolina was deemed “defective” by Carla Fruge, the Greenville postmaster who also serves Candon Dam, Crescent Mills and Taylorsville. The government liaison then told her an AT&T router was en route to Greenville.
“Once it arrives and the internet is established, we’re open for business,” Grant said her liaison contact told her.
May came and went, as did June and most of July. Grant said she was stymied.
“We’re at the mercy of a USPS liaison,” she said. Grant said she is not at liberty to provide the public or the press with direct access to her contact.
“We are not currently stalled by internet.” — Kristina Uppal, media liaison for the USPS
Fruge referred The Plumas Sun’s questions to Carla Jackson, a USPS official in San Francisco. A telephone call to Jackson was answered by Uppal. And while Uppal offered little information about what is causing the delay, she did say this: “We are not currently stalled by internet.”
The delay certainly should not be internet related, said Goss. Downtown Greenville is served by several internet providers, allowing a variety of businesses to fully operate. Frontier Communications is installing underground fiber optics cable to the downtown area and expects to be connecting it to homes late this summer, Goss said.
“All these other places are up and running but not the post office. It’s very frustrating,” he said.
Grant agreed: “The internet has reached Greenville. This is a pretty helpless feeling,” she said.
Exacerbating the puzzle of why the Greenville Post Office is not open is the case of the Grizzly Flat Post Office. Like Greenville, Grizzly Flat was destroyed by fire in August 2021. The Caldor Fire started 4 miles south of the town of around 1,000 residents, burning 221,835 acres in El Dorado, Alpine and Amador counties. More than 1,000 structures were destroyed, including the Grizzly Flat Post Office.
It was rebuilt and then reopened Jan. 31, 2024. The community celebrated the resumption of postal service in Grizzly Flat as a sign of resilience and unwavering spirit in the face of adversity.
‘Enough already’
Patrick Joseph, coordinator of the Dixie Fire Collaborative, has also been frustrated by the apparent completion of the Greenville Post Office and its very obvious closed-door status.
“Mail is such a basic thing in our lives. That building is 95% finished. At three years out, enough already,” Joseph said.
Uppal made a commitment to announce the reopening when it happens. “Once we do have an established date, that will be shared,” she said, adding, “Our team is continuing to make active progress.”
The key to unraveling the mystery of the unopened Greenville Post Office could be noise, said Grant: More calls, more publicity.
“The more we hear in our office the better,” she said.
The telephone number for Kiley’s Washington, D.C., office is 202-225-2523. To reach his district office in Auburn call 916-724-2575 or 888-406-3855 toll free.
California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla is available through this contact address. To reach California’s Sen. Laphonz T.K. Butler complete this contact form.
