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Tag: Cortez post office

Cortez post office gets new lease on life

Cortez post office gets new lease on life

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez, Featured.

CORTEZ – Just in time for the Christmas mailing rush, the fishing village of Cortez is receiving an early holiday gift – its post office will remain open for another five years.

The post office, at 12112 44th Ave. W. – also the site of the community’s bulletin board and many neighborly chats – had been scheduled to close on Oct. 24 after landlord John Banyas did not renew the lease.Cortez prevails in post office closure

His reason, he told The Sun, was that a flagpole owned by the post office fell and injured a man, who sued him, and that the U.S. Postal Service refused his subsequent request to add him to its insurance policy. He sued the post office for eviction.

But the Postal Service now has added him to its insurance policy and signed a new five-year lease, Banyas said.

“It’s a good thing,” he said. Without the new lease, village residents would have had to travel more than 5 miles each way to the Palma Sola post office to get their mail every day.

During the dispute, disgruntled customers suggested alternatives including the more convenient Bradenton Beach post office, home delivery, and the purchase of the former Cortez fire station as an alternate site for the post office.

The village has had a post office since 1896 when it was in the Bratton store at the Albion Inn. The store, which outlived the inn, was relocated to the Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez and is under renovation.

Cortez Post Office going dark

Cortez Post Office going dark

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez.

CORTEZ – As the Cortez post office prepares to close Friday, Oct. 22, some residents wonder why the U.S. Postal Service is sending them more than 5 miles to the Palma Sola Branch when there are much closer alternatives.

According to Google Maps last Friday at 3 p.m., it would have taken 11 minutes to drive the 5.6 miles from the Cortez post office to the Palma Sola Post Office at 115 75th St. W. in Bradenton.

To get to the Bradenton Beach Post Office at 116 Bridge St. at the same time of day, it would have taken 6 minutes to travel 1.3 miles.

Resident Mary Fulford Green suggested another approach. The Postal Service could rent the former fire station in Cortez at 4523 123rd St. Court W. for a post office. The building houses an apartment, a boatbuilding shop and a meeting room large enough for a post office, she said.

Other residents suggest home delivery in the historic commercial fishing village on the south side of Cortez Road. The north side of the road already has home delivery. Residents posted a sign asking neighbors to call U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R – Manatee) for help, and asked Manatee County Commissioners last week to write him for assistance, which they voted to do. Buchanan’s office did not respond to phone calls on the subject last week.

From The Sun’s Facebook page:

“I hate hearing this! And feel for my friends and Cortez neighbors.” – Marcelyn Beckner Harman

 

“Even if the U.S. Government self insures, they could have explained that instead of just deciding to close up shop.” – Connie VanderMarliere Morrow

 

“Sad, but progress changes things. Less mail, more online, etc.” – Penny Heinz Fischer

The post office closure began with an accident when the post office flagpole fell and hit a man who was injured and sued landlord John Banyas, who rents the space at 12112 44th Ave. W. to the Postal Service. Banyas also owns Cortez Bait and Seafood and two restaurants in the village.

Banyas told The Sun that he asked the Postal Service to add him to its insurance policy, but the agency refused, so when the lease ended on the small office in the strip center he decided not to renew it.

Banyas sued the Postal Service on Sept. 21 for eviction in Manatee County Court. On Oct. 6, the case was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.

A flyer distributed to residents claims that the post office violated federal regulations by not providing adequate notice, a feasibility study, public comment and the right of appeal before announcing the closure.

U.S. Postal Service District Manager Stephen Hardin could not be reached for comment. The postal service does not comment on lease negotiations, corporate communications officer David Walton said.

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Cortez post office closing to residents’ dismay