Bryant post office critics cite safety

BRYANT — A renovation of this city's post office is set to begin in coming weeks. But that's not entirely good news.

City leaders and residents who have long groused about the size, services and safety of the Reynolds Road post office aren't satisfied with what they say is a$650,000 "face-lift."

"Safety is my No. 1 concern," said Mayor Larry Mitchell. "I have seen wrecks there. I've been rear-ended myself trying to turn in."

The U.S. Postal Service's plans include turning a one-way entrance and exit into a two-way driveway divided by a small island to clear up drivers' confusion. There also would be an exit on Roya Lane.

Plans also include adding more post office boxes, a new entrance to the building and improving the building's look.

That's not enough, say Mitchell, residents and other city leaders. They want a new building at a new location.

Bustling Reynolds Road has been expanded from two to four lanes since the post office wasbuilt in 1984. Since then, the city has grown to about 14,500. But the post office has stayed the same.

"The post office seems to be completely deaf to real dangers facing us all every day," said Anita Middleton, a Bryant business woman who makes two trips to the post office a day.

Still, city leaders are hoping they'll get a bigger building on a better situated piece of property.

Alderman Rick Meyer is talking with developers and landowners to see if the city could erect a new building for the $650,000, even though the U.S. Postal Service isn't on board and hasn't agreed to allow the city to use those funds.

"I'm just not willing to give up on it," Meyer said. "This is a classic David and Goliath."

Meyer hopes a January letter he sent U.S. Postmaster General John E. Potter, in which he questions why nearby, smaller Alexander got a new, larger post office in the 1990s, will halt renovations.

A Postal Service spokesman in Dallas said top officials are drafting a response to Meyer's inquiry. He declined to answer questions until the letter is sent.

Postal Service officials repeatedly have said Bryant doesn't need a new building. And they have said problems with car crashes on streets around the post office are matters for local or state government to fix.

In a written statement, Arkansas District Manager Jeffrey A. Taylor said he was "surprised to hear of this opposition to our plans that were previously submitted to the city."

"The Postal Service has worked with city officials to complete a site plan to improve traffic flow and access," he said.

City leaders and a residentheaded committee that formed last year to address the postal issues had lauded the September renovations announcement.

"If they are doing a renovation project at $650,000, I think there's a lot of thoughts that [the money] could possibly buy a new facility at that price," Mitchell said.