It appears residents and merchants of Bradford will continue to have their own post office — at least for now.
The Bradford office was one of 600 postal stations and branch offices being considered for closure because of financial problems.
But postal officials said this week the Bradford branch will remain open for the immediate future. Earlier this year, the officials has set a deadline of this week for deciding whether to close the Bradford site.
Local postal spokesman Dennis Tarmey said more detailed plans will be unveiled soon.
"We will have a plan which will be put in place," Tarmey said. "Plans to close Bradford have been put on hold and later in the week we will have more detailed plans about what the next steps will be."
City Council President John Michitson said the announcement is good news for people in the city's Bradford section.
"The Bradford office has been extremely convenient for the residents of Bradford," he said. "This is celebratory news for them."
The Bradford office was among 3,700 offices in the country which faced a May 15 deadline about whether or not they would close. The decision depended on the result of the 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012 which was being discussed in Congress.
In April, the Senate voted to infuse $11 billion into the postal service. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said at the time that money would not be able to make up for the deep financial problems of the postal service.
Local politicians had pleaded with Donahoe to delay the May 15th deadline on a possible closure of the Bradford Post Office.
"We urge you to extend the May 15 moratorium to allow Congress time to finalize comprehensive postal reform legislation that would take meaningful steps to create a financially sound future for the USPS," wrote more than 100 members of the House, including Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, in a letter to Donahoe last week.
Mayor James Fiorentini also wrote a letter to former Postmaster General Jack Potter and other politicians last year. Fiorentini cited concerns about the amount of traffic which would be brought to the downtown post office in Washington Square if the Bradford office closed.
"This closing will exacerbate an already difficult situation and the Haverhill Post Office simply cannot take on this added business," Fiorentini wrote.
He cited parking as a major problem at the downtown post office, saying employees and customers already have problems finding spots there.
The decision to hold off on closing the 600 post office branches nationwide comes just days after the Postal Service announced that it would be cutting hours at more than 13,000 rural post offices, including one in West Boxford.
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