July 16, 2001 – A petition is being circulated on St. John in protest of plans to expand the Cruz Bay Post Office into adjacent public park space.
More than a hundred signatures had been collected by the weekend on the "Save the Park" petition, which demands that the U.S. Postal Service "cease and desist from the planned takeover of the downtown park area between the post office and the existing Tourism office."
It further states that a "deal" between the Property and Procurement Department and the Postal Service "to erect buildings in this area will be deleterious to the residents and will ultimately kill the date palm and lignum vitae trees" on the property.
The expansion plans were announced at a town meeting in early June.
"We gave the post office permission to expand on a temporary basis," Julien Harley, St. John administrator, said after learning of the petition drive.
Cyd Hamling, owner of Connections, one of the locations where petition signatures are being collected, said the main purpose of the petition drive is to save the trees in question, which she said are both fragile and rare. She also said there is a need for another town meeting, so residents can find out exactly "what the post office is proposing — we need to see their plan, if they have one."
Petition signatures also are being collected at Starfish Market, Mooie's Tavern and Gym In Paradise.
The Postal Service has 58 years remaining on its lease from the V.I. government of the site of the current post office. Last year, postal officials said more space was needed to accommodate the increasing demand for services in Cruz Bay and that plans were in the making to relocate to a larger facility.
Among the other Cruz Bay locations postal officials looked at were Boulon Center, the Marketplace complex, property near the Islandia building and V.I. government land adjoining the public tennis courts.
Meantime, it has been reported that the Postal Service nationwide is $2 billion in the red and that all of its capital projects have been put on hold.
Postal officials on St. John referred questions about the matter to the district postmaster on St. Thomas, who could not be reached for comment.