The Bolinas Post Office relocated to Olema on Monday, following its eviction last month by a landlord who accused it of failing to remedy asbestos in the floorboards. Bolinas residents, who have had a local post office for over 150 years, must now drive 11 miles north on Highway 1 to collect their mail.
The move came amid a series of recent announcements by the attorney of property owner Gregg Welsh and the United States Postal Service that have left gaps in understanding and intense concern among residents afraid of losing a permanent post office in town.
As the Olema office, located at the Olema Campground, is being retrofitted to accommodate services for both towns, Bolinas agencies and government officials are working to find a local solution. United States Representative Jared Huffman and Marin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni asked the board of the Firehouse Community Park Agency, which manages the town’s two public parks, for a temporary location for a mobile office in the parking lot just west of the firehouse. The Bolinas Community Public Utility District, which owns the lot, and the park agency’s board have signaled support for the plan. Park board member Mark Lucanic said the districts’ boards will draft parameters for a one-year lease that they plan to present to the postal service this week.
In a March 2 press release, the postal service declared its intention to bring the service back to town. “This is not a permanent closure and we are actively seeking a new location in Bolinas,” spokeswoman Kristina Uppal told the Light in an email. “This emergency relocation was put in place to ensure that retail and delivery services were provided to our customers without disruption.”
On Monday morning, the Olema Campground was especially busy as people drove from Bolinas to fetch their mail. They were greeted by a staff of six working to make the space accommodate an influx of parcels. Bolinas staff said they were happy to have a roof over their head after working out of a trailer for two weeks, but they had no idea how long they would be there.
The Olema Post Office normally houses 58 mailboxes. On Monday, two 7-foot-tall rotary boxes were delivered to the office and eight more were scheduled to arrive. Roosevelt Sargent, the Bolinas postmaster, said the facility was capable of housing all the 750 to 800 mailboxes needed for Bolinas residents and that the two staffs will be able to work together to administer mail.
Alan Brayton, who owns the Olema Campground and works as an asbestos-liability attorney in Novato, said he was unaware of the situation when the Light contacted him earlier this week.
The U.S.P.S. press release said the emergency relocation would allow retail services to continue without disruption, but a smooth transition has been thwarted by the limitations of internet access at the Olema site. Retail and outgoing mail transactions can only be done when Olema workers are present to work the manual system, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Bolinas staff will distribute mail to residents from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
Ms. Uppal encouraged residents interested in street delivery to contact Mr. Roosevelt.
All public transportation between Bolinas and Olema is strictly southbound; northbound passengers must ride over the hill for a transfer, a trip that can take as long as five hours. The Olema Campground frequently floods and its facilities were out of service for over a month this winter. With the forecast for another atmospheric river later this week, workers say they are prepared to lift everything two feet off the ground.