Things are not going swimmingly in the effort to relocate the tiny satellite post office in Portola Valley from John’s Valley Foods grocery store to either Portola Valley Hardware or Portola Cafe Deli.
The town informed the Postal Service weeks ago of the urgency of the matter and the willingness of the two retail candidates to find a place for the post office under their roofs. Planning Manager Leslie Lambert said she was expecting formal application forms from the Postal Service, but so far, nothing.
In an echo of 2001, when plans stalled in moving the post office from the now-departed pharmacy into John’s Valley Foods, Ms. Lambert said she is ready again to call Rep. Anna Eshoo to help get the ball rolling.
One complicating factor is that the town did not have enough advance notice, said Ms. Lambert. John Meany, the soon-to-be-retired owner of John’s Valley Foods, told Ms. Lambert in early May that he planned to sell the store by June 12.
A new location or owner requires a new application to the Postal Service to house and operate a post office and a federal background check, said Mr. Meany. Moving the post office was thought to be quicker than waiting for the grocery store’s new owner to approve of keeping it and then re-applying.
Could Portola Valley be without a post office? “I don’t know,” said Ms. Lambert. “It wouldn’t surprise me. I would hate to see that.”
If the town were a couple of months without a post office, mail delivery would be uninterrupted but residents would have no location to buy stamps or mail packages, said Ms. Lambert.
Stamps would be available for purchase from the letter carrier, said Ms. Lambert, and they can be bought online at shop.usps.com. A mailbox is located at Town Hall.
