Thanks to Our Community Cherrybell Post Office is Still Open!

By Vice Mayor Richard Fimbres – Ward 5

The Cherrybell Post Office community and business survey ended on June 30, and I am proud to announce that there were 1,759 responses from people and businesses from Tucson, Green Valley, Oro Valley, Sahuarita, Nogales, Bisbee and points across Southern Arizona. I want to thank everyone who filled out the survey.
The survey received an overwhelming response in the community from over 1,700 Southern Arizona residents, of which the vast majority of participants –84% of individuals, 86% of businesses— reported mail service delays.
I also want to thank the respective business chambers of commerce, Arizona Bilingual Newspaper, Felipe Garcia of Visit Tucson, media outlets who covered the survey, the City of Tucson IGR office, the City Manager’s Office PIO Team, my Chief of Staff, Mark Kerr and last but not least, Tracy Tucker and Bracy Tucker Brown and Valanzano who put together the survey online, tracked the number of surveys completed and are compiling the results.
Mayor Rothschild will be presenting the results to the Arizona Congressional Delegation, as well as U.S. Postal Service officials during his trip to Washington D.C. I want to thank Congressman Raul Grijalva and Congresswoman Martha McSally for their work on this issue, as well as the following members of the Arizona Congressional Delegation: Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, Congressman Matt Salmon, Congressman Ruben Gallego, Congressman Trent Franks and Congressman Ruben Gallego who are also working on this important issue for Southern Arizona.
I also want to express my appreciation to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, for his letter to the Postmaster General asking her not to close the Cherrybell Postal Office, Processing and Distribution Center.
In his letter, Governor Ducey called Cherrybell an “economic key” for Southern Arizona. Governor Ducey’s Southern Arizona Director, Juan Ciscomani, played a key role in getting this letter drafted and signed, for which I want to say thank you.
I also want to thank State Senator Andrea Dalessandro, who also got the Arizona Legislature on record to oppose the closure of Southern Arizona’s post office and processing center through her bill, HCM 2007. Democrats and Republicans supported her measure.
The effort to save the Cherrybell Post Office, Processing and Distribution Center has support from both sides of the aisle and all sides of our community, as the survey numbers shown.
Currently Cherrybell is now on the “to be determined list.” So our efforts are succeeding. Cherrybell had been scheduled to close in 2011 but thanks to community, business and elected officials speaking out, it is still open. This fight is far from over. We will continue until we prevail and Cherrybell remains open and we get our Tucson postmark back.