It was established in 1888.
It will close Oct. 24.
People in Cortez depend on the services provided at the post office near their homes and businesses, and home delivery hasn’t been an option.
“We haven’t even been given a choice,” Jane von Hahmann of Cortez said about the closing of the U.S. Post Office at 12112 44th Ave. W., which has served the community for over a century.
A notice posted Oct. 8 on the door of the facility stated, “Due to circumstances beyond our control, this office will be closing Oct. 24. We will do everything we can to make the process a smooth transition.”
About 1,000 people will be impacted by the closure, with post office boxes relocated to the postal facility in Palma Sola, 115 75th St. W., Bradenton — 5.6 miles from Cortez.
“The problem is that I can’t go to the post office in my golf cart at 96-years old,” Mary Fulford Green, a life-long Cortez resident said Oct. 8. “We are lobbying for home mail delivery.”
And, she noted, home delivery is provided on the north side of Cortez Road, but not the south side.
“Now we are all going to be facing traffic that will take us an hour each way to get our mail during high season,” von Hahmann said. “Why were we given less than three weeks notice that this was going to happen? It’s just wrong that we’re paying that price.”
Von Hahmann is a former county commissioner and serves on the board of the nonprofit Florida Institute for Saltwater Fishing. She also is fighting to halt the Florida Department of Transportation plans to build a megabridge replacement for the Cortez Bridge.
Cortez resident and retired charter fishing guide Capt. James “Zach” Zacharias said Oct. 8 he also feels jilted by the lack of notice.
“Usually when something like this happens they give you a little more heads-up than a few weeks,” Zacharias said. “It seems to be a sign of the times.”
Zacharias also supported home delivery for the community. “Residents on the north side of Cortez Road get home delivery. Why not us?” he asked.
Von Hahmann reached out to Florida District-16 Congressman Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, for answers on the postal facility closure and, like The Islander, awaits a reply as of press time Oct. 11.
She also researched and found regulations based on federal law and the USPS’s rules determine a process that entails at least 120 days notice for the closure, with a 60-day comment period. The public then has 30 days to appeal the decision.
Meanwhile, John Banyas, owner of the strip mall where the post office is located, Cortez Bait and Seafood, Taylor Boatworks and Swordfish Grill as well as other businesses in Cortez, posted his own notice on the window at the center.
“I want everyone to know that I have worked hard to keep the post office in our village. I want them to stay here just as much as every else does for all of my family and friends.
“I own businesses in the village and I have my family in the village … the whole process has been difficult with USPS and, in the end, it was their decision to walk away from this village and all its people after all these years — not mine.”
Banyas also stated in his letter that he was “taken back” by the posted notice at the post office claiming the “circumstances were out of their control.”
“It was very much within their control,” he said.
No representatives of the U.S. Postal Service at the Cortez or Palma Sola offices responded for comment as of Oct. 11.
Stephen Hardin, U.S. Postal Service district manager, also did not reply for comment as of Oct. 11.
Post office options?
The U.S. Postal Office in Bradenton Beach, 116 Bridge St., is approximately 1.3 miles from the Cortez post office. A post office in Coral Way Plaza, 7824 Cortez Road W., is 3 miles from the Cortez Post Office.
The Palma Sola post office, 115 75th St. W., Bradenton, is 5.6 miles from the Cortez post office.