PORT TOWNSEND – For disabled Port Townsend resident Bonnie Bolster, being served at the rear loading dock of Port Townsend’s post office is like being forced to ride in the back of the bus.
It’s a civil rights issue, she says, and she’s not going to take it anymore.
Bolster, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and must use a walker to get around, is spearheading an effort called, PT Coalition for Full & Equal Postal Service.
Bolster – and others in her MS support group and an advocate group, Disabled Awareness Starts Here!, or DASH – plan to stage a protest at the post office entrances, and gather signatures for a petition on Friday.
Disabled people such as Bolster cannot climb the post office’s steep concrete stairs that front Harrison Street on the north end and Van Buren on the south end, she said.
The post office at 1322 Washington St., is located inside the former U.S. Customs Building, built in 1893, which has a basement and three stories, part of which are used as private office space.
After calling the U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division recently, Bolster said she learned she could get advice from civil rights experts.
“I would like to talk to a lawyer who’s an expert, but I can’t pay for it,” said Bolster, who was stricken with MS in 1991 and has been out of work since 2000.
“Please, dear Postmistress, let me in,” Bolster pleaded in a July 30 letter to Cindy Bryant, who runs Port Townsend’s post office.
In July, the Swain’s Outdoors store on Water Street closed a postal contract station that was accessible to the disabled.
Ernie Swanson, spokesman for the U.S. Postal District in Seattle, said the agency is seeking proposals from prospective new contractors for another postal station in Port Townsend.
“If one or more of what we consider to be valid offers is there, we will follow up and award a contract,” he said.
Bolster has written state Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam; Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam; U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Freeland; U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Seattle; and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair.
Letters also went to the Port Townsend City Council and the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce.
Kessler’s office notified Dicks’ office in Washington, D.C., about post office access in Port Townsend.
“We made some efforts to accelerate the contract,” George Behan, Dicks’ chief of staff, said on Wednesday.
Dicks’ staff contacted the U.S. Postal Service in Washington, D.C., and the General Services Administration, he said.
“Another location for a substation in the downtown area is being sought,” Behan said.
“They believe it can be completed very soon.”
Behan said that, under federal law, if the building housing the Port Townsend post office were to be remodeled, then accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act, such as ramps and an elevator, would be required.
Swanson said an engineer has been contracted to inspect the building.
“The initial view is, there is not a feasible way to put in a ramp for wheelchair access,” Swanson said.
“We’re still trying, with other possibilities, but at this time, there is nothing concrete to go on,” he said.
“We’re dealing with a tough set of circumstances.”
Disabled residents will continue to have to work with the Port Townsend postmaster to conduct business at the back loading dock, he said.
That won’t please Bolster.
She said she has stood outside of the loading dock for a half-hour while cars rolled by her to the drive-through mail boxes “because no one was told to come out to take my money and give me a receipt.”
She believes a ramp could be installed at minimal cost to the stairway fronting Van Buren.
Swanson said the Postal Service has asked the state Department of Archaeological and Historical Preservation for a response on the matter.
“So at this point, it’s just wait and see,” he said.
Allyson Brooks, State Historic Preservation officer, was unavailable for comment on Wednesday.
