From the City of Aberdeen:
Join the Aberdeen community on Saturday, May 6, 2017 at 10am for a rally to convince the United States Postal Service to make the Aberdeen Post Office accessible for all Aberdeen residents.
Aberdeen residents, disabled veterans, handicapped citizens, and disabled veterans will join to show the USPS the need for improved access to the Post Office at 30 W Bel Air Avenue. The rally will be concluded by 11am.
Guests are encouraged to bring a sign to display.
The only Post Office in Aberdeen, located at 30 W Bel Air Ave is inaccessible to handicapped people. Sometimes elderly or wheelchair-bound people can be seen waiting at the bottom of the steps for help that may or may not be forthcoming from staff in the USPS.
The USPS government affairs liaisons have maintained that the building is exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that the nearby Post Offices in Belcamp, Havre de Grace, and Churchville should be sufficient for handicapped Aberdeen users.
Records maintained by the City of Aberdeen show that in 2001, the USPS filed for a permit to build a ramp at 30 W Bel Air Avenue but never picked it up from City Hall.
Mayor Patrick McGrady said “In 2011 and then later in 2016, I offered, in writing, to build the ramp myself. The USPS then cited a regulation that prevents any “donation of physical improvements to our facilities.” The biggest shame of all is that this facility had a handicap-accessible elevator until some time in the 1990s. If anybody has photos of that ramp, please send them to me at patrick@patrickmcgrady.com or call me at 410.357.1234.”
The Aberdeen Mayor and City Council agree that USPS should make improvements to their facility in a way that will benefit all of Aberdeen and the surrounding area.
Senators Cardin and Van Hollen and Representative Ruppersberger have all signed a letter to the USPS to ask for consideration for our requests to this point, but the latest response dated April 19, 2017 indicates USPS has no plans to build a ramp or otherwise improve the Post Office at 30 W Bel Air Ave.
Please find a few pieces of supporting documentation from 2016, 2017, and the permit that was applied for in 2001 attached.
The Aberdeen post office is a disgrace. Personnel are demotivated, and it is rare to see anyone, staff or customer, smile while on the premises. This has to be a management issue, but the building has ceased to be fit for purpose.
Just a few miles away, at Havre de Grace, you are welcomed, service is great, you can share a joke with the staff, it is a completely different experience.
Aberdeen needs to be revamped, disabled access has to be provided, and “customer only” parking should be provided on W Bel Air avenue, outside the post office.
John Coles comments are Bullshit! The Aberdeen Post Office employees are always helpful, always smiling, always courteous.You must have white anger issues about waiting in line.Its always joy to visit the Aberdeen P.O. “Customer only parking” is a stupid idea. Aberdeen is a busy downtown and there is plenty of parking for everybody for two square blocks.
How the heck has a building housing a federal organization like the USPS get away without being handicap accessible period? Ridiculous this much effort has to be put forth in order for even a ramp to be installed. Pretty sure any handicap citizen would need only to file a simple lawsuit, then decide how many zeros they would like on their check and how they would like their name spelled on the brand new wheelchair ramp that would be built in their honor. That’s not how it works USPS, that’s not how any of this works!
Because it probably can not be done here. Just for the main steps, there is a 78″ rise to get to. At the ADA allowed slope of 4.76°, you need 78″ of ramp to make this work. Basicly you are asking the Federal Government for a new building. The new tenant would have to meet ADA guidelines, and can not make it work any better. So the building will sit empty or have to be torn down. I’m not sure Aberdeen downtown needs more empty space, at the rate that space is already available. The traffic the PO brings in it good for the small businesses around it.
Install a lift.
Well, since the steps are outside the building, they would have to enclose the steps, knock out the wall next to the steps and then build a lift. So you are in for a $400k facelift. Because the lift has to be indoors.
Many handicap lifts are manufactured and designed to be for outside use. I have two friends who have them. One has a lift up to a deck and the other has a lift up to their front porch for front door entry.
I believe everyone here is not old enough to remember, but the Aberdeen Post office was built WAAY, before handicap accessible buildings were mandatory. I’m not saying it is proper, I am saying this was built long ago. To that end, I am sure it can be retro fitted to make it accessible. Let’ snot put blame on anyone here.
While its true that the Aberdeen Post Office was built way before handicap accessible buildings were mandatory, it is also true that the requirement for handicap access has been around for a long time. The Post Office can certainly be retro fitted to make it accessible and it is a shame that has not already been accomplished long ago.
Maybe they should move to a new modern and larger building? There’s a big brick one that’s been chilling next to Target for quite a few years now, empty.
Maybe handicapped people can go to a different post office. They have no problem getting to the casinos.
To “Yeah right”;
People who go to casinos want to go there. People who go to Post Offices HAVE to go there. Big difference.
Anyway, don’t casinos have door people who are there to assist people going into the casinos? Last time I looked, there wasn’t a doorperson at the Aberdeen post office. If you need help getting into the place, you must wait for some poor overworked, underpaid civil servant to come to your aid.
Mr. LOL/ Merritt Office Bldg by Target
Maybe the Mayor of Aberdeen can buy this building from Merritt Corporation? Good idea? McGrady is a lot of talk with little follow up! His solution to the homeless in Aberdeen was to fine them $50 daily for living in tents.
Now he wants to solve the handicapped accessible problem with a rally in front of the Post Office on a busy Saturday! Is this the proper way an elected Mayor solves a complex important problem or is this a public relations stunt for an unpopular elected public official? People are saying!
We went there for passports a few years ago with one family member in a wheelchair. We were directed through the back parking lot, up the ramp where the mail carts go, through the sorting facility, and finally into the public area. Aside from the interesting tour, we were astonished that a USPS facility would be so antiquated and in violation of the ADA. The ramp is needed.
As a handicapped American, I am shocked, angry and confused when I discover I am unable to complete my business because there is a stairway blocking my way when I NEED to enter a building or other facility.
I could not believe my eyes when I tried to enter the Aberdump post office. There just isn’t any way to navigate a set of stairs with a walker let alone a wheelchair. I have tried to drag myself and my walker up a flight of stairs using only a hand rail. It is not a pretty sight and trying to go down a flight of stairs with a walker is truly frightening to experience.
Lets face it; if you are using a walker or are in a wheelchair, it is obvious you have mobility problems , and you need the help of a strong individual if you must negotiate a set of stairs to reach your destination. This limits a handicapped person’s independence. Stairs only makes a difficult situation worse.
I cannot believe the good citizens of Aberdeen and Harford County have offered to erect a ramp at no cost to the government (in light of the tight money situation), and the Post Office has declined their offer.
I don’t care if the building is old and classified as an antique. If they cannot upgrade their facilities to allow access by ALL Americans, then they should donate the building to the Historical Society and move to more modern and easily accessible facilities. As LOL says, there is a facility nearby that is available.
As for filing a lawsuit, if there is a layer out there willing to take my case, I’m willing to file that lawsuit “Is this real life” suggests.
I’m offended.
Referring to the town of Aberdeen as “Aberdump” is outrageous. That’s like calling Havre de Grace “Havre dis-Grace” or calling Bel Air “The Town That Killed Lincoln”.
. I urge the individual who suspiciously calls themselves “Miss Print” to apologize or suffer the inevitable consequences.
Mike Callahan,
You have my sincere apology. I was merely trying to emphasis the manner in which the Post Master of the Aberdeen post office was expressing his disregard for disabled Americans.
Aberdeen is not the same town it was in the ’70s when the term “Aberdump” referred to the deplorable conditions along Rt. 40. Driving down Rt. 40 now is a completely different experience. The transformation is remarkable and Aberdeen citizens have a justifiable right to be proud of their town.
Again I apologize to Mike and all the good people of Aberdeen.
The town of Aberdeen? Bro. I thought it was a city. All American City.
I think we need another apology! This aint no two horse town!
Maybe you should host another big rally at the University Center.
Or at least, bullshit people on here about it.
No 420 rally was ever planned . It was a sarcastic joke for fools like you! See you at the Post Off Rally Mayor McGrady. See everybody else at Cinco De Mayo Rally Friday!