Rolling Meadows tries to get post office to come back
Nearly six years after the Rolling Meadows post office closed, residents and local officials are trying to get it back.
Mayor Len Prejna is working with the offices of U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and Peter Roskam of Wheaton to lobby U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan. Dave Whitney, a community volunteer and member of the city's planning and zoning commission, is also coordinating a petition drive to try to persuade postal service officials to reopen a local branch.
The post office at 3266 Kirchoff Road closed in May 2012 because of a lease dispute between the shopping center owner and the postal service. Residents and businesses initiated an unsuccessful letter-writing campaign when the closure of the old postal branch was imminent.
The branch had been in town for nearly five decades.
"It is an economic driving force for a city to have a post office in it," Prejna said.
The mayor said residents have complained of long lines at post offices in Arlington Heights and Palatine - the nearest locations. Though not an official branch, full postal retail services are available at the Meijer store on the south side of Rolling Meadows.
Prejna got the endorsement of the city council last week to draft formal letters on the city's behalf to the postmaster general, local congressional representatives, and U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin of Springfield and Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates.
The mayor acknowledged it would be "an uphill battle," but said he hopes public pressure during an election year will help.