Hamtramck's post office will not close

Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News

Hamtramck -- The Detroit postmaster has decided to keep the Hamtramck post office open after initially looking to close the branch.

In a Tuesday letter, Postmaster Lloyd E. Wesley Jr. informed the Committee to Save the Hamtramck Post Office that the branch on Caniff, east of Jos. Campau, will remain open.

A rally was to be held Saturday morning by concerned patrons to ensure the branch remained open, but it was canceled after Wesley issued the letter.

Postal officials were looking to close or consolidate branches because people are not using them as much as in the past, Wesley said in the letter. But the stability of the Hamtramck branch warranted keeping it open, Wesley wrote.

"The (United States) Postal Service has done a thorough investigation of the proposal to consolidate the Hamtramck branch, and we have determined it would not be in the best interest to pursue this matter further," Wesley wrote.

Most of the branch's customers walk to it, and it does a brisk business, said Russ Gordon, chairman of the committee that was fighting to keep the branch open.

"It made sense," to keep the branch open, Gordon said Saturday.

"We are not going to let the postal service close this great community resource," Gordon said. "Thousands of Hamtramckans rely on it for their postal needs. Many are immigrants who do not have the resources to travel out of town to another post office."

sesparza@detnews.com (313) 222-2320