Keep Cape's post office where it is

To the editor:

The current Cape Girardeau post office location on Frederick Street is most appropriate. It is convenient to university students who do not have cars, handicapped people and lower-income residents who do not drive, as well as scores of federal, state, county and city offices, not to mention dozens of businesses that depend upon it.

I'm not saying that we don't need a satellite post office on the west side of town. But moving the post office several miles away from its Frederick Street location would effectively deny postal accesses to the very people who need it most. These folks usually do not have e-mail or cell phones or access to public transportation. We should not add another burden to less advantaged citizens. On the other hand, businesses located on the west side of town have ample resources and knew where the post office was located when they chose to set up shop where they did.

In my travels I have noticed that post offices are commonly located in historic parts of cities, where the heart and soul of a city reside. Think of Sante Fe, New Orleans, San Francisco, Savannah, Lexington, Vicksburg, Nashville, and Washington, D.C. Would you visit these cities if they didn't have historic areas? Cape has a lovely historic district, and our federal, state, county and city offices wisely chose to locate there. I'm glad the post office did too.

MARY ANN ROBERTSON, Jackson