edison_post_office_web.jpgResidents worried about the imminent closure of the Edison post office can rest easy for the moment but the facility is still on a list of 162 nationwide that may be closed as the U.S. Postal Service deals with multi-billion-dollar losses.

If the facility on Northwest 62nd Street between Northwest Seventh and Eighth avenues does close, residents without cars would have to travel by bus and foot to the Buena Vista or Little River post offices.

Postal officials say they must close or consolidate facilities to deal with persistent big operating losses — about $6 billion for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 — explaining that people now do much of their USPS business online or through alternate channels.

“Viewed from any angle, our financial picture is challenging,” said Debbie J. Fetterly, a USPS representative based in Pembroke Pines.

Postal officials are studying facilities on the list in groups of 25, Fetterly said, but when Edison will be scrutinized is not clear.

The possibility that the Edison facility might close emerged nearly two years ago, when the Postal Service published a list of some 3,600 facilities that could be closed or consolidated that has now been winnowed down to 162.

They also point to the continuing economic downturn and the prevalent use of e-mail for communications that once were delivered to mail boxes.

The Postal Regulatory  Commission recently denied a request to raise postage rates, saying the USPS’ financial problems are structural and not caused by the recession.

The Liberty City Link staff may be reached at 305-919-5677 or neil.reisner@fiu.edu.