Petitions are circulating in Brookline to save what some residents view as a major neighborhood asset—the post office.

When talks of closing post office branches began last summer, the post office branch on Brookline Boulevard was on the list.

Although some residents at Monday’s South Pittsburgh Development Corporation meeting said they’d heard from post office employees that the office would remain open, others said rumors are circulating that the location will close in May.

SPDC member Pamela Grabowski said she and others have been circulating a petition since December to save the post office. Until they have straight answers about whether or not it will close, they’re working to save the branch for the people who need it.

“I don’t drive,” Grabowski said. “Yes, I could walk to Dormont or take buses downtown. But the fact is, there are more and more people like me. The baby boomer generation is getting older. We’re not driving as much.”

Grabowski has another issue she didn’t see coming. She is the manager of The Brookline, the neighborhood’s newsletter, which currently has a post office box address at the post office. The P.O. box is used for all correspondence regarding the publication.

Grabowski said that when talks of closings began, she asked at the post office whether mail sent to the P.O. box address would be forwarded to her home address, and was told that it would. But as more rumors circulate, others have received different information, she said.

If mail isn’t forwarded from the P.O. box address, she would have to use her home address as the mailing address for the newsletter, and for all correspondence regarding that publication. It’s not the worst thing in the world, she said, but her home isn’t an office and her address would no longer be private.

She said that potential situation is just another example of why post offices are still necessary.

“Sure, I can do some of this stuff online, but we still need to get mail,” Grabowski said. “We still need to have a storefront to go to.”

Petitions are available at Cannon Coffee and Kribel’s Bakery, both on Brookline Boulevard. There also is a petition at the post office, Grabowski said.

Check back with Dormont-Brookline Patch for updates on this issue.