Federal Building Project Requires Proper Approach

Letter to the Editor of the Tribune Star
Date: January 5, 2003

Save The Architecturally Magnificent Postal Station Downtown (STAMPS Downtown) first organized in 1997 when the U.S. Postal Service announced plans to move out of Terre Haute's post office and Federal Building at Seventh and Cherry streets.

While Sen. Evan Bayh's recent proposal to donate the local landmark to Indiana State University appears to solve some of the problems the building faces, it also raises a number of issues that should be addressed before the deal is closed.

Our main concern is that the five years of consensus built through STAMPS Downtown not be forgotten as we work with Sen. Bayh to help bring ISU's School of Business into the post office and Federal Building.

To recap and update our major points:

1. Downtown postal box and window service should remain in the historic ground-floor lobby area that it has occupied since the building opened in 1935. This was the rallying cry of STAMPS Downtown.

2. Protection, in the form of covenants or easements must be secured now to ensure that the building's main facades, ground floor hallway and federal courtroom are not significantly altered by ISU. The university should also be required to sell the building when it is no longer needed, not tear it down. Although President Benjamin seems to understand the importance of protecting local landmarks, ISU's track record on historic preservation demands these measures.

3. If we are going to move hundreds of students, faculty and staff from a remote edge of ISU's campus to the busy intersection of Seventh and Cherry, then construction of the Cherry Street Parking Garage needs to get under way. The best answer would be that the new garage will open before the post office and Federal Building moves into ISU hands. Inadequate parking at Seventh and Cherry was cited as a big problem by the Postal Service; without the new garage, that problem will only get worse.

It is disappointing to see the IRS and Social Security offices move elsewhere in the neighborhood, since STAMPS Downtown members agreed years ago to pursue a strategy of steering all federal offices in Terre Haute back into the post office and Federal Building. Federal authorities have already made those decisions, and it is valid to ask where the federal courts, FBI and other offices still at Seventh and Cherry will end up.

However, we must stay focused on the bigger picture: Sen. Bayh and ISU have presented Terre Haute with a proposal that could have a very positive effect on the long-term survival of the post office and Federal Building. That survival, coupled with maintaining downtown post office box and window service in the space that was designed for it, is what the members of STAMPS Downtown have worked to ensure.

We are fortunate to have Sen. Bayh's leadership as we begin a new chapter in the fight for the future of Terre Haute's post office and Federal Building.

Congressmen Ed Pease and Brian Kerns, as well as Sens. Lugar and Bayh, have all played important roles in helping the voices of Terre Haute citizens who care about this issue to be heard in Washington, D.C. We look forward to seeing the above points get addressed, and continuing to work with our neighbors and representatives to Save The Architecturally Magnificent Postal Station Downtown.

This letter, presented by the four signers below, was written on behalf of the STAMPS Downtown organization and signed by 18 individuals.

-- Tommy Kleckner, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana

-- Cliff Lambert, Terre Haute City Council member

-- Todd Nation, Downtown Terre Haute Inc.

-- Ben Orman, Terre Haute Landmarks Inc.