USPS post – City and state officials are challenging USPS closure plans in Allston, Watertown, and Dorchester, alleging a broader campaign toward privatization.
Outside the shuttered Allston post office on Harvard Avenue, the message from local leaders was simple and blunt: “This is unacceptable.”
Standing together under the weight of a years-long struggle, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. and city councilors from across the region gathered Monday to confront a wave of proposed closures threatening their neighborhoods. The rally highlighted an escalating battle against the United States Postal Service. which has moved in recent months to permanently or temporarily shutter branches in Allston. Watertown. and Dorchester.
For the residents of Allston, the struggle is not new. The branch at 47 Harvard Ave. has been closed for “structural repairs” since December 2019. Since then, the Brighton branch on Washington Street has served all 87,000 residents of both neighborhoods. Despite a 2023 proposal by Eden Properties to include the post office in a 170-unit multi-use complex. the USPS backed out of the lease in April 2026. In September, the agency formally proposed making the closure permanent.
“A post office is not a luxury. It is an essential piece of our infrastructure,” said City Council President Liz Breadon. “USPS, honor the commitment that you’ve made to our neighborhood and re-establish the Allston Post Office.”
Leaders at the rally described a pattern of service erosion stretching northwest into Watertown. where a Main Street branch was razed in January 2024. Although it was initially slated for a two-year shutdown. the city received a “discontinuance feasibility study” from the USPS this past August. Watertown Council President Mark Sideris vowed to travel to Washington. D.C. to press the postmaster general directly. questioning why his community was being singled out.
This tension reached Dorchester on Sept. 30, when the USPS announced the temporary closure of the Field’s Corner branch without providing a timeline for reopening. For Councilman John FitzGerald, these decisions are pieces of a larger puzzle. “It’s straight out of that playbook where they’re dismantling it piece by piece,” FitzGerald said. “We can’t let that happen.”.
Pressley framed the closures as a coordinated push toward privatization, a policy goal introduced during the Trump administration’s first term. While a 2018 White House report suggested preparing the USPS for conversion into a private corporation. reports from 2024 indicated President Trump maintained a desire to see that transition through. Though current Postmaster General David Steiner. who took office in January 2025. has publicly opposed privatization. the actions in Massachusetts have left local leaders skeptical of the administration’s long-term intentions.
“The services provided by USPS are a public good and should not be left to billionaires and for-profit private corporations to play games with,” Pressley said.
The threat of litigation looms over the standoff. Mayor Wu vowed to “legally and formally” contest the closures, a move that follows a lawsuit she and the city filed on Sept. 28 against the Trump administration regarding the withdrawal of a $20 million grant for Roxbury street infrastructure.
Federal and state lawmakers. including Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren. alongside Representatives Katherine Clark and Stephen Lynch. have joined Pressley in a formal letter to Steiner. They urged the agency to cease its campaign in Massachusetts. warning of the negative impacts on small businesses. voters. and residents relying on essential medication. With an Oct. 11 deadline for public comments. advocates are pointing to the success in Mission Hill—where community intervention recently saved a branch from closing—as evidence that the tide can still be turned.
USPS Boston Allston Ayanna Pressley Michelle Wu post office closure privatization