Postal Facilitiies: Platforms for Community Resilience

POSTAL FACILITIES Platforms for Community Resilience A White Paper

Project Lead

Andrew Butcher, Executive Fellow The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy Metro 21 Smart Cities Institute

Research Assistants

Sai Prateek Narayan (MUD ‘19), Lindsay Poss (MSPPM ‘18)

TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW Problem Statement

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Background and Context

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Place Matters: The Pittsburgh Context

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Approach and Process

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Phases of the effort include:

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Methodology to Identify Priority Places

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Methodology to Identify Complimentary Services

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KEY QUESTIONS AND FINDINGS

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Next Steps Include

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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APPENDICES

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ABSTRACT The key to optimizing the location and functionality of existing postal facilities to increase community resilience is to partner with the network of approximately 24,000 privately owned postal facilities.

Targeting multi-tenant buildings in zip codes with high poverty indicators, declining population, and/or low broadband capacity yield priority locations for identifying facilities at risk of suspension or permanent discontinuation. Discontinuation of postal facilities in vulnerable places can have a disproportionately negative effect on a community. Proactively engaging property owners, engaging and assessing community assets, and assembling a menu of complimentary services could mitigate facility discontinuation and unnecessary costs for both USPS and communities. Such an approach also will yield new opportunities to evaluate and deploy a range of smart and connected technologies utilizing existing postal infrastructure as well as new funding and financing sources to address both place-based and postal priorities. Based upon the recommendations and findings of this report a pilot project will launch in Pittsburgh in 2019 as a collaboration between Postal facility owners and local community based organizations. The pilot project will serve as the subject of an interdisciplinary course at Carnegie Mellon University between the Heinz College, The School of Architecture and the School of Design.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Primary findings and assessment include:

The objective of this investigation was to establish a conceptual framework and preliminary recommendations for where and how USPS facilities can incorporate a series of programmatic and physical modifications to address community needs in vulnerable places - without disrupting core postal services. In doing so, this assessment seeks to inform how The City of Pittsburgh / Allegheny County can serve as test bed to integrate USPS facilities into the regional Resilience Strategy and couple with existing a place-based revitalization activities.

recommendations from this

1. A focused methodology to prioritize specific facility types in specific places - namely leased, multi-tenant facilities in communities with high levels of poverty indicators, population decline and/or low broadband coverage was developed to circumvent primary constraints posed by access to USPS facilities4. (See page 9).

2. A multi-criteria decision making model was developed to identify and inform augmented use of priority facilities and help evaluate and complementary strategies.(See Appendix A)

a. The key is not necessarily - “what interventions” to adapt facilities but “where” and with “whom”

The United States Postal Service (USPS) controls almost 35,000 facilities constituting over 271M square feet of real estate and is the only entity that services almost every home in every neighborhood almost every day. Despite its scale – USPS facilities are contracting and operations are radically modernizing in the face of evolving global commerce. Almost 70% of postal facilities (24,000) are privately owned by a diverse array of companies, individuals and partnerships. Many of those owners collaborate for various shared administrative services via the Association of United States Postal Lessors (AUSPL).

Consequently the USPS serves as a $1B/year renter. Due to a mandate to service all residents in every zip code1 there are hundreds if not thousands of postal facilities that remain operational at limited hours. Simultaneously the agency has an under performing property discontinuation procedure and a backlog of facilities suspended from operation - yet not officially discontinued2. As of Dec. 2017 there are over 600 facilities in a state of suspension and/ or discontinuation3. Thousands more facilities operate with unknown amounts of underutilized space, under performing buildings, and untapped connectivity to the billions of annual visitors.

3. Multiple mechanisms to increase connectivity and knowledge between “place-based” experts and “postal domain experts.” Specific opportunities include engagement of local Postal Customer Councils, alignment with USPS workforce development efforts, and the development of a focused strategy to increase knowledge and shared priorities between the “postal” and “place-based” domains, and 4. A strategy to pilot concepts and partnerships at a former postal facility in Pittsburgh in line with both neighborhood development priorities and the City’s Smart and Resilient Strategies.

Summary of USPS universal service requirement: https://about.usps.com/universal-postal-service/usps-uso-executive-summary.txt https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/us-postal-service-emergency-suspension-process 3 2016 USPS Annual Compliance Review 4 One of USPS’s major responsibilities is to ensure these facilities are as safe as they can be, to protect the mail, the employees who work there, and the customers who visit every day. https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/facility-security-review 1 2

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INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW The fundamental purpose of this paper is to distill a process and framework for how postal facilities can be more integrated into a community resilience strategy to both benefit communities as well as support and complement USPS operations. The intent is that this paper, underlying research and feasibility assessment yield a viable strategy to inform future postal policy; partnerships; and economic development investments.

facilities located around the country - many of which are embedded in vulnerable places - the opportunity to consider complimentary services for USPS facilities is compelling - especially in the context of how to enable maximum community self-sufficiency and mitigate long term strains or short term shocks - ie; community resilience5.

At the time of producing this study there are tectonic shifts impacting the US Postal Service including a Presidential Task Force on The Postal System; pending approvals for new members to the Board of Governors; updated Postal reform legislation addressing financial obligations, product offerings, and labor contracts - not to mention a rapidly evolving global marketplace defined by increasing package and parcel delivery and decreased mail and letter volume.

There is currently no mechanism to effectively integrate USPS facilities and locations into place-based development.

Consequently, hundreds of Postal properties linger in a state of potential and/or permanent suspension - and communities struggle to incorporate critically located property and infrastructure into a more diverse and functional use. How can USPS facilities - an unrivaled platform - be leveraged to provide communities with what they need to thrive? Smart and resilient communities have access to information, local sources of energy and food and the ability to foster increased social connection6.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Starting in 2018 The Heinz College of Public Policy and Information Systems and The Metro21 Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University initiated a dedicated feasibility assessment to explore this linkage and potential opportunity lead by Executive Fellow Andrew Butcher (Heinz ‘007) and funded in part by The Buhl and Hillman Foundation via Metro21. The scope of the effort is to evaluate how (and where) postal facilities and networks can be adapted to increase community resilience. Even further we seek to outline a pilot strategy utilizing the City of Pittsburgh as a living lab to leverage the City’s Resilience Plan and robust community development system to apply the range of technological expertise brimming from Carnegie Mellon University.

Despite that physical presence of the USPS – there is little integration and linkage of postal facilities and local government or community based efforts. Even more surprising is how few communities seek to engage the postal service to align with local real estate, economic development or even public health initiatives. Perhaps the only exception is when a post office is threatened to close or scale back hours.

While the question of diversification of USPS activities is not a new or uncontroversial one - the question of how to integrate complementary services that leverage physical infrastructure without impacting core USPS services - while generating new sources of revenue for the agency and new benefits for communities is bold and innovative. In considering this opportunity there are multiple critical contextual factors to consider outlined below. As a $69.9 Billion organization The USPS is at the epicenter of multi-trillion dollar logistics, supply chain and transportation sectors7.

This project derives from the awe and admiration of The United States Postal Service and an appreciation for how to leverage community assets. The driving question seeks to understand where and how can the ubiquity and scale of the US Postal Service’s physical facilities and distribution network be aligned with - and even compliment the needs of at risk and vulnerable communities? With over 35,000

Community Resilience Defined: https://www.rand.org/topics/community-resilience.html Characteristics of Resilient Cities: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies + Arup International: http://www.ifrc.org/PageFiles/96986/Final_Characteristics_ Report.pdf 7 USPS 2017 Annual Report: https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2017/pr17_069.htm 5 6

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BACKGROUND & CONTEXT

Consequently there are numerous volumes of studies, research, and analysis of the USPS. For the purposes of this paper a nominal snapshot of relevant Postal policy, physical infrastructure, economics and human capital is surveyed to provide adequate context for the identified purpose.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is so ubiquitous it is almost invisible. As one of the largest independent agencies of the Federal Government the utility and function of the USPS can’t be emphasized enough. Explicitly authorized by the US Constitution to facilitate interstate communication, commerce and connectivity - the United States Postal Service USPS has evolved structurally, functionally, and operationally at the frontier of global macroeconomic trends. As a $69.9 Billion organization it is at the epicenter of multi-trillion dollar logistics, supply chain and transportation sectors. Controlling almost 35,000 facilities with over 300,000 vehicles, it is the only entity that services every home in every neighborhood almost every day. In 2016 USPS facilities hosted over a billion unique visitors8.

1. The functional business (and mandate) of the Postal Service is to deliver goods and information (not necessarily to address the social, physical and economic well being of communities.)

2. The sanctity and security of the mail is of utmost importance.

3. There is little historical precedent for postal facilities to be incorporated into any level of community economic development and/or place-making agenda.

4. USPS operates out of approximately 35,000 facilities but only own approximately 9,000 5. Legislative parameters significantly constrain what USPS can do while financial obligations require extremely efficient operations.

6. By definition - at risk or vulnerable communities may not have the resources and/or capacity to engage with USPS and/or facility property owners.

7. Macro-economic trends and technological advances are rapidly disrupting the consumer goods, logistics, and mail industry.

Despite that scale – USPS facilities are contracting and operations are radically modernizing in the face of evolving global commerce. Even more stark is the minimal coordination and linkage the postal system has with local government and communities. Equally surprising is how few communities or local governments seek to engage the postal service to align with local real estate, economic development or even public health initiatives.

Amidst rapid gentrification of urban areas; concerns of displacement of vulnerable populations; changing climate conditions and increasingly isolated rural areas combined with the accelerated evolution of the ecommerce; parcel and logistics sectors – the disconnect between postal services and local places leaves significant opportunity on the table.

The United States Postal Service represents an unrivaled platform that could be leveraged to provide communities with what they need in the form of not just access to information, but even energy, food, social connection, and access to health services – all while not disrupting the fundamental charge of the postal service to “bind the nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people”9.

To effectively address these factors represents a hugely complex and nuanced effort requiring a combination of public, private partnerships; evidence based policy modification; utilization of best practices in engaging communities; smart technological applications; and no small amount of entrepreneurial gumption. Many solutions, strategies and advances have been made by USPS - and are actively underway especially as it pertains to optimizing the performance of the agency and its services. Yet identifying solutions that address both the needs of communities and the postal system is the scope and function of this inquiry.

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USPS Office of Inspector General Audit Report: Billions Served: https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/billions-served-foot-traffic-post-office USPS Mission: https://about.usps.com/strategic-planning/cs01/c4a-2.htm

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“The OnePgh Resilience Strategy aims to ensure improved coordination among government and non-government organizations, better budgeting and capital coordination city-wide, adoption of resilience practices in government, institutions, organizations, neighborhoods, etc, and increased resident engagement and empowerment”12.

Due to its incredibly connected, consistent, and reliable delivery service to all U.S. households, in addition to the large-scale reach and economic impact of facilities and delivery networks, the USPS offers multiple social benefits.

Free check-ins on the elderly and delivery of medicine provide safety for the elderly, mail carriers act as a version of the neighborhood watch/response team in natural disasters, and recycling centers aid environmental efforts. Due to the variety of social benefits it provides, it is clear that the postal service has a strong significance in communities10.

Additionally, due to the City’s rich portfolio of unique and diverse neighborhoods - which are often geographically isolated due to topography as well as natural and built infrastructure - Pittsburgh has multiple place-based initiatives seeking to alleviate systemic disinvestment, poverty, and increase community health and prosperity in targeted communities. Consequently, there are some best in-class community resilience initiatives that seek to concentrate resources, partnerships and interventions to elevate the voice and capacity of targeted residents and hyper local stakeholders. One of the most sophisticated and advanced efforts is the One Northside Initiative wherein the goal is simply to improve the 18 neighborhoods on the Northside of Pittsburgh. In doing so a multi-year planning and engagement process contributed to the development of a framework that separates issues into five categories, or pillars. The Five Pillars represent larger systemic issues that the communities face. By separating these issues into pillars and further specifying small scale problems, actionable plans can be implemented that improve the community as a whole13. Linkages between the Northside neighborhoods and USPS are outlined more specifically in Appendix G.

Using existing infrastructure to focus on initiatives designed to help people offers the opportunity to improve vulnerable communities while simultaneously generating traffic that will keep post offices operational. The postal service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to fund its operations.

Implementing partnerships and exploring new opportunities helps the community further realize the benefits of the Postal Service in capacities other than the ones described above, creating new ways generate revenue and keep facilities operational11.

PLACE MATTERS: THE PITTSBURGH CONTEXT Given that the scope of this assessment seeks to identify the Postal facilities in vulnerable places - the City of Pittsburgh makes for the ideal backdrop to hone assumptions and test concepts. In 2017 The City of Pittsburgh officially launched the OnePGH initiative fusing the objectives and strategy from both Resilience and Smart City planning. A primary focus of the initiative is to coordinate the deployment of funding, resources, and city improvements towards an inclusive and equitable development strategy. Balancing goals of smarth growth with opportunity creation for all residents - especially minorities and the poor - OnePGH is informed by the P4 framework - People, Place, Planet and Performance setting the overarching values and principles for development, partnerships, process and outcomes.

Urban Institute, 2011: Social and Commercial Benefits of Postal Services: https://www.urban.org/research/publication/studies-social-and-commercial-benefits-postal-services-economiceffects-post-offices/view/full_report 11 Heinz College 2018 Systems Synthesis Report: “Adapting USPS Facilities and Infrastructure to support Community Resilience.”

12 OnePgh Strategy, Planning and Reports: http://pittsburghpa.gov/onepgh/index.html 13 One Northisde Case Study: http://neighborhoodallies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FINAL_OneNorthsideReport_July-2015.pdf 10

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APPROACH & PROCESS 4. Plan and production of a first of a kind Places and Postal Forum to engage stakeholders and bridge a knowledge divide between postal domain experts and place-based, economic development expertise. (See Appendix C)

- A preliminary visioning charrette was produced in April 2018 convening 16 postal system experts in collaboration with George Mason University. (See documentation in Appendix D)

Starting in January 2018 a multi-phased investigation effort kicked off with funding support from The Buhl Foundation and Metro21: Smart Cities Institute via funding from The Hillman Foundation.

Phases of the effort include: 1. Dedicated due diligence as a Systems Synthesis project conducted by Heinz College masters students in the Spring of 2018. (See Appendix B)

- The student team attended the 2018 PostalVision 2020 Conference to share ideas and present concepts.

5. The development of an interdisciplinary course between the Heinz College, The School of Architecture and The School of Design serving as an innovation lab to further hone concepts for facility repurposing with a particular focus on community commons and tactical urbanism. (See course overview in Appendix E)

2. Generation of a first of a kind strategy to distill a process and framework for how postal facilities can be more integrated into a community resilience strategy to inform future postal policy; partnerships; and economic development investments.

- Critical questions also include whether there is a correlation between population decline and postal facility suspensions and secondarily if there is a correlation between broadband internet access and suspended facilities.

- GIS Mapping and analysis of multiple different data set (locally, statewide, and nationally) was conducted to evaluate priority areas in context of suspended, leased postal facilities.

- A key outcome is the development of a decision making framework evaluating different facility types in different locations integrating different property interventions.

- Butcher was invited to share the strategy concept in with the Postal Innovation Platform’s 2018 Newsletter14.

3. Development of pilot project recommendations in Pittsburgh targeting different facility types in different locations.

- Butcher was invited to present the concept at the Smart Regions Conference - Smart Infrastructure Challenge.

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https://postal-innovation.epfl.ch/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/PI-Newsletter-2018-05.pdf

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METHODOLOGY TO IDENTIFY PRIORITY PLACES

Figure 2: Poverty level (generated by S. Narayan)

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Identifying underserved areas for potential postal facility adaptation requires an in-depth look at various data of the multiple neighborhoods of the city of Pittsburgh. While the initial analysis of these neighborhoods focused more on socio-economic indicators such as educational attainment, employment status, poverty margin, and single-parent households, the identification of environmental, crime and transportation hotspots would have to be done to further identify underserved areas through adaptation of postal facilities. Some of these indicators include15:

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Building from the overarching strategy of OnePGH - and utilizing the comprehensive framework for community empowerment employed through the One Northside Initiative the following approach was developed to hone and prioritize places and the postal facilities therein.

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Figure 2 shows the intensity of households that are living under the federal poverty line, broken down by block group, in the City of Pittsburgh. Areas that have a darker shade represent block groups with more households living below the federal poverty line. It can be seen that many of the Priority Postal Locations on the map do fall into or around high poverty areas, showing a strong link between vulnerable locations and Priority Postal Locations.

1. Rapid shifts in neighborhood population, 2. Historic environmental vulnerabilities, such as flooding and air pollution, 3. Proximity to transit-oriented development (TOD), 4. Proximity to food sources, thereby identifying food deserts, 5. Opioid hotspots, 6. Frequency of crime in neighborhoods, 7. Access to high speed Internet / Broadband coverage

Figure 3: Educational Attainment (generated by S. Narayan)

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Utilizing the mapping methodology outlined above - the following conveys the multi-layered approach to honing priority postal locations in the City of Pittsburgh.

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Figure 3 shows the intensity of block groups where residents have less than high school education, in the City of Pittsburgh.It can be seen that in contrast to having high poverty levels there are rather low amounts of people with less than a high school education, that are over the age of 25, in the City of Pittsburgh. There are block groups that are close to the California Kirkbride Branch and the Uptown branch that do have high levels of people without a high school education.

Heinz Systems Synthesis Project: Poverty: the number of households that are living below the federal poverty line in that block group. The federal poverty line is defined as an income of $25,100 per year or less for a family of 4. Educational Attainment: the number of people in each block group, 25 or older, who have less than a high school education. Employment Status: the number of people in that block group that are part of the workforce, willing and able to work, and are 16 or older but who remain unemployed.Police Incidents: the locations through the city where police had to intervene for various reasons.

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The consolidated 4 maps help determine the most vulnerable locations, broken down to block groups, in the city of Pittsburgh. Through this map below, we can determine the more underserved areas, thereby determining areas of opportunity in neighborhoods where postal facilities could be adapted to serve the communities they are situated in (highlighted in red).

Figure 4: Employment Status (generated by S. Narayan)

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When viewed through the lens of proximity to leased postal facilities (identified as black dots) and even further suspended or discontinued facilities ideal locations for interventions are revealed. In particular the former Homewood Station office (noted with an asterix in all maps) is a suspended leased facility that occupies approximately 32,000 sq. ft of internal space on an acre and a half of land. The facility was suspended in 2013 and is owned by Nationwide Postal Management (the largest private owner of postal real estate in the country.) The block groups surrounding the Homewood Brushton Station have high levels of poverty, high unemployment, and notable population loss over the last 30 years reflected through vacancy and abandonment rates. As a positive, the areas surrounding the branch do indicate that many people have received a high school level education.

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Figure 4 shows the intensity of unemployment for each block group in the City of Pittsburgh. As the color goes darker it means that more people age 16 and above or unemployed in the block group. Branches like the California-Kirkbride branch and the Corliss Branch are in and near block groups that have high unemployment.

Figure 5: Police Incidents in 2018 (generated by S. Narayan)

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Figure 6: Consolidated heat maps to determine underserved areas in the City of Pittsburgh region, determined by consolidating the previous 4 maps of Poverty, Educational Attainment, Unemployment Levels, and Police Incidents

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Pittsburgh Post Offices - Leased and Owned

Figure 5 shows the intensity of police incidents since the start of 2018 across the city of Pittsburgh. It can be observed that Pittsburgh’s North Side and the Central Business District have some of the greatest intensity of crime activity, as well as portions of Homewood and the South Side.

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METHODOLOGY TO IDENTIFY COMPLIMENTARY SERVICES Through an assessment of all primary postal facility types as well as various strategies through the overarching theme of community resilience (how to enable residents in vulnerable areas to have access to the resources that allow them to thrive in challenging conditions) a multi-criteria decision making matrix was developed in an attempt to determine the most viable strategy for each postal facility type incorporating the ease of different strategies and the potential impact. (See Appendix A)

KEY QUESTIONS & FINDINGS Question 1: Where are the priority places?

Mercer

The USPS operates out of almost 35,000 facilities. Almost all facilities owned by the agency (approximately 9000) are mission critical assets that are highly efficient and maintain the utmost security and safety protocols16. The postal service operates in a highly competitive logistics and delivery marketspace and must maintain focus on the sanctity of mail, the universal service obligation and coreservices17. This means that the almost 9,000 facilities owned

by USPS represent the most most challenging to evaluate interventions and partnerships for interventions.

Mahoning

Lawrence Butler Armstrong

Columbiana Beaver

Indiana

Hancock

Cambria

Jefferson

Blair

Allegheny

Westmoreland Brooke

Washington

Ohio

Bedford

Belmont

Somerset

Fayette Greene

Marshall Monroe

Monongalia

Wetzel Tyler

Marion

Allegany Garrett Preston

Harrison

Fig. 8: Leased and Owned Facilities in the Power of 32 Region.

Esri, HERE, Garmin, Š OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS user community

SUSPENDED FACILITIES

Fig. 7: Postal Facilities in the US (approx. 35,000 in number).

Fig. 9:Suspended Facilities in the United States (342 in number).

No site visits were possible though course of this assessment as security clearance was not granted by USPS. Interview with The USPS Chief Information Officer 18 https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/us-postal-service-emergency-suspension-process 16 17

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Key Findings

However for the scope of this assessment - the primary lens of decision making is to evaluate place-based characteristics to identify vulnerability and need at a neighborhood scale - and then to evaluate current and recently closed postal facilities therein. Specifically a methodology incorporating socio economic; environmental and population data as well as other infrastructure indicators - such as broadband coverage was developed to hone priority locations. Then, utilizing data sets from USPS leased facilities were mapped and those identified as suspended or at risk of discontinuation were prioritized. In a 2018 report - the USPS Office of Inspector General identified 662 facilities that linger in a state of emergency suspension and will likely be permanently discontinued18. A subset of these facilities (privately owned - multi-tenant and not yet discontinued but in at-risk, vulnerable places represents the target locations to engage.

1. Leased multi-unit facilities may represent the preferred asset types for intervention as they can leverage an existing lease and presence of the USPS - but have a greater degree of flexibility as to making facility renovations and/or improvements. (Multi-tenant facilities by nature would allow minimum disruption and maximum compliment to to postal services.)

2. There is correlation between neighborhood vulnerability and postal facility strain. The development of a more robust methodology that combines socio-economic indicators, population trends and broadband coverage may help predict future postal facility suspensions.

3. Target postal facilities leased by USPS that overlap between the 2012 Retail Access Optimization Initiative (RAOI) and 2014 POStplan and are recently suspended as likely candidates for discontinuation or diminished hours19.

4. Priority postal facilities as identified above mapped to overlay with an aggregated community vulnerability index should identify the facilities most likely to close and/or be located near transitioning markets.

Question 2: What are the range of options to incorporate solutions and interventions into priority facilities?

Pittsburgh Post Offices - Discontinued

As mentioned - priority locations are the subset of leased postal facilities in vulnerable locations and at risk of suspension or closure. Consequently each facility may have different characteristics and needs - just as every community has different characteristics and needs. To this extent different building-based interventions should apply a common framework for evaluating a basic set of activities that are in line with the needs of at risk communities.

Fig. 10: Pittsburgh Discontinued Facilities in Priority Areas.

https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/us-postal-service-emergency-suspension-process RAOI: Retail Access Optimization Initiative. The RAOI provides certain postal services through other businesses like grocery and big box office supply stores. There are currently about 70,000 “third-party� retailers. POStPlan: A review of Post Offices with the option of offering remotely managed Post Offices (RMPOs), which are part-time Post Offices and evaluated according to earned workload through Small Office Variance (SOV) or Customer Service Variance (CSV) systems, and not Workload Service Credits (WSCs).

18 19

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Question 3: How could opportunities be implemented?

While the broad “needs of a community” may be difficult to ascertain a framework to help provide communities with access to the things they need has been established to compare and contrast various specific solutions to overlay with postal facilities and infrastructure. This approach employs The Rand Corporation definition community resilience as “a measure of the sustained ability of a community to utilize available resources to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations.”

Balancing community need and property parameters present both a strategic and operational challenge when evaluating viable projects and partnerships. Ultimately there are no designated organizations, agencies or private companies seeking to design solutions that address the needs of USPS, property owners leasing to USPS or the communities where facilities are located. In order to address the needs of each “target market” a balanced approach to customized community and partner engagement needs to paired with a standardized assembly of complimentary services and solution deployment.

Key Findings 1. Activities should avoid disruption of core postal services and functions. Due to the critical role that postal services play in all facets of national commerce, security and even healthcare - incorporating facility adaptations that compliment, augment and are in parallel to postal service functions are of most priority.

Key Findings 1. There are multiple criteria to incorporate in evaluating adaptation strategies for different places and different facilities including costs, ease, and value. A preliminary multi-criteria decision making matrix has been developed.

(See Appendix A)

2. Options are assessed through the lenses of how to enable maximum community resilience as well as optimize facility performance at minimal costs. Smart infrastructure that leverages building envelopes, lighting infrastructure and parking lots represents some of the most viable - least disruptive opportunities.

2. Policy matters. Postal reform legislation needs to encourage coordination with local government and USPS needs to craft an updated open data and community engagement strategy to allow for new collaborations to take root.

3. Public - Private Partnerships and projects should seek to generate increased revenue for the agency, reduce costs for property owners and directly link to economic development priorities for localities.

3. A standardized mechanism to facilitate community needs, assets and opportunities to evaluate underutilized property within or adjacent to leased Postal Facilities would help ensure a constant flow of foot-traffic and use. While mechanisms such as Postal Customer Councils afford the USPS to educate the public about their products and services - a more dynamic - information sharing format to align place-based needs with those of the USPS may afford the identification of shared needs.

4. Linkage and utilization of USPS distribution network (fleet, logistics, and mail carriers) represents the most significant opportunity to align with community needs - and the most challenging from a postal industry standpoint.

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In conclusion, key findings from the due diligence and feasibility assessment reveal three critical insights that frame a potential new strategy.

1. Multi-tenant, leased facilities represent the lowest barrier to incorporating program and property interventions at postal facilities to minimize potential distribution of core postal services.

a. There are over 3,500 multi-tenant facilities. (See Appendix F for an overview of facility types.)

2. Despite major economic and operational evolutions - the USPS is not well equipped to optimize underutilized facilities that it leases20. Preliminary estimates from The USPS OIG indicate that as much as 60% of leased facilities are underutilized21.

The majority of the incurred costs for unused space is incurred by postal lessors.

3. Underutilized postal space in a distressed or vulnerable community22 is a likely indicator of potential facility suspension and discontinuation.

RECOMMENDATIONS Primary recommendations from this assessment include:

3. Establish a suite of services to integrate within USPS facilities procurement policies and procedures to enable both USPS and USPS Lessors with accelerated integration of “resilient services” within Postal Facilities.

1. Increase connectivity and knowledge between “placebased” experts and “postal domain experts” to increase awareness of mutually beneficial priorities and opportunities.

4. Establish a new mechanism, policy and/or practice to enable efficient and effective community engagement within the USPS structure to more effectively leverage existing assets.

2. Establish a predictive model to identify priority locations to elevate within the USPS property disposition process to engage communities and partners.

NEXT STEPS INCLUDE: 1. Design and produce a “Places and Postal Forum” to identify shared opportunities for collaboration and pilot projects between place-based experts and postal service experts. (See Appendix C outlining a such a concept.)

3. Assemble a viable suite of “Opportunity Partnerships” to serve USPS and USPS Lessor property owners.

4. Convey a methodology to determine priority places, viable complimentary services and strategy for ongoing collaboration to various sets of stakeholders to help combine the scale, resources and integral services provided by USPS with the needs and assets of communities in transition.

2. Refine mapping methodology utilizing facility utilization information to hone priority locations to include proximity or underutilized facilities23.

USPS OIG Emergency Suspensions: https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2018/SM-AR-18-007.pdf If there is correlation between population decline, poverty rates, and access to broadband internet than underutilized - leased facilities in economically distressed places are significantly more likely and in many cases more prone to suspension and ultimately discontinuation.

22 Under served and/or vulnerable is to be defined as Community Development Block Grant eligible census tract and/or share of rural residents with fixed broadband internet access.

23 See data sets at: https://www.ura.org 20 21

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Funding and support thanks to: The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University The Buhl Foundation The Hillman Foundation via the Metro21 Smart Cities Institute Many thanks to the enthusiasm, insights, validation of the project’s advisory network and partners including: Sai Prateek Narayan Lindsay Poss The Spring 2018 Heinz Systems Team Staff, faculty and collaborators at Carnegie Mellon University especially: Dean Ramayan Krishnan Jackie Speedy Kristin Hughes Stefan Gruber Kristen Kurland Costa Samaras Azizan Aziz Don Carter Anna Siefken Rick Stafford Albert Presto The USPS The USPS Board of Governors The USPS Office of Inspector General The General Accounting Office David Williams, George Mason University Steve Hutkins, Save The Post Office John Callen, Postal Vision 2020 Tom Coe, Real Estate Advisory Consultants John Rhoades, Benbow Ventures Mark Karolcyzk, AUSPL Grant Ervin, City of Pittsburgh Alexa Clay, RSA US Andrew Spodek, Nationwide Postal Management Bernard Buchov, The Postal Innovation Platform Phil Tabitta, American Postal Workers Union The Gensler Re:Post research team 15

APPENDICES APPENDIX A

Strategic Assessment Index: A tool to evaluate different facility typologies and various categorical complimentary services to identify the ease and impact of different interventions

APPENDIX B

Spring 2018 Heinz Systems Synthesis Project: Adapting USPS Facilities and Infrastructure to Increase Community Resilience

APPENDIX C

Postal Places Forum: A first of a kind convening to bridge knowledge and opportunities between the postal and place-based domains. Planned for 2019.

APPENDIX D

April Visioning Charrette with Postal Stakeholders in Washington DC with customized ideation materials

APPENDIX E

From Postal Networks to Community Places: an interdisciplinary course planned for Spring 2019 in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture, School of Design and College of Public Policy

APPENDIX F

Overview of Facility Typologies

APPENDIX G

Recommendations of specific and practical linkages between Northside activities and priorities and USPS offerings.

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