by staff
If a Downtown post office is placed in the retail area of the new library’s parking garage, it will be named after former Mayor Lou Ritter.
Ritter was one of the most vocal critics of the government’s decision to move Downtown postal services into a beauty salon when the post office closed due to construction of the new courthouse. The postal effort failed and Downtown now is without a full-service U.S. Post Office facility.
Ritter has continued to pressure the United States Postal Service and the City government to establish a post office downtown.
A spokesman for Metropolitan Parking Solutions, the company which will manage the Downtown library garage, where the retail will be located, said they intend to negotiate with the USPS to locate a post office in the space. If a deal is made, Ritter would be honored.
Ritter was mayor in the 1960s, taking office when then-Mayor Haydon Burns had to resign to run for governor. Ritter later was defeated by Judge Hans Tanzler.
Ritter today commutes from his Palm Valley home to lobby in Tallahassee.