Delays anticipated with incoming mail
The closure of the downtown post office is expected to cause delays in mail received by the City of Austin.
The current downtown station, 510 Guadalupe St., is scheduled to close Dec. 27. The new downtown station at 823 Congress Ave. is not scheduled to open until Jan. 2, according to a news release.
As a result, the city will not be able to gather mail sent to P.O. Box 1088 for five days. Outgoing mail from the city will not be affected by this change, officials said in the news release.
The U.S. Postal Service sold the Guadalupe Street site this year to private developers.
Atlanta-based Novare Group and Austin-based Andrews Urban and Endeavor Real Estate Group haven’t said what exactly they plan to do with the property.
The new post office, measuring 7,118 square feet, will have four full-service windows staffed by postal clerks, according to Postal Service spokesman Sam Bolen. It will also house post office boxes for two downtown ZIP codes — 78767 and 78768. Seven or eight employees will be based there.
Unlike the current facility, there will be no free on-site parking, according to Bolen. Parking will be on nearby streets or garages, he said.
The Paramount Theater’s Literacy to Life program is presenting a special performance by The Paramount Story Wranglers at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Story Wranglers — actors and musicians — will act out stories written by Austin school district third-grade students.
The performance will include works from the journals of students who have participated in the Paramount Academy for the Arts Literacy to Life Program since 2008, including students from Brent- wood, Highland Park, St. Elmo, Allan and other elementary schools.
General admission is $8 for adults and $5 for children under 12. For more information about the performance at the Paramount Theater,713 Congress Ave., go to http:// www.austintheatre.org.
The Austin Animal Center is waiving adoption fees for all animals from Friday to Sunday in an attempt to find homes for animals at the over-capacity facility.
The shelter has experienced a capacity crisis over the last month, with hundreds of new animals entering the shelter, according to a news release. The shelter faced a deficit of more than 60 cages to house animals as of Thursday.
The special applies to all animals at the Austin Animal Center, 7201 Levander Loop, and to dogs housed at the center’s overflow facility Town Lake Animal Center, 1156 W. Cesar Chavez St. The center will also waive adoption fees Saturday at the Sunset Valley Petsmart, 5207 Brodie Lane, and Sunday at the Lakeline Petco, 14010 U.S. 183; Tomlinson’s, 4211 South Lamar Blvd.; and Petsense, 7900 N. FM 620, Ste. 110.
All pets adopted from the center and at the off-site locations will be spayed or neutered, vaccinated and will go home with a collar, tag and microchip.
The Pflugerville Community Library will host adult craft night from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Participants will make their own festive holiday ornaments. All materials will be provided, while supplies last. The event is free and open to the public. The library is located at 102 Tenth St.