Neighbors, city decry an ‘eyesore.’

Neighbor Mike Suraci calls it a waste of space that could be better devoted to public parking.

Mayor Darlene Kordonowy thinks it’s an “eyesore.” Even Sandy Fischer, Winslow Tom­or­row program manager, asks: “Do we really need penitentiary-style fencing in downtown?”

The answer, Winslow post office customer service manager Steve Blakeslee says, is “yes.” And the standards are rigidly prescribed: chain link, 8 feet high, with barbed wire at the top.

“When the postal inspection service says ‘these are the requirements for a fence,’ they don’t really ask my opinion,” said Blakeslee, who has managed the Winslow branch since January.

Ongoing construction of a “security fence” around the back lot of the post office off Bjune Drive has raised eyebrows at City Hall and elsewhere. Some question its aesthetics, while one local activist has derided the barrier as evocative of “military-industrial violence and fear-mongering.”

Most vocal has been Suraci, who lives nearby on Shannon Drive and has worked on parking issues for the Winslow Tomorrow planning effort.

When city officials recently asked postal authorities if the lot could be reconfigured to open up more parking on Bjune Drive, they were rebuffed. The result, Suraci said, is a fence protecting largely unused asphalt.

“It’s empty during the day when (trucks) are out doing delivery,” Suraci said. “But when they’re there at night, 75 percent of that area is still just wasted.”

Blakeslee counters that the postal service has had a heightened need for security since 9/11, and that perimeter fencing is prescribed from above.

“It is a target of terrorists and terrorism,” he said of the post office, “and our vehicles are particularly vulnerable to theft and possible usage in a terrorist attack due to their acceptance anywhere. Nobody questions the mail truck going anywhere.”

In a Sept. 6 letter to Suraci, Blakeslee recalled a terror suspect who was arrested in Port Angeles in 1999, carrying explosives for which the Los Angeles airport was said to be the target.

“I wonder if he had planned on stealing a Bainbridge Island postal vehicle in which to place his explosives, since they are such easy targets,” Blakeslee wrote.

He also said the post office lot has been an area for trespassing and vandalism.

Suraci said Blakeslee “doesn’t give a rat’s rip” about what the community wants, and criticized the post office for not getting involved with the ongoing downtown planning process.

Even Kordonowy said her inquiries “basically went nowhere,” although her office is continuing to explore ways to work with the federal government on the issue, she said. The post office property sits at the nexus of various ideas for enhancing downtown in the coming years.

Because the property is owned by the federal government, it is not subject to local zoning or design codes, the city planning department said.

Councilmen Bill Knobloch and Nezam Tooloee, meanwhile, have suggested that the post office move at least part of its operations out of downtown, leaving customer service windows and boxes but sorting elsewhere.

But Blakeslee said a more likely scenario is that the post office would add another branch at the island’s north end, to serve the new addresses being added to the local postal rolls.

“This location is the best location to accept the mail that has been processed in Seattle,” he said. “There is speculation that possibly sometime in the future, there may be another annex on the island. When that happens is unknown.”