PARAMOUNT, CA—The Paramount Post Office will be celebrating recent customer improvements, including an expanded parking lot and remodeled passport office, by holding a community fair from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. for the new parking lot with Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, Paramount Mayor Diane J. Martinez and members of the Paramount City Council. The Paramount Post Office is located at 7200 Somerset Blvd.

"This was a community improvement project and the Postal Service worked hand-in-hand with the City of Paramount, Congresswoman Sanchez's office and Southern California Edison to make it happen," said Paramount Postmaster Debra Pendleton. "It demonstrates what can be accomplished when we work together for our customers and constituents."

With the assistance of Congresswoman Sanchez, the City and Postal Service worked closely with SCE and ABC Nursery to create a parking lot that addressed the former traffic congestion issues at the Paramount Post Office. The City of Paramount obtained a license agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE) for the overflow/secondary parking lot on SCE transmission right-of-way property adjacent to the Post Office. This required the cooperation of the former licensee of the property, ABC Nursery, who was using the land for its nursery business. In a collaborative effort, ABC Nursery agreed to reduce the size of their licensed parcel with SCE in order to allow for the creation of the new parking lot for the Paramount Post Office. This also allowed ABC Nursery to continue to operate its business and SCE to have proper access to its transmission line and tower facilities.

The City of Paramount graded, paved and striped the new parking lot. The USPS replaced existing parking lot concrete for improved handicap access and also painted the Post Office building. The City and USPS worked together to re-landscape the property.

The Paramount Post Office community fair will include refreshments and information on how to utilize usps.com and Click-N-Ship to save time and money, and how to use eBay online auction site. SCE will have an energy savings booth and USPS Consumer Affairs will be providing consumer information. Southeast Area Animal Control Authority will be on hand to discuss responsible pet ownership and how to keep community service workers, such as letters carriers and meter readers, safe while they perform their duties.

The new passport office is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to make it easy and convenient for residents to apply for a U.S. passport, while improving access to the Paramount Post Office retail lobby. Passport information can be found at usps.com/passport.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.