Rep. Norma Torres introduces bill to rename Montclair post office after late Mayor Paul Eaton
Montclair may soon have a permanent monument to the city's longest-serving mayor.
On June 18, Rep. Norma J. Torres, D-Ontario, introduced a bill to rename the United States Post Office located at 5186 Benito St. in Montclair after former Mayor Paul Eaton, who died in July after serving as the city's mayor for 23 years.
"Mayor Paul Eaton was a fierce advocate for Montclair residents and a pillar of the Inland Empire community," Torres said in a news release issued by her office. "His decades of public service earned him love, respect and admiration beyond Montclair's city limits."
If H.R. 3329 is signed into law, the post office would be renamed the Paul Eaton Post Office Building. Torres already has 52 members of California's congressional delegation as cosponsors of the bill, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
"I think it is a wonderful idea to name our post office after Mayor Paul Eaton, no one deserves it more than him," Montclair Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Raft wrote in an email. "He is greatly missed and was very much loved by everyone citywide as well as in other cities. … You can never give him all the credit he deserves."
Eaton, 82, stepped down on July 5, 2018, for health reasons. He died 16 days later. His wife, Ginger, was appointed mayor to serve out the remaining months of his term.
"After Paul passed away, one of (Torres') representatives said they would like to pursue the possibility of naming the post office after Paul," Ginger Eaton said Tuesday. "Of course the family was thrilled, and a lot of people in the city are."
In 1974, Eaton was appointed to the Planning Commission, where he served 14 years. In 1988, he was elected to the City Council and in 1995, he was appointed mayor.
As mayor, he helped drive the construction of the new police facility, youth and senior center and numerous road and infrastructure projects; secure future Gold Line light rail service to Montclair; and develop the North Montclair Downtown Specific Plan for a pedestrian-oriented downtown village that capitalizes on the multi-modal transportation center.
"Paul was a very authentic person. He was the same person to everyone. He was pretty universally admired, whether as a family member, a union man or as an elected official," Ginger Eaton said. "It was extraordinary to find out, as a family, that he was universally loved that way. It was very gratifying."
Bills to rename post offices nearly always pass unanimously, according to the GovTracker website.
Source: Beau Yarbrough