Push is coming to shove for the Post Office in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse. When last heard from, the postal station was being bounced for good at month's end, and that means postal workers start packing in two weeks.

The courthouse renovation -- made necessary by valid seismic concerns -- is controversial in many respects. One big sticking point is the creation of a parking garage in the basement for the Ninth Circuit judges who work in the building. Apparently their having to walk to nearby parking garages is being portrayed as a security risk, just as the presence of the Post Office is.

But that raises some interesting questions: Are the judges ever going to leave the courthouse? To go to lunch? To go to the bank? To do some shopping downtown?

Is it possible that, like all government operations, the court just wants ever more space, and is unwilling to move from the oldest and coolest building in town to get it?