Rep. Maloney, elected officials, postal workers & Astoria residents rally to save Queens post office
ASTORIA, NY – Today, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, City Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr., District Leader Costa Constantinides, John Dirzius and Chuck Zlatkin of the American Postal Workers Union, representatives of State Senator Michael Gianaris and Assembly Member Aravella Simotas, and western Queens community leaders and residents rallied outside Grand Station in Astoria to urge the United States Postal Service (USPS) to keep the local postal facility open.
Maloney and her fellow elected officials and community members have collected more than 1,050 signatures from Queens residents who want to keep Grand Station open for business, and plan on delivering the petitions to the Postal Service later this week.
At today’s event, Maloney also urged Queens residents to reach out to the Postal Service directly, and issued the following list of actions people can take to save Grand Station:
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SAVE YOUR POST OFFICE
□ Sign a petition, or create one that your neighbors and friends can sign, urging the Postal Service to keep Grand Station open.
Petitions can be sent to:
Mr. Patrick Donahoe
U.S. Postmaster General
475 L’Enfant Plaza West, SW
Washington, DC 20260
□ Write a letter to Postmaster Donahoe (at the address above);
Call the Postal Service at 1-800-275-8777 (Open Monday to Saturday); or
Click here to e-mail the Postal Service.
□ Contact the USPS via the methods above and request a public hearing, so that USPS officials can hear your views in person.
In July, the Postal Service announced that it was studying the possibility of closing Grand Station and 3,652 other post offices nationwide. The USPS placed Grand Station on its list of potential closures because Grand Station had less than $600,000 in revenue last year (Grand Station’s revenue in 2011 was $560,392, just below the threshold), and there are more than 15 alternate postal “access points” within a ten-mile radius. However, as Maloney and others argued today, the next-nearest post office is nearly a half-mile away -a significant distance, given that most New Yorkers walk to their local post office- and eliminating Grand Station would save the USPS only $23,460 per year, while inflicting significant pain on the neighborhood and likely costing the post office business, as customers choose to use USPS’s competitors. A final decision on which post offices will be closed is expected later this year.
Earlier this month, Maloney and her fellow elected officials wrote to U.S. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe urging him to keep Grand Station open, and requesting that USPS hold a public hearing on the potential closure so affected New Yorkers could express their views. A copy of that letter follows.
“Grand Station serves residents of a densely populated community with many senior citizens and immigrants. Consequently, Grand Station is a very busy, crowded station. Closing a well-used facility in a dense urban community would lead to overcrowding at already-burdened neighboring facilities and poor service for local residents. Indeed, one of the most common complaints we hear from local residents is that lines are often long at this post office,” Maloney said.
“So, today, we are asking the Postal Service to look at the needs of this neighborhood, the nature of the customer base here in Astoria, the long distances people will have to travel by foot to reach the Steinway Post Office and the likelihood that the post office will lose additional revenue to competitors – and conclude, as we have, that this vital community post office must remain open for business,” Maloney added. “The feelings of this community are clear. We have more than a thousand signatures from Astoria residents who want to keep this post office open – the outpouring of support has been tremendous. Save our post office!”
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said, “Congresswoman Maloney recognizes the important role that a local post office plays in the life of a community. Closing a facility like this one means that many senior citizens will have to walk longer distances on hot and freezing days; mailing costs will not be ascertained easily; and mailing packages will become a much bigger problem. While recognizing the rising debt of the Postal Service, there are other ways than closing post offices and reducing jobs that should be explored before taking such drastic actions.”
Senator Michael Gianaris said, "Closing the Grand Station Post Office would severely burden residents living in the area who rely on it for their daily needs. As a neighborhood with a large population of seniors and immigrants, closing this facility unfairly targets a subset of more vulnerable New Yorkers who have helped build the neighborhood to what it is today. It is not right that they should have to further suffer the consequences of the federal government’s economic hardships."
"The United States Postal Service's plan to close the Grand Station post office would result in yet another essential service being taken away from those in our community who need it the most. Working families and seniors in western Queens are already struggling to make ends meet in this economy. For the federal government to threaten these residents with bearing even more of the burden then they already do is irresponsible and unfair,” said Assembly Member Aravella Simotas.
Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr. said, “While we are aware that the huge decrease in the amount of mail being sent will result in a smaller Post Office, Queens residents should stick together to ensure our borough is treated fairly during this process.”
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COALITION OF ELECTED OFFICIALS OF ASTORIA, NY
c/o Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney
21-77 31st Street, Astoria, NY 11105
August 2, 2011
Mr. Patrick R. Donahoe
Postmaster General
US Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza West, SW
Washington, DC 20260
Dear Mr. Donahoe:
We write to you as elected officials representing constituents using the Grand Station Post Office located at 4508 30th Ave Ste A Astoria, NY 11103. It is our understanding that the United States Postal Service (USPS) will begin a study for potential consolidation (closing) of Grand Station. Closing this facility would severely burden residents living in the area who rely on it for their daily needs.
Grand Station serves residents of a densely populated community with many senior citizens and immigrants. Consequently, Grand Station is a very busy, crowded station. Closing a well-used facility in a dense urban community would lead to overcrowding at already burdened neighboring facilities and poor service for local residents. Indeed, one of the most common complaints we hear from local residents is that lines are often long at this post office.
Unlike in most parts of the country, a significant number of residents of this community do not have cars and most walk to their local post office. We believe that it would likely add at least a half an hour to a trip to a post office for many local residents. In making your decision, we hope that you will look at the availability of mass transit options (or lack thereof) to bring people to the next closest facility, the method by which most people reach this post office (e.g. on foot, by bus, by car) and the amount of time it would take a senior to walk to the nearest facility. Simply measuring a distance on a map tells you very little about the ease or difficulty of reaching the destination.
We have heard the suggestion that many postal services can be done by computer. The population around Grand Station includes large numbers of senior citizens who do not have computers and therefore do not use email or pay bills online.
USPS cannot assume that 100% of the Grand Station business would simply transfer to a neighboring location. While the post office may be the only mail service provider in some communities, in an urban area like Astoria, the post office has many competitors who will be eager to absorb the business. Packages can be sent by UPS, Federal Express, DHL and a wealth of other competitors, some of which have storefronts or boxes in this area. Indeed, we note that there is a Federal Express box on the sidewalk in front of Grand Station. Further, every bank offers money orders, which would cut into the post office’s postal order business. There are also several providers of mailbox services in this community. Accordingly, the U.S. Postal Service cannot have a realistic picture of the impact of closing a postal station without conducting a cost/benefit analysis.
We hope that you will look at the realities of this neighborhood, the nature of Grand Station’s customer base and the long distance people will have to travel by foot to reach a different post office. For all of the foregoing reasons, we urge you to keep Grand Station open. We would like to meet with you, or the District Manager of the Triboro District, Frank Calabrese, to discuss these concerns further. Additionally, we hope that you will hold a public hearing to allow our constituents to express their views to you.
Sincerely,
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, Member of Congress
MICHAEL GIANARIS, State Senator
ARAVELLA SIMOTAS, Member of Assembly
PETER F. VALLONE, JR., Member of City Council