***Press Release***
Broad Channel residents still without access the postal services two years after Sandy
Current application for Contract Postal Unit to be installed at local business caught in red tape
Broad Channel, Queens - U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and New York State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder have written a letter to Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe requesting the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) immediately approve an application by the Broad Channel Civic Association to open a Contract Postal Unit in Broad Channel, Queens. This request follows months of delays and multiple rounds of review to the application, which was filed in order to replace facilities in Broad Channel destroyed during Superstorm Sandy.
“Since Superstorm Sandy, residents of Broad Channel have been without a Post Office, making things even more difficult for this hard-hit community,” said U.S. Senator Schumer. “Especially given Broad Channel’s location, the USPS should do everything possible to immediately replace the Contract Postal Unit. Seniors, families and other Broad Channel residents are in dire need of postal services and I am hopeful the USPS will heed our call.”
"Many families in Broad Channel are still not back in their homes following Superstorm Sandy and most still lack the basic services they need," said Assemblyman Goldfeder. "The Postal Service has a responsibility to serve its customers and help our Sandy devastated community rebuild."
Contract Postal Units (CPU) are independent retailers under contract with the U.S. Postal Service that, while not considered full post offices, provide many of the same services and products. They are used by the Postal Service to give customers access to services when existing post offices are overcrowded or far from customers. In 2012, the U.S. Congress' Government Accountability Office released a report recommending that the Postal Service increase CPUs as a way of helping the cash-strapped agency improve service as it cuts costs.
Before Superstorm Sandy devastated the community in 2012, Broad Channel had a CPU located in the former Baygull Bagel Store on Cross Bay Blvd. Damage from the storm forced the store to close and the CPU was never replaced. The store has since gone out of business. Given its location as an island neighborhood in the center of Jamaica Bay, Broad Channel had its own post office available to the community during much of its recent history prior to Sandy.
According to the Broad Channel Civic Association, in early 2014, a Postal Service representative approved the civic's application for a new CPU in the neighborhood. In response, the civic reached out to local businesses for a location and All American Channel Market Deli on Cross Bay Blvd agreed to install the CPU in its store. However, in June, the Postal Service informed them that the application had in fact been denied, citing a lack of need for postal services in Broad Channel. In the meantime, the agency agreed to re-review the application, but has not yet made a decision.
"We are extremely frustrated with the lack of assistance from the U.S. Postal Service in reopening a post office in Broad Channel after Superstorm Sandy. Our town has had an active post office for decades only to see the store it was located in destroyed by Sandy," said Dan Mundy, Jr., President, of the Broad Channel Civic Association. "It appears to be another example of just how out of touch these federal agencies are by not recognizing how critical a post office would be to an island community with a large senior citizen population."
In their joint letter to Postmaster General Donahoe, Senator Schumer and Assemblyman Goldfeder urged the Postal Service to reinstate a CPU in Broad Channel. The legislators explained that the absence of the CPU in the community made it difficult for residents, especially senior citizens, to access the post office and meet their postal needs. By resuming service in the neighborhood, they noted, the Postal Service would help to add a sense of normalcy to a community still struggling to recover from Superstorm Sandy.
"I urge the USPS to provide our families with the essential services that they need and deserve," concluded Goldfeder. "Homeowners are doing everything they can to recover from sandy and the Postal Service must do the same."
**********
No comments:
Post a Comment