Broad Channel, You've got mail!

By Mark C. Healey

Back in December of 2014, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder told The Wave that Broad Channel’s lack of a post office was unacceptable.

“The Postal Service has a responsibility to serve its customers and help our Sandy devastated community rebuild,” said Goldfeder.

Goldfeder wasn’t alone in his dissatisfaction.

“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.”

Well, thanks to Goldfeder, and with the support of U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, Broad Channel will have postal services again.

On Sept. 22, Goldfeder and Schumer announced the USPS has approved the return of a Contract Postal Unit (CPU) to BC.

“By restoring the postal services lost after Sandy, we are taking a tremendous step forward in our Sandy recovery ahead of the 3rd anniversary of the storm,” Goldfeder said. “This new CPU at All American Deli will once again allow families access to the basic daily services they need without traveling or hassle.”

Before Sandy devastated the community in 2012, Broad Channel had a CPU located in the former Baygull Bagel Store on Cross Bay Boulevard. Damage from the storm forced the store to close and the CPU was never replaced. The store has since gone out of business. The civic began to search for locations to set up a new CPU, but in June, the Postal Service told them there wasn’t a need for postal service in Broad Channel.

The agency only agreed to review the application after Goldfeder and Schumer intervened.

While technically not an actual post office, CPUs are independent retailers under contract with the U.S. Postal Service that offer many of the same services and products.

It’s not perfect, but for residents like Mundy, a step in the right direction.

“In the last two years the Broad Channel Civic Association has been fighting to have their local post office reopen,” said Mundy. “This is one more important step in the rebuilding of this neighborhood and it would not have happened without the assistance and involvement of the Senator and the Assemblyman.”