Thursday, September 15, 2011

Roosevelt Island Post Office Saved, Is Not Among Those Locations Now Being Studied For Closing - Good Job By Protesting Residents and Elected Officials In Keeping Roosevelt Island Post Office Open - Update Roosevelt Island Post Office Not Removed From Study List

Image of Roosevelt Island Residents at Save Our Post Office Protest Rally August 18

Reported last month on the possibility of the Roosevelt Island Post Office being among those slated for possible closing and the protest by Roosevelt Island residents and elected officials to prevent this from happening.

RIOC President Leslie Torres, State Senator Jose Serrano, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, RIRA President Matt Katz, Assemblyman Micah Kellner and NYC Councilwoman Jessica Lappin

A few minutes ago, I received a tip from resident Susan Marcus that:
According to a list on CNN.com, RI post office is no longer on the hit list.
Here's the CNN report together with the list of 250 possible Post Office facilities to be closed and thankfully, the Roosevelt Island Post Office is not on that list. The list does include one Brooklyn and one Queens (Flushing) Post Office facility being studies for closure.

According to the US Postal Service:
 Faced with a massive nationwide infrastructure that is no longer financially sustainable, the U.S. Postal Service today proposed sweeping changes designed to save the organization up to $3 billion a year by cutting its network of processing facilities by over half and adjusting service standards.

Proposals under consideration include studying nearly 250 processing facilities for possible consolidation or closure, reducing mail processing equipment by as much as 50 percent, dramatically decreasing the nationwide transportation network, adjusting the workforce size by as many as 35,000 positions, and revising service standards for First-Class Mail.

“We are forced to face a new reality today,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “First-Class Mail supports the organization and drives network requirements. With the dramatic decline in mail volume and the resulting excess capacity, maintaining a vast national infrastructure is no longer realistic. Since 2006, we have closed 186 facilities, removed more than 1,500 pieces of mail processing equipment, decreased employee complement by more than 110,000 through attrition and reduced costs by $12 billion.”...
Good job by the residents and Roosevelt Island elected officials, led by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, in making sure the Roosevelt Island Post Office remained open.

Image of Congresswoman Maloney Exiting Roosevelt Island Post Office

UPDATE 5 PM - I may have been wrong/premature in declaring the Roosevelt Island Post Office saved from closing due to this release from the Post Office which refers to:
250 processing facilities and related "network transportation,"
That list may be different from the list for Post Offices closing. Sorry for the confusion and I am checking to see how the latest list from the Post Office effects the Roosevelt Island Post office.

UPDATE 7/19 - From Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney:
The USPS announcement last week involved processing facilities being considered for possible closure and did not affect or relate to the previous announcement about postal stations being considered for closure.  Regrettably, there is no new information regarding the Postal Service’s review of post offices like the one on Roosevelt Island; I am continuing to advocate forcefully for Roosevelt Island Station to remain open.