Roosevelt Island Post Office Saved - Will Not Be Closed Down Reports Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
Image of August 18 2011 Roosevelt Island Post Office Protest Rally (Congresswoman Maloney at Podium)
Received the following statement from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's office:
SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR THE HOLIDAYS: REP. MALONEY ANNOUNCES ROOSEVELT ISLAND POST OFFICE TO REMAIN OPENMore information on threat of Roosevelt Island Post Office closing and protests at previous posts.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney today announced that the New York District of the United States Postal Service (USPS) has removed the Roosevelt Island Station post office from the Postal Service’s discontinuance list. She received the notice today from the USPS’ headquarters in Washington, DC, which wrote to her office, “The New York District has removed the Roosevelt Island Station from the Post Office discontinuance list. After careful evaluation of the data, it was determined that it would not be feasible to close the office at this time.”
This summer, the USPS revealed that it was studying the possibility of closing Roosevelt Island Station and moving the services provided to postal customers on the Island to other post offices. Islanders responded to the possible closure with an outpouring of support. All of the local elected officials representing Roosevelt Island – Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, NYS Senator José Serrano, NYS Assembly Member Micah Kellner, and City Council Member Jessica Lappin – issued a letter opposing the closure (see below), and thousands of residents signed petitions which Congresswoman Maloney delivered to the Postmaster.
“Roosevelt Island’s residents, businesses, and community and government leaders knew all along that Roosevelt Island Station provides critical services to the growing community on the Island, but we had to send that message special delivery to the Postal Service. This summer, USPS officials began making a list – but thankfully, they checked it twice, and took Roosevelt Island Station off the chopping block!” said Congresswoman Maloney.“I thank the Postal Service for hearing our concerns and keeping this important local institution of the federal government open for business. Above all, I’d like to thank the countless residents and business owners of Roosevelt Island who organized effectively and outspokenly in the finest tradition of the Island. This win is a tribute to them and the entire community.”
UPDATE 7 PM - Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Leslie Torres adds:
I was very happy to learn that Congresswoman Maloney was able to persuade the United States Postal Service (USPS) to keep the Roosevelt Island Station post office open and remove the site from the discontinuance list. The post office represents a key Island service, especially for the elderly and disabled residents that use the station for their everyday postal needs.
17 comments :
We are well represented by Carolyn Maloney.
While I think it is great that we kept our post office open at probably the cost of someone else's (even though a village post office on the island would have probably met 90% of people's needs) I don't think this is as high a priority as many other issues I rather the representative be dealing with like rent control http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122126309241530485.html?mod=googlenews_wsj or Union abuses http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204190704577024321510926692.html?mod=googlenews_wsj or transportation issues http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/29/142866785/the-tuesday-podcast-why-does-a-taxi-medallion-cost-1-million
If it was such an essential service, than why does it lose so much money every year? By essential I think she meant essential to paying the rent on a space which RIOC couldn't fill again if the post office left for (wait how long has it taken RIOC to fill any new retail space? 5 years and counting?) I think playing off the fact that this is used by "the elderly" and "disabled" is really not germane. In fact I bet a lot of the elderly and disabled don't bother making the trip to the post office because they can use this thing called the internet to communicate, order stuff, send packages, without the trouble of leaving their home.
Obviously, you have not been to the post office.
I am having a hard time to understand how you could be in favor of closing something essential as a post office. Have you been in there? Do you think it is fair (and, yes, this is about more about fairness than about balance sheets) that we have to treck somewhere a lot father away to get a letter mailed, stamps purchased, PO boxes rented, etc?
Trevre, closing the RI post office (or not) in this instance is entirely separate from the broader issue of the ultimate fate of the USPS.
I disagree. How we manage and advocate for our individual communities on a small scale is the basis for supporting such bureaucracies on a large scale. Every community cannot expect to have a service which on the the whole is one of the worst examples of a failing government organization. We need to send the federal government the message we can live without poorly managed organizations, not demand that they keep them going.
I agree we should have a post office but in this form http://vps567368.qcp.hosting.com/ai2/article.cfm?Id=567&MId=24
If every community argues to keep their post office as is all that does is send the message to the Feds that we want this wasteful service continued. We should have asked for a village post office instead. You can't want something without accepting that you agree with all the negative aspects that come along with it.
Fair and fairness can mean virtually anything to anybody.
In the famous words of Thomas Sowell,
In most cases, it is hopeless to try to have a rational discussion with those who use the words "fair" and "fairness."
In the famous words of P.J. O'Rourke,
You live in New York City, that's not fair. "Your family’s pretty well-off (because you live in NYC). That’s not fair. You were born in the
United States of America. That’s not fair. You had better get
down on your knees and pray to God that things don’t start getting
fair.’”
A village post office wasn't offered, nor as far as I know do we have a sponsor willing to assume that. This was a short-term tactical move to preserve something that has great value to certain constituencies on the island. You have strategic concerns and ideas (and a solution) that fall well outside of this instance, imho, however valuable overall.
I don't see that the post office provides significantly more value than a few convenient mailboxes and a stamp vending machine. Are people really clamoring for 10044 post office boxes? There is another post office 5 blocks from the tram. At some point, we have to ask whether the post office provides at least equal value to its cost. I'm sure that for some people it does, but is that number of people sufficient to justify its continuing existence? Would the space be better utilized for another purpose (I, for one, would rather see the space used for foodservice).
We don't need a full-fledged post office like the one that exists today. With its limited hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, it is effectively useless to a majority of Islanders who hold day jobs.
While the current location may be useful to our elderly and disabled residents, their needs could be easily accommodated -- and the overall value to the Island at large increased -- with other postal options, as Trevre discussed.Many of the services Islanders need, such as mailing a package, buying postage, etc., can be provided around the clock by an automated kiosk and drop box. A few of these should be strategically placed around the island, in Southtown, near the WIRE buildings, and another at the existing USPS location. At the very least our post office should offer this as an option when it's closed.Even without a full-fledged post office on the Island, a village post office location, which can be hosted by any island business, could provide post office boxes and in-person assistance to Islanders. An enterprising business owner might even choose to be both a USPS village post office, and an authorized UPS or FedEx shipper ... imagine the possibilities!Plus, the folks who work at our post office are so damned cranky.
Home-based business owners, Stay-at-home parents and employees who work on the Island use the Post Office, in addition to seniors and the disabled.
Please remind me why these folks should be forced to use public transportation to get postal services.
They shouldn't. But a full-service post office isn't the only (or even the best) way to provide those services on the Island.
Having grown up in a place where visiting the post office required miles of travel in privately owned vehicles, I don't find needing to go to Manhattan particularly burdensome. If you absolutely can't leave your building, catch the mail carrier when they visit.
1. Driving a car usually costs less than $4.50.
2. Since when do mail carriers sell stamps and two-day mail envelopes to the public?
I spend far less on my monthly metrocard than I ever did on my car.
If you're unable to order stamps and other supplies online, you can leave a check in your mailbox or use stamps by mail (form 3227). All carriers should have stamps sufficient to supply their route and copies of form 3227.
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