Save the USPS - again

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is in dire straights. The USPS reports that in the last quarter in 2011 it lost $3.3 billion and that it expects to run out of cash in October unless Congress agrees to cuts in facilities and employees. Those facility cuts include closing small branches like the one in Brooklyn’s Columbia Waterfront district. The most recent 2010 census showed that the Waterfront District has seen a great amount of growth over the last 10 years. The neighborhood is located west of Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) and sits opposite Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill.

An article from the Carroll Gardens Patch The Resurgence of the Columbia Street Waterfront District states that “the Northern section of Columbia Street, between Degraw Street and Atlantic Avenue, has seen a 24 percent increase in population growth, which is one of the biggest increases anywhere in Brooklyn. The section between Degraw Street and Hamilton Avenue grew by 4 percent, which is more than nearby Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.” These increases were seen in the 2010 census.

Despite this increase the postal service has announced that after 17 years it plans to close the outpost in the neighborhood by the end of March. The nearest post office is located a little less than a mile away in Red Hook on other side of the BQE. It’s important to save this post office and the community is working to stop this closure. Your help is needed though since there is strength in numbers. To join the fight make sure you do the following:

Sign a petition in person at the post office at 257 Columbia St.

Contact your US Representative and US Senators to ask for their support:
Contact Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez - 718-222-5819
Contact Senator Chuck Schumer - 212-486-4430
Contact Senator Kirsten Gillibrand - 212-688-6262

Send a letter to the Postmaster General:
Pat Donahoe
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington DC 20260-0010

Brooklyn is not alone in their fight to keep postal services in the community. In December the USPS agreed to delay the closing of 252 mail processing centers and 3,700 local post offices until mid-May.