We're due for an update on the the proposed relocation of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office on East 14th Street... there was a town hall meeting on the subject last Monday... Jefferson Siegel has a nice recap of the contentious meeting in the current issue of The Villager.
There's a lot to cover.
Briefly.
1) People are generally pissed off by this possible closure.
2) The plan would work something like this: The carriers who sort and deliver mail to homes and businesses in the area would be shipped off to the Madison Square Station on East 23rd Street near Third Avenue while large parcel services would operate out of the F.D.R. Station at 54th Street and Third Avenue. (Handy!)
The USPS would lease the former Duane Reade on East 14th Street near First Avenue for retail services, such as stamp sales and P.O. boxes. (At least the space wouldn't become another bank branch, as rumored.)
3) Residents have until next Tuesday (May 7) to submit their comments to USPS. From the article:
Comments, which must include the name Peter Stuyvesant Post Office, can be sent to: Joseph J. Mulvey, Facilities Implementation, U.S. Postal Service, 2 Congress St., Room 8, Milford, MA 01757-9998.
(Be sure to use the correct postage.)
Despite being pressed on the topic, the USPS rep at the meeting wouldn't divulge the building's landlord. The landlord reportedly told the USPS that he/she has other plans for the building, which was erected in 1951.
Right the whole Villager article here.
Previously on EV Grieve:
UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?
14 comments:
What about the dreaded pick-up window and the ridiculously long lines, would that be improving somehow or would they just be transfering the same infuriatingly poor service to another location?
When you refer to the building's landlord, do you mean the building where the post office is currently located?
@ anon
Yes.
I didn't even think of that post office having a landlord but, of course, they don't own the building. I wonder what the landlord has planned. Could it be CONDOS? Or maybe a community center! Okay, it's probably condos. Expensive condos.
As both a resident of the building above the former Duane Reade as well as a long-time East Villager, I'm not crazy about this proposition. Though I'd prefer a sad, stripped-down substitute post office to yet another unnecessary bank branch. UNLESS it included a safe deposit vault, which we haven't had in the neighborhood since the HSBC around the corner closed-- and was taken over by the Duane Reade that moved out of the space in question.
The biggest problem with this post office isn't location, it's the management. You're lucky if there are two clerks working during the busiest times and no one seems in a rush here. Don't even get me started about them not making any attempt to deliver packages then leaving a note in your mailbox saying it arrived a month ago and you'd better go get it right away or it's getting returned to sender!
It's not hard to figure out who the landlord is. Here's the block and lot numbers—take these and plug them into ACRIS.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/jump/acris.shtml
Borough: MANHATTAN
Block: 441
Lot: 23
Charles Benenson. Just your run-of-the-mill real estate billionaire as far as I can tell.
Regardless of what goes there, a statue dedicated to the memory of the suffering that many east village residents were systematically exposed to needs to be erected... Or at very least a UN commission into the torture tactics that the USPS used whilst they were there...
We will never forget!!!
3rd and 54th for large parcels? Are they kidding? What about doing the smart thing and transferring that service to Cooper Square Station, a mere 10 minute walk away?
I agree with Gojira. I came here to post the same thing.
Gojira: Because that would make sense.
On the upshot, this move might bring back non-usps owned and operated indie shipping and package-collection storefronts.
Just thinking about this dreaded portal to hell gets my blood boiling.
Saturday morning, I arrived just 20 minutes after it opened at 9am and became about the 6th person in line for a parcel pick up.
I was in that line for 50 MINUTES for I got my turn at the window.
I'd rather pay someone the minimum wage to stand in that line for me than do it myself. Nearly one bloody hour of my day off. A portion of that time was taken up by a gentleman in line ahead of me when the solitary worker could not find his package.
Her English was, shall we say, lacking, and their conversation about what he should do now that his package could not be found made me want to gouge my eyes out.
After those two exchanged non-sequiturs for 15 minutes, an additional PO employee finally came to her assistance and tended to the next person in line. By this time the line had swelled to at least two dozen people..............
Frankly, It would probably take me LESS TIME to travel from the EV to 58th and 3rd and retrieve a parcel - as long as it's not the same goddamn staff in place.
Something seems very wrong about saying that there won't be a local post office to pick up packages, especially since they NEVER ring the bell, just leave a notice. In fact, I wonder if they even bring the package at all, just leave a notice.
And, isn't this location technically in 10003, not 10009? Aren't post offices supposed to "live" in their zip code? Isn't that part of the purpose of the zip code.
I'll attest they do not ring the bell AND they don't redeliver like the option on the website states they will.
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