Dinowitz fighting for Bronx post offices

Below is a letter from Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz requesting that two post offices in his district remain open.

Postal worker Wilfredo Figueroa
with his fellow union members outside
the Bronx General Post Office last month.

Last week, the United States Postal Service announced they were studying 34 offices in the city for possibly closure. Of the 34, half (17) are in the Bronx.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr and Rep Eliot Engel have also voiced their support for the offices. All three Bronx pols have said senior citizens and local mom and pop stores will be terribly hurt if certain offices close.

In the letter, Dinowitz references the distance between Fieldston and Kingsbridge. For those of you not familiar with the area, to get from one office to the other, a person would have to walk down (then back up) 120 stairs between Waldo Avenue and Irwin Avenue, and then seven blocks south. I suppose you could hop on a bus to get there, but really, that shouldn't even be necessary.

Mr. Patrick R. Donahoe

Postmaster General

U.S. Postal Service

475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW

Washington, DC 20260-0010

Dear Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe:

            I am writing to urge you to reconsider your misguided proposal to consider closing two post offices within my Assembly district.  These two post offices, Fieldston and Spuyten Duyvil, are vital to our community and many residents depend on them.  Many of their customers are senior citizens who do not have access to transportation to bring them to another post office location.  Furthermore, the next closest post office, Kingsbridge, is always crowded and plagued with long lines.  Closing the two nearest post offices will only exacerbate this problem.  I am also gravely concerned about the potential loss of jobs and negative effect on economic activity that the closures could entail.

It is particularly troubling that of the 34 post offices being considered for closure in New York City, 17 are in the Bronx, far more than any other borough.  Our borough is unfairly being asked to bear the brunt of these cutbacks.

            The Fieldston and Spuyten Duyvil post offices are a tremendous benefit to our community, and it would be a terrible disservice to my constituents to cut off these important resources.  Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

                                                             Sincerely,

                                                             Jeffrey Dinowitz

                                                             Member of Assembly