Electeds Join Together To Keep Grand Station P.O. Open

Closing the Grand Station Post Office would leave community members, many of whom are seniors and immigrants, at a disadvantage. Queens Gazette wrote about the rally in which Senator Gianaris participated as well as the letter he sent along with fellow local elected officials.

Astoria’s four legislative representatives have joined together in the effort to convince the United States Postal Service (USPS) to keep the Grand Station post office in Astoria open for business.

The quartet—Congressmember Carolyn Maloney (D–Queens/Manhattan), state Senator Michael Gianaris (D–Astoria), Assemblymember Aravella Simotas (D–Astoria) and Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. (D–Astoria) sent a joint letter to U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe requesting that USPS keep open the busy facility at 45-08 30th Ave.

“Closing this facility would severely burden residents living in the area who rely on it for their daily needs,” they wrote in their letter to Donohoe.

They also requested to meet with him or with Frank Calabrese, the USPS’s Triboro District Manager, who oversees the postal district served by Grand Station.

The lawmakers went into action after the USPS placed Grand Station on a list of its facilities being considered for closing.

Maloney said in a statement: “Closing the busy post office at Grand Station will deprive the large numbers of seniors and immigrants living in Astoria of a facility on which they rely day in and day out. In the coming weeks and months, I will be joining with my colleagues in elected office to encourage residents and businesses in the community to respond vigorously to surveys issued by the Postal Service, and to let USPS know just how much they value their local post office.”

Gianaris stated: “Closing the Grand Station Post Office would severely burden residents living in the area who rely on it for their daily needs. As a neighborhood with a large population of seniors and immigrants, closing this facility unfairly targets a subset of more vulnerable New Yorkers who have helped build the neighborhood to what it is today. It is not right that they should have to further suffer the consequences of the federal government’s economic hardships.”

Read the full article here.