14
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 22-28, 2022
Sheepshead Post Office still closed a year after fire
BY BEN BRACHFELD
A Sheepshead Bay post office
that shuttered after a major fire
has still not reopened more than
a year later, and locals say it’s
been impacting mail delivery in
a neighborhood with a high population
of senior citizens.
The mail facility’s building, at
the corner of Jerome Avenue and
East 18th Street, was the site of a
devastating inferno in February
2021. While luckily no one was
hurt, and no mail was destroyed,
the facility itself suffered massive
damage and was forced to
temporarily close its doors. PO
Box holders and other users of
the branch, officially deemed
Bay Station, were instructed to
access services at the Homecrest
branch a few blocks away.
But the temporary closure has
now lasted more than a year, and
some residents speculate that it
has led to diminished mail service
in an area where many older
residents still rely heavily on the
postal service for communication.
“My friend mailed me a holiday
card, we’re in the same ZIP code,”
said Avenue Z resident Ed Greenspan.
“And it took eight days.”
“I’m hearing from other people,
the mail is horrendous,”
Greenspan continued. “And
what we can’t figure out is why
the post office hasn’t opened. It’s
been a year!”
The United States Postal
Service told local City Councilmember
Inna Vernikov in January
that repairs were set to begin
this winter, but in a letter to
Brooklyn postmaster John Tortorice
sent on April 18, she said
she had not received an update in
the past three months.
“My constituents in District
48 are in desperate need of a local
post office,” Vernikov wrote.
“The Bay Post Office provided a
plethora of services beyond just
posting mail. There is a dearth of
these local services in our community
with the post office out of
commission.”
Vernikov said in her letter
that the parcel people should offer
“mobile services” at the site
in the interim. “As we await repairs
to be completed, I believe
it would be beneficial to the community
to offer mobile post office
services at the Bay Post Office
site,” she said.
A spokesperson for the USPS
said that while the organization
has been able to restore “carrier
operations” at Bay Station, the
damage from the fire was such
that retail operations continue
to be untenable. Those with a
PO Box are still being directed
to pick up mail at the Homecrest
office. The spokesperson did not
say whether the postal service is
planning to offer mobile services.
“The Postal Service remains
committed to working with the
landlord to make necessary repairs
at the fire-damaged Bay
Station facility,” said USPS
spokesperson Xavier C. Hernandez.
“We are in the process of getting
Bay Station repaired and
we look forward to returning as
soon as it is possible, but to this
point we cannot operate normally
at that location.”
Hernandez said that the office’s
long-term closure shouldn’t
be impacting USPS’s ability to
deliver mail in the area, even if
some customers experience delays.
He also said that repairs
and maintenance are the responsibility
not of the USPS, but of
the building’s landlord. City records
indicate that the building
is owned by Waldorf Realty Co.
Inc; a phone call to that business
was not returned.
Asked for a response, Vernikov
argued that the USPS was simply
shifting blame to the landlord to
justify the slow progress.
“Shifting blame onto circumstances
and other parties is
avoiding taking responsibility,”
she said.
The Bay Station Post Office in Sheepshead Bay on fire on Feb. 12, 2021. Citizen