WEST PARK – With the lease expiring for the West Park post office, the 200 to 300 residents in that hamlet will have to travel five miles each way to the Lloyd post office to retrieve their mail.
Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) last week initiated an online petition drive with over 100 signatures already gathered, and now he says he is going to deliver it directly to the postmaster general.
The existing post office is closing because the lease with the private building owner has expired, according to a postal service spokesman. He did not say if the agency was looking for a new location in West Park.
Ryan said the local post office is a lifeline for local residents, he said. “Our community is ready to rally in force to save the West Park post office and ensure our neighbors don’t get left behind,” he said.
“Driving to Highland is not just an inconvenience and for many of my friends and neighbors a hardship,” said nine-year West Park resident Claire Buglion. “It is stripping away our identity as a town.”
‘West Park is a strong, close-knit community, and having our own local post office – with Tammy as our wonderful postmaster – is part of what makes this small hamlet so special,” said local resident Patricia Cutugno.
Melissa Ortquist is a senior citizen who walks to the West Park post office to get her mail. “I get some of my medications through the mail. Going to Highland to get my mail would be a huge inconvenience for me and my neighbors. I am worried that I will not get my prescriptions on time. Highland is way out of my way,” she said.
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