BROOKLYN BUS NETWORK REDESIGN AND KENSINGTON POST OFFICE CLEAN-UP (FREE, REMOTE)

Albemarle Neighborhood Association Meeting

Wednesday, March 29th, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

 

Guest speaker Michael Rosenbluth, a Kensington resident and neighborhood activist, will speak about the Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign, which would eliminate numerous bus stops and modify many routes. 

 

The second guest speaker, Sisi Keghida, Esq., will speak about the Kensington Post Office clean-up.

 

New York City Councilmember Shahana Hanif and New York State Assemblymember Robert Carroll have been invited to discuss issues of importance in New York City and New York State.

 

Join the meeting via Zoom at tinyurl.com/anameetingzoom.

Or join by phone by dialing 1 646 558 8656, then dialing the Meeting ID 846 9458 7577, and then dialing the Passcode 329381.

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About Albemarle Neighborhood Association

Albemarle Neighborhood Association (ANA) is the oldest neighborhood association in Brooklyn. Since its founding in 1973, it has worked to advance Kensington's quality of life. ANA's meetings are free and are open to the public. They provide a place for Kensington's residents to address safety, security, and quality of life issues.

ANA helps create a safe and stable neighborhood by working closely with its members, other neighborhood residents, city agencies, and elected officials to address key issues.

The boundaries of the geographic area that ANA serves are

    north: north side of Caton Avenue
    south: south side of Beverley Road
    west: west side of McDonald Avenue
    east: east side of Ocean Parkway

Albemarle Neighborhood Association

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Albemarle-Neighborhood-Association-of-Brooklyn-ANA-103114548271927/?ref=page_internal

website: https://anabrooklyn.org

SAVE THE POST OFFICE: A DAY OF ACTION

 

Save the Post Office: A Day of Action
Tuesday, August 25th, 6:00 p.m.

Join Occupy Kensington and the national movement to Save the Post Office on Tuesday, August 25th, at 6:00 p.m., at the Kensington Post Office.

This is a Day of Action to make three immediate demands to save our public postal service:

• Provide at least $25 billion in emergency COVID funding for the postal service.
• Stop the mail slowdown policies introduced by Postmaster General DeJoy and permanently reverse the delays.
• Ensure public confidence in voting-by-mail by providing all necessary resources for the timely delivery of election mail.

Bring signs that say, for example,

• #SaveThePostOffice
• We need $25B for the post office in emergency relief.
• Stop post office cutbacks.

Wear a mask and bring hand sanitizer. Keep your mask on, maintain social distance, and sanitize your hands, as needed, to protect each other.

 

US Mail Not for Sale is a worker-led campaign that brings together labor unions, elected officials, member organizations of A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service, community supporters, and the public to fight plans to sell the public Postal Service to the highest bidder.

Location 

Kensington Post Office

419 McDonald Avenue

between Church Avenue and Albemarle Road

Kensington, Brooklyn

 

KENSINGTON POST OFFICE, THE DAY AFTER THE FIRE

three boarded-up street-level windows

metal covering a second-floor window

cracked glass on the entrance door

work area hidden by cardboard

soot on a pillar in the service area

soot on another side of the pillar

The day after yesterday's fire at the Kensington Post Office, the facility opened for business at about 9:00 a.m. A view of the extent of the damage is hidden from the public by the cardboard that's covering the service windows.

Several employees had been at work sorting packages when the fire broke out. Luckily, none of them were injured.

When I asked the employee at the package pick-up window if mail had been destroyed, she answered "some but not much." Then she walked away.

An electrical fire caused the blaze.

FIRE DAMAGES KENSINGTON POST OFFICE

                                                                         (Credit: NBC 4 New York)

Fire broke out in the Kensington Post Office at 4:21 a.m. today. 

The incident was an "All Hands" fire, which calls for a minimum of three fire engines and two ladder trucks responding. More than sixty firefighters responded. Two of them received minor injuries and were taken to Maimonides Hospital.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and neither is the extent of the damage. Three windows on the first floor that firefighters knocked out have been boarded up.

The post office is at 419 McDonald Avenue, between Church Avenue and Albemarle Road, in Kensington. The two-story brick building was constructed in 1935.

The above video showing the fire-fighting efforts is preceded by a thirty-second advertisement.

COMPLAINTS ABOUT BROOKLYN POST OFFICES ARE BEING COLLECTED

If you've had any problems with your neighborhood post office and you live in Congressional District 9 (map), U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke would like to hear from you. Problems inside a station, problems with mail delivery, problems with package delivery--she wants to know about all of it.

Her staff is keeping a log of the complaints. Send an e-mail by filling out the form on her website at https://clarke.house.gov/contact/email or call her office at (718) 287-1142. I'm going to fill out the form right now!

Congressperson Clarke issued this press release yesterday, February 12, 2018:

Clarke Meets with Brooklyn Postmaster Concerning District’s Ongoing Postal Issues

BROOKLYN, NY – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) released the following statement after meeting with the Brooklyn Postmaster for USPS. In advance of today’s meeting, Congresswoman Clarke directed her staff to meet with constituents and visit post offices to gather firsthand evidence after receiving several complaints about poor postal service across the Ninth Congressional District:

“Today I met with the Brooklyn Postmaster, Anthony Impronto, to discuss the ongoing postal issues in New York’s Ninth Congressional District. The meeting was a good first step. I walked away with an even greater understanding of the systemic issues plaguing the USPS.  I expressed my concerns about delivery, efficiency, and service, including the suspension of mail service for nearly a week last month, which affected many seniors and people with disabilities. I also specifically raised concerns about unique issues faced by residents of affordable housing buildings.

“During the meeting, problem areas were identified and I suggested a number of new strategies to ensure that issues raised by Brooklyn residents are promptly and completely addressed, such as updating equipment and technology, providing better training, and a renewed commitment by USPS leadership to better retain staff. My staff is also exploring legislative options which we will share with the community and the Postmaster.

“Ultimately, Mr. Impronto and I had productive and open dialogue. I look forward to working with his team in the coming months and will continue to hold him accountable until the concerns of my constituents are addressed.”

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KENSINGTON POST OFFICE OPEN SUNDAYS

Through December 21st, the Kensington Post Office is open on Sundays so that customers can pick up their packages. The Sunday hours are 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

If you have any problems with this post office, please contact Heather Jane McCormick, a Kensington resident who serves on the Brooklyn Postal Service Customer Advisory Council as a volunteer representing our neighborhood.

Kensington Post Office
419 McDonald Avenue
between Church Avenue and Albemarle Road
phone: (718) 436-0164

PO'D ABOUT THE KENSINGTON P.O.? COMPLAINTS WANTED.

Ongoing Problems with the Kensington Post Office

Thursday, October 23rd, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Heather Jane McCormick wants you to air your grievances against the Kensington Post Office. As a Community Representative to the Brooklyn Postal Service Customer Advisory Council, Heather represents and advocates for customers of the Kensington P.O., reporting our community's numerous delivery and service problems to the council.

A few years ago, Heather decided to volunteer for the Advisory Council so that the Kensington P.O.'s many dissatisfied customers would have a unified voice. She assists community members who e-mail her at kensingtonpohelp [at] aol [dot] com with detailed descriptions of the problems they've encountered, whether at home or at the post office.

Heather will be the guest speaker at the Albemarle Neighborhood Association's upcoming meeting. If you e-mail your complaints to her by Wednesday, October 22nd, she can address them at the ANA meeting on Thursday, along with complaints that get brought up that night. In your e-mail, include the date, the time, the details of the problem, and your delivery address (or state that the problem took place in the post office).

Foodtown and ANA will provide light refreshments.

All of ANA's community meetings are free and open to the public. The group, founded in 1973, meets on the third Thursday of the month from September through November and from March through June. 

The current meeting location is the Flatbush Jewish Center, downstairs in the Hanid Room. The Center is at 327 E. 5th Street, at the corner of Church Avenue. Enter the building through the wheelchair-accessible entrance on the ground floor.

COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE KENSINGTON POST OFFICE WANTED

Unhappy Kensington Post Office customers were swapping stories on Facebook last week about the unpleasant and unsatisfactory experiences they've had both inside the post office and with getting their mail delivered. One of them suggested starting a Facebook page for complaints about the post office that would be printed out and presented by a group of customers to the post office's supervisor, local politicians, and the media.

In less than a half-hour, a page was created: Kensington Post Office, Brooklyn. "This page is meant as a forum to discuss issues, concerns, solutions, etc. in reference to our 'friendly neighborhood' post office at 419 McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn."

If any of you have had a negative experience either inside the Kensington Post Office or with mail delivery, please join your neighbors in writing about it on the Kensington Post Office, Brooklyn page.

NEIGHBORS AND POST OFFICE MEET TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS

Several months ago, a neighbor (Catherine) asked people to send her their concerns regarding mail delivery in zip code 11218. She collected twenty-five separate complaints. Over a period of several weeks, she patiently worked her way through the postal system in an attempt to find an advocate to help us. Her patience was rewarded: representatives from USPS Consumer Affairs called a meeting at the Kensington post office to further discuss these complaints with the manager.

Attending last Wednesday's meeting, in addition to Catherine, were

• Alan Dubrow, Chairman of Community Board 12, and Heather McCormick, a member of the Albemarle Neighborhood Association, both of whom represent our neighborhood on the USPS Community Advisory Council of the Brooklyn Postmaster,
• Andrea Burrows and Archie Warner, who work in the Consumer Affairs Office of the Brooklyn Postmaster, and
• Kensington Station Manager Mike Scalise.

Everyone present agreed that the delivery and service problems in our area are real and significant. The Post Office officials seemed sincere in their commitment to make improvements.

The best course for postal customers to take is to report problems as they happen, since unknown issues can't be addressed. If you experience problems (for example, no delivery on a particular day, lost packages, etc.), here are two suggestions:

1. Call the Kensington Post Office and speak to Mike Scalise. He gave Catherine these three numbers to use:

• (718) 436-0164
• (718) 436-1082
• (718) 686-7293

2. Send an e-mail to Heather McCormick. She has set up a separate account to gather information regarding post office problems in 11218. Heather compiles the data and forwards it to the Brooklyn Postmaster's office on a regular basis. She requests that when you write you are as detailed as possible, describing the issue, the date/time, and your delivery address. The email address is: kensingtonpohelp at] aol.com.

CONTACT FOR KENSINGTON P.O. PROBLEMS

Our neighbor, Heather McCormick, is the Albemarle Neighborhood Association's representative on the Brooklyn postal service's Community Advisory Council (BPCAC), a group of community volunteers who meet regularly with Brooklyn Post Office officials (including the Customer Affairs department) to resolve consumer issues throughout the borough. Heather would like to make it easier for Kensington residents to get in touch with her about their concerns and problems with the Kensington Post Office (11218) and neighborhood mail delivery.

She has set up a new e-mail address--kensingtonpohelp [at] aol.com--dedicated solely to Post Office issues, which she will check regularly. She emphasizes that the more specific you can be about your service problems--dates, times, and places where the problems have occurred--the better able she will be to get help for you.