Residents of Kew Gardens can rest easy now that their local post office will remain at its current location for the foreseeable future.
Four months after Congressmember Anthony Weiner helped broker an agreement to save the Kew Gardens post office, he announced that the deal has been finalized and the building lease has been signed, ensuring that this vital community service will remain open.
“Losing this post office would have been disastrous for the community,” Weiner said. “No neighborhood should be forced to live without such a vital service, and I’m pleased that everyone involved in this process understood that. While four months was a long time to wait to finally have a signed lease, it is still very good news.”
Since 2008, Weiner, along with the United States Postal Service, community leaders and a local property owner, have been working to reach an agreement to extend a lease agreement to avoid closing the neighborhood’s only post office located at 8330 Austin Street.
In 2006, a five-year lease was signed that included three guaranteed years and an option to extend the lease an additional two years to 2011. After the option was picked up, there was no further news about negotiating a long-term lease, leading to concern among many members of the community.
In March of 2009, Weiner and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wrote separate letters to the Post Master General asking that he ensure that Kew Gardens would continue to have a community post office.
