The U.S. Postal Service has decided not to shut down the Queens Processing and Distribution Center in College Point, a move that will save more than 700 jobs.
Thanks for this turnaround goes to U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman.
“The decision to take the processing and distribution center off the chopping block is great news for the residents of Queens and the many businesses that depend on the critical services provided by this facility,” said Ackerman.
On behalf of our readers, we thank Ackerman for fighting to keep this facility in College Point.
In December, he wrote a letter to the USPS’s Triboro district manager, urging the agency not to eliminate mail operations at the facility.
To head off pending bankruptcy, the USPS had to close hundreds of facilities across the nation. In some cases, the service is closing post offices in towns and villages with small populations. People are losing jobs and these towns are losing a service they have come to rely on.
These were tough and unpopular decisions, but closing the College Point processing center never made sense. The fact that the center employed more than 700 people indicates the quantity of mail it handled.
“Businesses and organizations that send bulk mail would be particularly impacted as collection times would be earlier, while drop off times would be later,” wrote Ackerman.
One more reason why we will miss the congressman when he retires.
Hero Dumps on Plan
Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the hero pilot who safely landed an airliner on the Hudson River, has lent his voice to those denouncing the construction of the North Shore Marine Transfer Station.
Critics say the waste station, being built in College Point, will attract birds and put passenger planes landing at LaGuardia Airport at risk of potentially disastrous bird strikes.
Sullenberger agrees. In radio ads he says the station “will attract birds into the path of oncoming flights, putting thousands of lives at risk, including passengers in the sky and citizens on the ground.”
Find another location, Mr. Mayor.
