Most of Mary Mendez’s mail says she lives in Ridgewood.
The Glendale resident has grown used to the fact that when ordering items online, her address will come up as Ridgewood.
“Most of the time I’ll just tell people I live there [in Ridgewood],” Mendez said.
The address confusion stems from the fact that Glendale and Ridgewood share the 11385 ZIP code — and have for more than 30 years.
Congressmember Bob Turner and Assemblymember Mike Miller want to change that, though, and have submitted an application to the United States Postal Service (USPS) for a unique Glendale ZIP code.
“Glendale is a unique community and should have its own ZIP code,” Turner said. “Sharing a ZIP code has created numerous, and sometimes dangerous, problems for Glendale residents, such as delays in medication delivery and first responder services.”
Prior to 1979, the neighboring communities shared their zip code with a third neighborhood in another borough — Bushwick.
Residents of the Queens neighborhoods wanted to disassociate with Bushwick following the 1977 riots and were given the ZIP code they have today.
Miller called the lack of an individual ZIP code a serious issue that needs to be addressed. “Real people are affected,” he said.
More than 1,000 Glendale residents signed a petition asking for the change.
Many feel the problem goes deeper than mail addressed to Ridgewood.
“It’s about a community identity, about keeping communities together,” said Nick Roloson, Miller’s chief of staff.
“Most people aren’t sure where Glendale is; it’s kind of no man’s land,” said Mitch Lindstedt, a Glendale resident. “I feel the lack of a ZIP is a big reason why.”
Turner said that 11384 is available and would allow the USPS to easily remedy the situation with the change of a single digit. An answer should come by the end of the summer.
Repeated calls to the USPS for a comment went unreturned.
