After taking one step forward last month, the plan to give Glendale its own ZIP code has taken a couple of steps back.
Though the plan sponsored by Congresswoman Grace Meng passed the House of Representatives in December as part of a bipartisan postal bill, the Senate failed to bring the measure up for a vote in the waning days of the previous session, so the bill expired.
All hope, however, is not lost in the years-long effort to take Glendale out of the 11385 ZIP code it has shared with Ridgewood for decades and provide it with its own postal identity. Meng said she would try again to make the plan a reality, adding that she is encouraged with the bill’s prospects considering that the Republican-led House passed the measure during the lame-duck session last month.
“We’re hopeful that the legislation will move forward in this new session of Congress. We will be reintroducing the measure soon,” Meng said in a statement to QNS on Thursday.
Many Glendale residents have long desired their own ZIP code after experiencing confusion related to delivery of packages, as many postage programs and GPS devices do not recognize Glendale as being part of the 11385 ZIP code (the area is identified as Ridgewood or Flushing).
More than 90,000 people reside in the 11385 ZIP code, nearly three times the population of Maspeth and Middle Village; each of those neighborhoods has its own ZIP code and post office. Glendale has a postal station on Myrtle Avenue near 70th Street, but to pick up a package or open up a post office box, residents have to travel to the Ridgewood post office on Myrtle Avenue at Decatur Street.
The expired postal bill would have required the United States Postal Service (USPS) to establish a separate, yet-to-be-identified ZIP code for Glendale by Sept. 30 of this year.
