Tejeda Post Office may lose its lease
by Daniel P. Bader Residents who get their mail from the Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda Post Office on W. 180th Street got some bad news in their mailboxes: a card from the postal service explaining that the 30-year lease on the building is set to expire in June and the station may close. “It’s a signal that the initial part of the negotiations did not go well,” Postal Service spokesperson George Flood said, explaining the cards. Though he wouldn’t rule out a deal being struck with the station’s current landlord, the government is shopping around for another space. “We’re still pursuing all of our options,” Flood said. A deal keeping the station where it is doesn’t seem likely though. According to Congressman Charles Rangel’s office, rent for the station is currently $300,000 per year. Flood said the landlord is asking for over a million dollars a year for the next lease. “Our realtor told us it was above market rate,” he said. “We are aggressively pursuing an alternative.” Once the lease expires and the doors are shuttered, the post office will literally be out on the curb in the form of a Mobile Post Office. “It looks like a very large ice cream truck,” Flood said. “It has a door that raises up.” The truck will provide the same services as a regular post office except for money orders and credit card transactions. Because the trucks don’t have phone lines, those will have to wait until a new station opens up. “I’m very upset by that,” said Sonia Gonzalez, a 31-year resident of the nearby Bridge Apartments. “When they have those trucks you still have to wait in line to get your mail.” Gonzalez rents one of 730 post office boxes at the station. She said at one time, there were three people with her name living in the Bridge Apartments, and more than once police came knocking at her door looking for one of the other Sonia Gonzalezes. After a few such unpleasant experiences, she got a P.O. Box – that was over a decade ago. “I just go to the post office to get my mail,” she said. “I can’t see waiting to get my mail.” If the site closes, Flood said box holders would have to wait in line, and since there won’t be a box to match her key in the truck, Gonzalez will have to show picture identification to get her mail. Even if the station moves, the truck will be necessary in the one to two months it would take to get the new station up and running. If the station closes at the end of June, it means customers will be waiting in line through the heat of July and August. Flood said if and when the post office moves, it will be relocated within three to four blocks of the current station. That worries Gonzalez too. “In all my years I’ve never heard of a post office picking up and moving,” said Gonzalez. A retired nurse, Gonzalez, 60, is still active, but because of knee problems, she can’t walk very far. “There are times I can walk three to four blocks, but sometimes I can’t walk more than two,” she said. According to Flood, one thing that will not change, however, is the name of the post office, which was named after the first soldier from the neighborhood killed in Iraq. That will follow the station to its new location, wherever that may be. Gonzalez said she is starting a petition to keep the station where it is. She empathized with the post office, agreeing that $1 million is a lot for rent, but she doesn’t want it to move or close. A petition she plans to start might send a message and would certainly spread the word. She pointed out that the card everyone got in the mail was printed only in English, while 75 percent of the community speaks Spanish. “Those cards that they sent – I’m sure a lot of [residents] threw it out.” One person who might sign her petition is Congressman Charles Rangel. "I demand a clear and official explanation of your decision to possibly close or relocate this post office," Rangel wrote in a letter to Postmaster General John Potter. "Those affected by the actions taken by the postal service should be notified with a responsible contingency plan. … Closing the post office is not an option the community will accept." Rangel spokesperson Emile Milne said the congressman has been assured that service will be maintained. “Mr. Rangel is on top of it,” he said. The landlord at 555 W. 180th Street was unreachable for comment. The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.
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