KEARNY –
On Aug. 1, 2013, the U.S. Postal Service shuttered its West Hudson Station, a storefront faciity at 255 Kearny Ave., in the wake of a plumbing mishap in the apartment above that leaked below, causing the postal space to be enveloped in an environmentally unclean mess.
But it wasn’t until several weeks later, that a USPS supervisor posted a notice to customers advising that services at the Kearny Ave. facility were “emergency suspended … due to the building being declared unsafe for human occupancy by the Town of Kearny.” And patrons with postal boxes were directed to pick up their mail at the main Kearny Post Office on Midland Ave.
The USPS said the West Hudson Station “is being studied for permanent closure.” In the months that followed, there has been no word from postal authorities about the status of the West Hudson Station.
Until now, that is.
A posted notice taped to the front entrance of the Midland Ave. Post Office is inviting postal customers to fill out a questionnaire, the replies to which “will be considered in the feasibility study for the West Hudson Station.” And it asks patrons to return the questionnaires “no later than May 13.”
Patrons are also afforded the opportunity to submit comments on how a “proposed discontinuance” of the West Hudson Station would impact “on the regularity or effectiveness of your postal services” and “on your community.”
The questionnaire asks patrons if they use the West Hudson Station for a variety of services such as buying stamps, mailing letters and/or parcels, picking up box and/or general delivery mail, buying money orders, special services like certified/registered/insured mail, sending Express and/or Priority mail, buying stamp-collecting material, bulk mailings, etc.
It also asks if customers use “alternative methods to conduct business with the Postal Service,” such as online services. And it asks if patrons would continue to use local businesses if the West Hudson Station were closed. It also asks if customers use “a means of transportation” to access the West Hudson Branch.
– Ron Leir
