Congressman LaLota intervenes in Sound Beach Post Office closure

Sound Beach residents are searching for answers regarding the closure of their post office, located at 25 New York Ave., but are receiving the support of U.S. Congressman Nick LaLota (R-NY1). A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service confirmed the location has been closed since May 26.

“Sound Beach Post Office remains closed awaiting necessary repairs,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We continue to work with the building’s owner to complete the work and do not have a time frame to reopen.”

When asked to provide further detail on the repairs that are needed, the spokesperson referred TBR News Media to the building’s owner, who rents the facility to USPS.

An agent for the corporation which owns the facility, according to the Town of Brookhaven’s property records, did not respond to an email request for comment.

The spokesperson for USPS directed residents in need of “retail services” to Rocky Point Post Office located at 346 Route 25A Ste. 84, and confirmed P.O. Boxes have been relocated to Miller Place. 

A spokesperson for LaLota sent TBR News Media a copy of a letter the congressman wrote to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, Aug. 8, demanding answers and a resolution to the closure. 

LaLota noted in the letter that his constituents have been severely inconvenienced and urged DeJoy to “strongly reconsider the current mail forwarding plan in place,” in reference to the relocation of retail services and P.O. Boxes. The letter further stated that USPS has asked LaLota’s office to “check back in September for more details” on a time frame to reopen.

“I urge the USPS to find an immediate solution that provides relief to my constituents and consumers of the Sound Beach Post Office,” the letter read. “My office and I stand ready to assist the USPS resume retail and P.O. Box operations in Sound Beach and help facilitate a work around that will best serve constituents.”

LaLota said in a separate email through his spokesperson that he sent the letter after “initial staff-level dialogue proved unfruitful.” 

“The Postal Service’s lack of urgency and poor communication falls short of my constituents’ reasonable expectations,” LaLota said in the email. “Specifically, the Postal Service telling thousands of customers and my office they won’t have any more information on this issue until after September 1 demonstrates a lack of leadership and accountability at the Postal Service’s management level. I encourage my constituents to focus their frustrations on management, not the hardworking letter carriers, retail clerks and warehouse workers. I will continue a dialogue with management until this issue is resolved to my constituents’ satisfaction.”

Brookhaven Town Councilwoman Jane Bonner (R-Rocky Point), who represents Sound Beach, said she has spoken to LaLota’s office, and while he is trying to seek answers for residents, she confirms the federal USPS has been difficult to deal with.

“The post office is not being terribly forthcoming with information, and the congressman is not happy about that at all,” Bonner said. “He knows that it’s terribly inconvenient, especially for our senior citizens, to have to drive to Miller Place to get their mail. There doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency from the postmaster general to resolve this.”

Bea Ruberto, president of the Sound Beach Civic Association, confirmed residents have been left in the dark about a reopening date, and a timeline for the repairs.

“We have not been able to get much of an answer to what’s happening,” she said. “The concern is given the fact that the work has to be done, they use this as an excuse to shut down our post office.”

Ruberto said she heard there was an initial problem with the ceiling, which then turned into a larger repair. One day, there was a notice on the front door of the post office directing residents to go elsewhere. 

The post office is central to the business district in Sound Beach, Ruberto said, which already struggles due to not having a downtown.

“The only thing that Sound Beach has is the post office,” she said. “That’s almost like the center of our town. We lose that and we lose part of where our business district is.”

Miller Place Post Office, which is where Ruberto said people are being sent for their P.O. Boxes, and Rocky Point Post Office are 1.9 miles, and 2.1 miles away, respectively, from the Sound Beach Post Office. Ruberto said these reassignments are “not a minor inconvenience.”

In one instance, according to LaLota’s letter, a “permanently disabled combat veteran did not receive a temperature-controlled medication from the VA, which must remain refrigerated, due to mail forwarding. The VA advised this constituent the medication was being returned as undeliverable. This is a completely unacceptable failure.”

Ultimately, the post office closure, Ruberto said, is yet another example of Sound Beach being forgotten and left behind. 

“We’re off the beaten track,” she said. “So our businesses already lose customers because people have to go out of their way to get to us. The post office is really an important part of how all of this works.”