Schumer calls on USPS to reopen West Kill Post Office a year and a half after fire

WEST KILL―More than a year and a half after a fire forced the closure of the West Kill Post Office, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer has joined the fight in calling on the United States Postal Service (USPS) to work with the local officials and fully restore mail services.

“Every day this post office remains closed, the community of West Kill is deprived of an essential service,” Schumer said Thursday.

“The West Kill community has been asking for answers but has heard nothing,” he said. “West Kill deserves transparency and action, which is why I’m calling on the USPS to work with residents to immediately reinstate postal service in the town.”

An electrical fire resulted in significant smoke and water damage to the leased building on Spruceton Road back in January of 2025. Since then, the landlord has indicated that he does not plan to make it available for rent.

One of the problems, Lexington Town Supervisor Bob Riccardella has said is that there are no other locations available in the hamlet and local officials have requested that USPS consider permanently moving mail service to the nearby Lexington Post Office.

Since the fire, carrier delivery has continued uninterrupted. But mail services have been shifted to Shandaken―requiring residents to drive along Route 42 into Ulster County for in-person needs.

“Residents have been forced to travel over seven miles along a remote highway that lacks cell service and is dangerous to travel in the winter months,” said Schumer.

In a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, Schumer implored the USPS to “act swiftly and diligently to immediately reinstate the West Kill Post Office and restore full mail services in West Kill, whether through a timely restoration of the existing location at West Kill or through securing an alternative location nearby.”

“I urge you to act with full transparency and cooperation in engaging the West Kill community on the Postal Service’s plans for reinstating the West Kill Post Office. The West Kill community deserves answers as to the future of their post office―and the USPS must act in full faith and transparency to provide the community with the answers it deserves,” Schumer told Steiner.

The senator’s official involvement follows an August 8 rally at the Lexington Post Office that drew about 60 people for a peaceful protest, and a June 30 letter sent to Steiner by Riccardella and Congressman Josh Riley.

“The lack of details regarding the timeline and implementation of the alternate quarters project and the restoration of mail delivery service to the hamlet of West Kill is unacceptable,” Riccardella and Riley wrote, adding that the post office is a lifeline, not a luxury, for many rural residents.

“Our neighbors depend on it to deliver far more than personal mail,” they continued. “Seniors rely on timely delivery of medications and residents without reliable transportation depend on it for essential goods.”

Traveling to Shandaken for mail services, Riccardella and Riley noted, “is a far cry from the shorter and safer commute [residents] would have to the neighboring post office in Lexington.”

In a response to Riccardella and Riley, USPS Government Relations Representative James Cari said the agency is searching for a new site and “cannot offer a timeframe for completion at this time.”

“In the meantime, the Shandaken Post Office will continue to provide the community with regular and effective service,” Cari wrote, noting that while the Lexington Post Office is closer to West Kill, Shandaken was selected “because it is better operationally equipped.”

The West Kill Post Office, Schumer noted, has served the community for nearly two centuries.

“The residents of West Kill have been harmed by the Postal Service’s delay in reopening the West Kill Post Office for far too long,” Schumer said. “Any further delay in reinstating the West Kill Post Office is unacceptable.”