The little post office that could

At the beginning of October, I wrote an article for my The Beat: Reporting Downtown class at NYU about a tiny post office on the Lower East Side that was on the United States Postal Service's list for closure.

Because of massive losses (due in large part to the internet!) the USPS is trying to scale back its services. The Pitt Street Post Office is special because it sits in a NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community - with at least 50 percent of residents 60 and over) on Clinton Street, and the elderly is the one of the biggest snail mail demographics.

My teacher, who has connections at the Daily News, submitted my article and it was published on Nov. 18.

Daily News article from Nov. 18

Then Gothamist, a prominent NYC blog, picked it up:

Gothamist's Extra Extra

I was already excited about the attention the story was getting, until Nov. 20, when the USPS announced they were reducing the list of closing P.O.s in NYC from 14 to five.

Gothamist: Post Office Death Count Down to 5

The Pitt Street Post Office is staying open!

The decision of the USPS was due in part to community activism (and there has been a lot around Clinton Street) but I was so happy that my article may have had influence, no matter how little or how much.