Our top story tonight. The plan to move mail processing from Buffalo to Rochester,
the United States post office now says it will not
go ahead with the plan to transfer those operations.
Senator Charles Schumer says he had a personal
call with the postmaster General about that plan.
Schumer and dozens of local county and state leaders have been
calling for the post office to rethink it saying it was
disrupt services and result in a loss of many
jobs right here in Buffalo and Western New York
and joining me live in studio is New York State. Senator Tim Kennedy.
Thank you so much for joining us. Good to be with you. Nice to have you here.
Why do you think they made this decision?
Well, look at our community stood up for ourselves and you know,
it was driven by the workers, uh Frank Resetar
in the Postal service union and
um Dave
Grosskopf and the Letter Carriers Union representing hundreds of employees,
men and women that make this work every day go around and
the things that we don't see and the things that we see
uh are really uh to take credit for this along with a
tremendous leadership at every level of
government starting at the highest levels.
Uh Senator Chuck Schumer
stepped up early. Uh Senator Gillibrand, Congressman, Brian Higgins,
uh myself and
uh Howard Johnson, the legislator from
Erie County
uh council members. No. Aow.
And Everhart,
we stood together with the Postal Service Union and the
letter carriers and we said not now and not ever.
Uh
The William Street Post Office is an essential
component to economic growth in our community,
to making sure that businesses have confidence in our community as
we're trying to attract businesses and jobs to Western New York
and making sure that the economy goes around.
It's so important to commerce, so important to our way of life.
And we're proud that today, you know,
we have some very good news for our community and the
William Street Post office is here to definitely a big win.
But let's talk about the post office when we think about it. We know
when you see things like Amazon and what people are doing,
um the post office, they're struggling, right?
You go in the post office, you see it, there are not a lot of workers,
they are struggling to stay afloat and so they have to do something.
And some would say that this plan to move operations from
Buffalo to Rochester was part of that maybe cost savings measure.
Do you think we will see it again?
And do you think that maybe something like this will have
to happen down the road so that they can stay alive.
A little over a decade ago,
they tried this and our community rejected the notion that
the post office on William Street could be moved.
There are hundreds of people that do the work each and every day to
make sure that when we put a letter in the mail or we deliver a
package or a senior is depending on their prescription pills to come in the
mail or we're waiting on a tax bill to arrive or a paycheck that,
that is done in an efficient and effective manner here in our community.
And when the Post Master General tried to,
uh open up a conversation about moving our postal
services from here down the road to Rochester,
our community stood up for ourselves and we rejected the idea.
We rejected the notion
because, you know,
when you think about the efficiency of delivering a package from point A to point B,
it's not rocket science, but it takes a lot of work and those workers,
those letter carriers,
those postal workers each and every day that we
don't see behind the scenes that are actually moving around
these packages and these uh deliveries.
Um, you know, they're the ones that are really to take credit for,
for moving our economy.
And to think that to deliver uh a letter across the street,
it would have to go 75 miles down the road
to Rochester to turn around to be delivered back.
You can imagine the inefficiency of that. The the higher cost of that.
That doesn't make any sense for anybody.
So, you know,
as the postal service in the future is looking for
a long range plan because they're gonna have to,
they,
they, they, they may look at other things.
But we know that the William Street Post Office
is an effective tool to moving our economy forward,
to sustaining confidence,
our community to make sure that we continued this
momentum and economic growth that we've seen over the last
decade.
Plus,
we know that we heard the politicians first come out and
give us the news that it was going to stay.
But was this really a win for the union
workers because they shouted out loud from the beginning?
Yeah, that's where I started this conversation today.
You know, it was the hundreds of workers that stood up.
It was the union leaders that really delivered the message.
And you know, we public officials uh amplified that message.
I wrote a letter to the postmaster General
down in Washington DC. I know Senator Schumer had multiple conversations.
Senator Gillibrand,
Congressman Higgins, every level of government.
Be it the county, the city,
but it was driven by the workers because they know what's at stake and
it's the service and the delivery that our community has become dependent upon.
And really it's the economy and you think about what we've gone through after,
uh COVID and the pandemic and how our economy slowed down across the nation.
We're finally getting back on our feet and
as we're getting back on our feet,
the last thing we need is a dent in the armor
and the services that our community has depended on for generations.
At the William Street post office, moved down the road,
uh to Rochester.
We weren't gonna let that happen and we stood up for
ourselves and today it was a victory for our community.
And certainly it is great news for Buffalo
and Western New York and the postal workers.
And
I just wanna hit on this 0.1 more time because we always hear that not in my backyard,
you're not gonna do it to me, you're not gonna do it to Buffalo and Western New York.
But
do we have to face reality that one day
sometimes things have to change a little bit because again,
the post office is struggling.
Yeah.
Look at, if things are gonna change, they're not gonna change here because it is not
uh doesn't make any sense that the common sense approach
is to maintain the Williams Street post office as is,
as has been determined is the right thing to do by the
postmaster general and the United States Postal Service in this moment.
But
it took our community standing up for ourselves. The postal worker
that really rallied to the call. And uh because of that.
Uh, we're gonna have the,
uh,
Williams Street Post office intact and all of the services
that it provides on a daily basis in place,
uh, for many years to come and jobs as well.
Right. 100% hundreds of jobs that we depend upon. And,
you know, look at this is personal for all of us in our way of life.
You know, my wife's father was a letter carrier for 35 years.
Her grandfather for over 30 years, her great uncle for over 30 years.
So, for over 90 years, my own family delivered mail
and, uh, you know, it's a, it's, it's, it's, people become dependent upon
the services and the workers that do that work each and every day,
their jobs are not protected,
but the services that they provide are protected as well.
New York State Senator Tim Kennedy joining us on the 530 to talk about the move for,
uh, the postal service is keeping operations here
in Western New York and not moving them down the road to Rochester.
Thank you once again for coming on 530 today.
Well.