A town hall held by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D – NY 14th District) Wednesday night in Pelham Parkway, addressed several issues including the war in Ukraine, immigration, gun rights and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
But for Bronxite Daina Finch, 68, being able to utilize her local post office was her priority.
“Locally, we’ve just had so much trouble with our post offices being understaffed and underfunded,” she said. Her question to Ocasio-Cortez was an update on Postmaster Louis DeJoy who was appointed by USPS Board of Governors under former President Trump to lead the agency.
On March 23, 2021, Dejoy announced the Delivering for America plan, a 10 year plan to help the agency out of its $160B projected debt and “achieve financial sustainability and service excellence.” Since implemented, the USPS has consolidated its districts from 67 to 50 and in July, Dejoy said he plans to cut the USPS workforce by 50,000.
For Finch, this would impact her publishing business that relies heavily on mailing.
“Fewer people at the post office, which means longer lines,” she said.
“It all feeds on itself. if you’re understaffed, then people have to wait in lines, and it’s harder for them to do business” she continued.
Ocasio-Cortez is part of a subcommittee within the congressional oversight committee whose scope includes the USPS. “I think it’s an issue that’s not getting enough attention,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“And it’s, it’s really concerning, because we’ve seen both how much postal services are relied on, but how much they are under invested in our community, especially this neck of the woods, in this part of the Bronx,” she said.
The almost two-hour town hall was interrupted at times by protesters who did not agree with Ocasio-Cortez’s stands on the war in Ukraine and the migrants’ housing in New York City.
“None of this matters unless there’s a nuclear war, which you voted to send arms and weapons to Ukraine…..You originally voted — ran as an outsider yet you have been voting to start this war in Ukraine. You are voting to start a third war with Russia and China, ” a protester shouted from the audience regarding the representative voting for military and financial aid to be sent to Ukraine.
“I believed in you and you became the very thing you said you’ll fight against,” another protester erupted from the audience.
Ocasio-Cortez also announced she is working with the office of Mayor Eric Adams to complete a federal Housing & Development grant program application that would help with the City’s housing crisis. “We need more housing and we need that housing to be for us. It shouldn’t be for Wall Street. It shouldn’t be for people who are trying to squeeze us every single time for rent. And we need to make sure that the city is affordable,” she said.