It's been three months since seven post offices in the Tampa Bay area have been closed, because of damages from the recent hurricanes.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa says that's too long.
She has fired off a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, asking for an update on when two of those in her district — in Ruskin and Town 'n Country — will be repaired, and reopened.
“Think about all of the commerce now that is done through the mail,” she said. ”People need a functional post office. They need these post offices to reopen as soon as possible. And at the very least, United States Postal Service needs to provide an update and improve their communication, because right now we're we're not hearing much of anything about their plan to repair and reopen."
Castor said she hasn't seen any updates from federal officials on the closures since early November. But she has heard from some of her constituents, who have complained about having to drive miles to the nearest open post office, where they're running into longer lines to have to conduct business.
Castor says she's getting tired of not hearing from postal officials about when they're going to reopen.
"I think folks were, a month after a hurricane or two months there, they understand that people and businesses need time to recover. But here we are, three months later without any information about a plan to reopen those post offices," she said.
"This is a growing dynamic community, and people cannot be inconvenienced for too long like this," she said. "It's just, it's completely frustrating. And USPS now needs to get their act together and and answer some questions about their plan of action."
