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AT LAST: As of January 18th, almost three months to the dayafter a speeding BMW hit the back of a taxi, sending it crashing into the front of the building,the Hudson Street Post Office was back in business. Having spent the interim working at the Varick Street branch, our old friends Debra, Mr. Martinez, and their colleagues were beingwelcomed home by delighted customers.

Why had repairs taken 13 weeks? The smashed employee service door had had to be replaced and, because of the force of the impact, the building’s structure had to be carefully checked for possible peripheral damage; but nobody seemed to be able to explain why quite such a long shutdown – not the building’s owner, and certainly not the Post Office staff, who had themselves been puzzled by the re-opening’s many postponements. “We kept being told ‘two more weeks,’ then that it would be ‘another couple of weeks,’ and then another couple – it just went on and on!”WestViewsuspected that, inevitably, bureaucratic procedures may have played a part – especially since, despite a number of requests for updates on progress, it was not the USPS who finally advised the paper of the re-opening, but a vigilant local resident!

So is there going to be a Grand Re-opening? Strictly unofficially, the staff are thinking February 20th; and if customers are very lucky Debra will make a long-postponed batch of her famous Christmas cookies.

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