Residents of Brooklyn, Illinois, said they are struggling after their post office shut down without notice, forcing many to travel to East St. Louis for services.
BROOKLYN, Ill. — The Illinois Village of Brooklyn — also known as Lovejoy — is currently without mail service. The local post office is dark, and the doors are locked.
For residents like Leslie Milton, the daily walk to the mailbox has become a journey to nowhere.
“I really don’t feel that it’s right, that we are done like this. Milton said. “As a taxpayer, we should have all the same rights as anyone else.”
A resident currently battling cancer arrived at the Brooklyn post office Tuesday hoping to find her essential medications. Instead, she found a locked door.
Residents are being forced to travel miles away to East St. Louis just to pick up letters, bills and necessary mail.
“I’m waiting on a new insurance card to come through the mail that I really need,” Merla Simmons said. “You have people here who don’t have a vehicle. We can’t get stamps. We can’t get money orders.”
“It should be a convenience absolutely for us to have our mail here,” Milton said. “We got people here that’s unable to go anywhere, and their mail, their mail is stacking up.”
Mayor Trenton Atkins said he was never notified of the service disruption.
“No one called me. Matter of fact, I had to reach out myself,” Atkins said. “It’s time for some answers from the top.”
The mayor said the impact was immediate. He has seen citizens receive mail up to three weeks late, a delay that can result in late fees, service disconnections and missed medical appointments.
For Simmons, the mailbox is a lifeline worth fighting for, especially for her 93-year-old mother, who lives just a block away from the closed station.
“My mother … she lives right across the street, a block away from the post office. We’ll make our way. Even if we have to have her mail sent to somebody else’s address, which we shouldn’t have to do,” Simmons said.
A U.S. Postal Service spokesperson said repairs are currently being made to the facility.
“We do not have a set date for reopening at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our customers,” the spokesperson said.
According to the Village of Brooklyn, past excuses for shutting down the post office included building infestations and local wildlife getting into the facility.