Santa Cruz, CA - United States Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) called on U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner to immediately halt the discontinuance feasibility study for the Brookdale Post Office, identify an alternative post office location in the community, and expand postal services to ensure that residents have timely and local access to their mail.

Postal services in Brookdale have been suspended since a fire severely damaged the community's contract post office in December 2024. After residents waited nearly two years for the facility to reopen, with no apparent progress being made on repairs, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) notified the community in September 2026 that it was conducting a feasibility study on permanently closing the location. USPS still has not proposed an alternative location or expanded service within Brookdale.

"Since the Brookdale Post Office burned down, the people of that community have waited for nearly two years in good faith while the USPS sat on its hands saying that they would reopen the facility," said Rep. Panetta. "Then, out of the blue, the USPS made the haphazard decision to study whether it should shut down the post office without providing any postal service in Brookdale. Such an indiscriminate and arbitrary decision to shut down a local post office, without any plan to open up the existing one or attempt to provide postal services to existing Brookdale customers, is unreasonable, and we expect more out of our Postal Service. That is why I wrote this letter calling on the USPS to stop the study and start figuring out how it can provide postal services to the people of Brookdale."

Brookdale residents do not receive home mail delivery and have historically relied on post office boxes and retail services at the local facility. Since the fire, residents have been forced to travel to neighboring communities, including Boulder Creek and Ben Lomond, to retrieve their mail and access basic postal services. In the mountain community of Brookdale, that burden is particularly significant for seniors, people with disabilities, working families, and residents without reliable transportation, especially during severe weather and other disruptions in the San Lorenzo Valley.

Rep. Panetta called on Postmaster General Steiner to:

• Immediately halt the discontinuance feasibility study on the proposed permanent closing of the Brookdale Post Office;
• Investigate potential alternative permanent post office locations in Brookdale;
• Explore home delivery service for the residents of Brookdale;
• Until home delivery is available, offer cluster box units or another mail pickup solution in Brookdale; and
• Schedule a meeting with Rep. Panetta to discuss next steps.

Rep. Panetta has repeatedly pressed USPS leadership to restore postal services in Brookdale. In a February 2026 letter to the Postmaster General, he called on USPS to repair and reopen the facility with a clear project timeline and provide temporary postal service within the community in the interim. After USPS missed its promised May 1 reopening date, Rep. Panetta sent a May 2026 letter requesting that the USPS Inspector General review the agency's management, communication, and decision-making, the adequacy of interim services, and the feasibility of restoring service through a temporary or alternative facility.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Postmaster General:

I write to request your immediate action to end the discontinuance feasibility study for the Brookdale Post Office, to find a new post office location in Brookdale, California, and to expand appropriate postal services to serve this community. Since their contract post office burned down, my constituents have waited for nearly two years in good faith while the USPS deflected its responsibility to reopen the facility. The decision this month to consider discontinuing postal service in Brookdale, with no alternative services to your existing Brookdale customers, is unreasonable without any effort to find an alternative post office location or any other remedy for postal services and basic operations in the community.

In December 2024, a fire disabled service at the contract post office in Brookdale, a town I represent in California's 19th District. Brookdale is a rural mountain community, and for nearly two years, residents waited in good faith for the USPS to restore service, traveling to other towns to receive basic postal services. This would be a burden under normal circumstances, and it is particularly challenging when residents face weather events or other impediments in the San Lorenzo Valley. For disabled, elderly, and mobility-impaired constituents, traveling out of their town presents an additional challenge, but Brookdale residents have done so patiently with the expectation that USPS would eventually restore a local post office. However, in September 2026, after years of deflections, the USPS announced a discontinuance feasibility study for the post office and took the extraordinary step of preemptively refusing to expand services in Brookdale or to consider a new post office location in the community.

Brookdale has never had home delivery, despite the fact that neighboring towns enjoy this basic service. Over time, residents have come to rely on boxes and retail services at the local post office. For years, these services were housed in a rented facility. When that facility suffered a catastrophic fire, the USPS spent years assuring residents and my office that they were waiting for the property owner to conduct necessary repairs. This rationale continued even after the property owner missed basic deadlines for the repairs. Instead of considering alternative locations for the post office, or my constituents' requests for home delivery or cluster box units in Brookdale, the USPS took steps to discontinue service altogether.

Faced with this situation, I ask that you:

• Immediately halt the discontinuance feasibility study on the proposed permanent closing for the Brookdale Post Office;
• Investigate potential alternative permanent post office locations in Brookdale;
• Explore home delivery service for the residents of Brookdale;
• Until home delivery is available, offer cluster box units or another mail pickup solution in Brookdale;
• Schedule a meeting with me to discuss next steps to ensure my constituents are being served.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Restoring dependable postal operations is vital for my constituents, and these steps will help ensure the residents of Brookdale can rely on the United States Postal Service for years to come.

Sincerely,