For the third time in three months the Van Cott Station of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) located at 3102 Decatur Ave. off East 204th Street closed, with a temporary mobile office providing limited services during the interim. The small, but popular post office will remain closed indefinitely—and Norwood residents bracing for a longer walk to another nearby post office say this closure “stinks” to high heaven.

USPS spokesman Xavier Hernandez confirmed the temporary closure that began on Feb. 21, citing a concern for “safety and sanitation.” In a follow-up email several days later, Hernandez did not elaborate what those safety and sanitation concerns were.

The day after the temporary closure, a USPS employee removing the day’s mail left at the temporary truck into the building, offered, “No, it’s closed. I don’t know, it’s a smell.” Asked if an animal could have become trapped and died within the building’s walls, the worker replied, “I don’t know, they just told me it was a smell. It’s open with the mobile truck. That’s going to be the office until they figure it out.”

An employee supervisor later said, “Some of the customers were getting sick, we were getting sick. I have asthma, so it was affecting my asthma.” The unidentified supervisor described the smell, explaining, “It’s a combination of like a dead animal and the sewage backed up or something like that. We’re not sure exactly, but some customers are saying it smells like dead animals, other customers are saying it smelled like sewage backup. People started saying they were getting sick as soon as they came into the building.”

The closure marks the third time the troubled Van Cott Station closed, with issues brewing as early as November when a roof collapsed, shutting it down for two weeks and causing mail to be diverted to the Williamsbridge post office at 711 E. Gun Hill Rd., a 20-minute walk from the Decatur Avenue site. Two other post offices—The Mosholu Post Office at 3464 Jerome Ave. and another at 2815 White Plains Rd. in Allerton—had also temporarily closed, putting added pressure to area post offices that were open. The Van Cott Station saw its doors once again closed on Jan. 22, following a burst water pipe.

Neighborhood resident Jim Hawkins dropped his letter in the mailbox positioned between the shuttered post office and the shuttered mobile office, before 4 p.m., the station’s normal closing time. Hawkins recalled, “I worked for the post office years ago and that’s why I stopped working for them. The bureaucracy and all kinds of s–t. It’s a lousy place to work and everyone was angry.”

Arthur Buggeln, 88, a regular visitor to the Van Cott Station was forced to walk to the Botanical station at 2963 Webster Ave. in Bedford Park, carrying a chair, only to return without the special protective envelopes he was looking to purchase. He’d learn that they would have to be ordered special. He asked, “Why do they even advertise it?”

On the Van Cott closing, Buggeln hoped the station’s problems will be behind it soon. “Oh no, this post office has to come back, they’ve got to. I’m hoping they reopen soon. I asked her [supervisor] when do you think you’ll reopen and she said, ‘one to two weeks.’ That’s how it was the last time at the end of last year. I think it was like 10 days and then they reopened. Oh I hope they’ll return, it’s a wonderful station. I live right down the block,” he said.

Hernandez estimated that the building is expected re-open in early March.

Buggeln was among a group of locals who fought to keep the station open a decade ago when the federal government was looking to close some post offices due to budget cuts. “We need it. I mean, who could go to Gun Hill Road?” he asked.

Rakia King, another customer, found the post office closure inconvenient for heavy users. “[S]ome people can’t get to another post office, and say it’s something important like going to court or paying the rent, and the line is always so long,” she said, referencing the East Gun Hill Road post office. “It’s ridiculous,” she added, “I don’t know, sometimes they’re old in age, but the mind is underdeveloped.”

Another resident who arrived before the 4 p.m. closing time fumed. “If I get a package and it isn’t delivered it ends up at the Gun Hill Road post office. I’ve had to go there a couple of times and it’s a madhouse. Everybody was pissed off and yelling at the people behind the counter,” said the customer.

Another customer turned away by the locked door asked, “Huh? Is that why they’re closed?” The unidentified woman said, “No, this is the first time this has happened to me. Is it going to be closed for a long period of time? Are they selling stamps in the truck? I could go a little longer without stamps, but I’ve got to mail letters and a bunch of stuff. I just hope my letters get there, now I’m scared to trust this mailbox. I’ll go to another mailbox.”

A review of city building records shows that on April 13, 2018, workers hired by Claremon Lee 204th LLC of Long Island replaced a 50-foot, 1-inch gas line, running from the existing gas meter on the first-floor of the Van Cott station that connects to an existing HVAC unit on the roof, that had a reported leak the previous November.

Along with Williamsbridge Station, customers have been advised to go to the Botanical Post office or the Esplanade Post Office at 2488 Williamsbridge Road in Allerton.