{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=397658", "<span class=\"kicker\">Asbury Park Press Oct. 6 Article:</span>Downtown Lakewood store will offer mail service", "2014-10-17", "2014", "2014-10", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "BY ASBURY PARK PRESS WRITER KEVIN PENTON - The U.S. Postal Service has settled on a location where township residents will be able to go to fulfill their mailing needs in the downtown area once the Clifton Avenue building is sold.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The post office will contract with a private company that will operate a facility at 218 Clifton Ave., just a couple of blocks north of the current building, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who met with postal officials on the matter in recent days.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe postal needs of the downtown customers will continue to be met under the new retail (store) to be established a block away from the current post office,\u201d Smith said.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The new Clifton Avenue location, Mail Mart, will be owned and operated by Gary and Gita Patel, she said. The couple already operate a post office location on West County Line Road in Lakewood known as News Mart, she said.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Clifton Avenue store will have at least four employees and will operate from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays, Patel said.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The couple is waiting for the Postal Service to give them the computer equipment to be utilized at Mail Mart so they can open it, said Patel, who expects the store will open before the Clifton Avenue post office closes.\nLakewood post office to close\nClose to sale\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Clifton Avenue location \u2013 an Art Deco-designed building erected during the Great Depression by Works Progress Administration workers \u2013 will close once its sale is finalized and a retail window at a postal distribution center in the Lakewood Industrial Park is ready to receive customers, said Raymond V. Daiutolo Sr., a Postal Service spokesman.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The office was originally expected to close this month, but likely will shutter later than that because of various delays in getting everything in order, he said.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kasturi DasGupta, an educator at Georgian Court University, said she is concerned employees at the private location will not have the same training for handling the mail that postal employees have.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIs taking the post office away from the public going to encourage more business?\u201d asked DasGupta, who organized a protest against the post office\u2019s sale last week.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lakewood Property Developers LLC is buying the existing post office, according to a notice of settlement filed on Sept. 10 with the Ocean County Clerk\u2019s Office.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Daniel Czermak, president of AcuteCare Health System in Lakewood, serves as the company\u2019s registered agent and as its authorized representative, according to documents filed with the state Department of the Treasury.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Czermak could not be reached for comment on what may occur at the post office site once the sale is finalized.\nIndustrial Park\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Postal Service has agreed it will ensure wait times at the industrial park location are under seven minutes, said Jeff Sagnip, a spokesman for Smith.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A staffer for Smith recently had to wait in line more than 15 minutes at the Clifton Avenue location before she could buy a book of stamps, Sagnip said. \u201cThey were surprised to hear that it took that long,\u201d said Sagnip of the postal officials Smith met with.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The privately-owned post office that will open will not have post office boxes, Daiutolo said. It will otherwise have up to 80 percent of the services offered in a regular post office, such as registered mail, express mail, and stamps, he said.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If the Postal Service is so concerned about declining sales, it does not make sense for it to shutter a downtown location and replace it with one in an industrial park, DesGupta said.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe option that they have presented is really unsatisfactory,\u201d DesGupta said. \u201cIt does not sound like a place that will really take care of the public\u2019s welfare.\u201d\nKevin Pent\u00f3n: 732-643-4009; kpenton@app.com \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This story was originally published\u00a0in the Asbury Park Press print edition:\nhttp://www.app.com/story/news/local/jackson-lakewood/lakewood/2014/10/08/lakewood-post-office/16938333/ \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Congressman Smith met with the highest USPS officials in New Jersey and with Lakewood leaders on Sept. 29, 2014 to ensure Lakewood would receive \u00a0adequate service.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=397658"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7437421008944511, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}