Brookdale Post Office Update: USPS Signals Closure as Rep. Panetta Presses for Alternatives

The latest

At a Sept. 11 Zoom meeting, U.S. Postal Service officials all but confirmed that the Brookdale Post Office will be permanently closed once the agency’s discontinuance feasibility study is complete.

That outcome would leave Brookdale without a post office, without home delivery, and, so far, without any alternative plan for getting mail to residents in their own community beyond pickup service in Boulder Creek. It also comes despite a direct request from Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) that USPS halt the study and find another way to serve the town.

How we got here

Brookdale’s contract post office was severely damaged by fire in December 2024, and postal services in the community have been suspended ever since. For nearly two years, USPS told residents and Rep. Panetta’s office that it was waiting on the property owner to make repairs, even after the owner missed basic deadlines.

USPS promised a May 1, 2026 reopening. That date came and went. Then, in September 2026, USPS notified the community that it was conducting a feasibility study on closing the location permanently. It has not proposed an alternative location or any expanded service within Brookdale.

Brookdale has never had home delivery. Residents have relied on post office boxes and retail services at the local facility (pictured above). Since the fire, they have had to drive to Boulder Creek and Ben Lomond to pick up mail and handle basic postal business. In a mountain community, that burden falls hardest on seniors, people with disabilities, working families, and residents without reliable transportation, especially during storms and other disruptions in the San Lorenzo Valley.

Rep. Panetta’s response

On Sept. 30. Rep. Panetta wrote to Postmaster General David Steiner asking USPS to stop the study and focus on restoring service.

“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.”

The letter asks USPS to:

• Immediately halt the discontinuance feasibility study
• Investigate alternative permanent post office locations in Brookdale
• Explore home delivery for Brookdale residents
• Offer cluster box units or another mail pickup solution in Brookdale until home delivery is available
• Meet with Rep. Panetta to discuss next steps

This push comes after previous communications with USPS. In February 2026, Panetta asked USPS to repair and reopen the facility on a clear timeline and provide temporary service in the meantime. After USPS missed its May 1 reopening date, he asked the USPS Inspector General in May to review the agency’s management, communication and decision-making, the adequacy of interim services, and whether service could be restored through a temporary or alternative facility.

Full text of Rep. Panetta’s Sept. 30 letter to USPS

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:

1. Immediately halt the discontinuance feasibility study on the proposed permanent closing for the Brookdale Post Office;
2. Investigate potential alternative permanent post office locations in Brookdale;
3. Explore home delivery service for the residents of Brookdale;
4. Until home delivery is available, offer cluster box units or another mail pickup solution in Brookdale;
5. 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,

Jimmy Panetta Member of Congress

What’s next

USPS has not yet issued an official final decision, and there is still time for residents to be heard. If the closure moves forward, it is critical that USPS provide a real alternative, whether a new location, home delivery, or cluster box units, so Brookdale is not left without postal service in its own community.

Who to contact

Comment on the feasibility study. USPS says Brookdale customers can mail questions or comments about the proposed permanent closing to:
Carla Jackson Manager, Customer Relations USPS P.O. Box 889027 San Francisco, CA 94188
Mention the Brookdale Post Office (95007) and explain how the closure affects you. USPS says it will make the study public once it is complete, no later than April.

Write to the Postmaster General. USPS does not provide a phone number or email for the Postmaster General, so send a letter to:
Postmaster General David Steiner USPS – Headquarters 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW Washington, DC 20260-0010
You can also send a copy to the Consumer Advocate, USPS – Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20260.

Contact Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s office. Santa Cruz District Office: 701 Ocean Street, Room 318C, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 · (831) 429-1976. Email: panetta.house.gov/contact/email