Tokuda and Paltin speak out against the proposed permanent closure of Lahaina Downtown Post Office

US Rep, Jill N. Tokuda (HI-02) and Maui County Council Member Tamara Paltin released a joint statement today opposing the proposed permanent closure of the Lahaina Downtown Post Office. 

In a letter dated Aug. 20, 2026 to postal customers in Lahaina, the USPS reported that it intends to permanently close the Lahaina Downtown Station, located at 132 Papalaua Street because of irreparable damage to the facility as a result of the August 2023 wildfire.

Tokuda and Paltin called a permanent closure, “yet another slap in the face” to a community that has already endured so much. “The people of Lahaina deserve better,” they said.

Lahaina has gone without the Lahaina Downtown Post Office since the wildfires three years ago, and has been utilizing in-person retail services at the Lahaina Main Office near the Lahaina Civic Center in the interim.

As families and small businesses rebuild, Paltin and Tokuda said a permanent closure would “eliminate another essential public service.” 

As part of a feasibility study for the downtown location, the USPS advised impacted postal customers that it will host a Zoom virtual community meeting on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026 from 10-10:30 a.m. HST so local residents have the opportunity to ask questions and provide comments. The link provided to register is: https://usps.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_cO7-mee9QMe0U2lmv-LRBw#/registration

Tokuda and Paltin criticized the process for obtaining community input saying: “A 30-minute online meeting held during the workday, with only a few days’ notice, does not constitute meaningful community engagement. It excludes working families, kūpuna, and residents without reliable internet access, and falls far short of the transparency and public participation this decision demands. The people of Lahaina deserve a genuine opportunity to be heard, not a half-hearted process designed to check a box.”

Tokuda and Paltin say a permanent closure comes as residents moving back into rebuilt homes are facing another loss: direct home mail delivery. “Rebuilt neighborhoods are not new subdivisions. They are restored communities, and residents deserve the same level of service they had before the disaster,” they said.

According to the USPS letter, the goal of the virtual community meeting is to ensure that the community is aware of how to receive uninterrupted access to retail products and services as they work to manage individual post office facility availability.

“USPS should be working with Lahaina to restore service, not finding new ways to take it away,” Tokuda and Paltin said, both demanding “a halt to the closure plan, genuine in-person engagement with the community, home delivery for returning residents, and a serious effort to restore the downtown post office.”

“Lahaina has been through enough. Our community deserves more than a pitiful excuse for engagement. It deserves a Postal Service that shows up, listens, and helps rebuild Lahaina, not one that abandons it,” said Tokuda and Paltin.