oops and forms and more forms

Let me tell you about PennDot.  I changed my registration and driver’s license address because I am becoming a full-time resident of Chester County. You know, what you are supposed to do?  I received my new driver’s license card no problem.

My vehicle registration is another issue.  I changed my address, PAID for my registration renewal and a duplicate registration card. I only got ONE copy of my registration card, am missing the duplicate, and the stupid registration tells me my sticker is in the pocket on the reverse side of the envelope.  THERE IS NO POCKET IN THE ENVELOPE.

So I call up PennDOT and speak to a nice lady named Irene who tells me I have to fill out ANOTHER form  (MV-44) and get it notarized (you can’t submit online)  But she also says “this has been happening recently.” Greaaat…..

I did what I was supposed to do and now I have to be further inconvenienced?  “And the form is free” she says.  Well the notary fee isn’t. It’s not much, but there is a principle involved.

And then I was inquiring as to where the thing gets mailed and she basically infers I can also drive to Harrisburg to do it.  I asked her why I would want to waste wear and tear on my car, spend the gas money to go to Harrisburg to correct a mistake I did not make.  She tells me it’s only an hour away from West Chester.

HUH?

I don’t mean to be rude here, but I did what I was supposed to do and paid good money to PENNDot.  Kept my receipt too.  But because they have apparently had a Britney Spears “Oops I did it again” moment, I now get to correct their mistake, pay for a notary and drive around in a half registered vehicle?

One thing PENNDot couldn’t tell me was where exactly the registration sticker I paid for from them or my duplicate registration card were.  I mean do they even track what goes missing or will what I paid for some day end up on an illegally registered car?  And what happens if I say got pulled over on my way to get what I paid for from PENNDot?  Do we think a police officer is going to care that PENNDot in essence screwed up my order?

 Bureaucracy overload and it’s only Monday.   And don’t even get me started on the highways that are state responsibility that look like they belong in a third world country.  Or the Brooklyn Bridge project of Chester County, a/k/a Route 202. …..

Feel free to share your PENNDot horror stories here. And there is a juicy PENNDot Story in the Patch:

PennDOT Supervisor Faces Trial on ID Theft Charges

Khalif Abdullah Ali, 43, allegedly helped felons procure false identification.

ByPete Kennedy Email the author March 15, 2012

A Philadelphia man is headed to trial for allegedly using his position as a PennDOT supervisor in Malvern to create false identities.

Khalif Abdullah Ali, 43, was employed at the Driver License Center in Frazer in 2011 when he allegedly shepherded three wanted felons through the process of creating fraudulent drivers’ licenses using their photos and other men’s information. In a preliminary hearing Wednesday, District Judge Chester Darlington upheld all charges against Ali, including multiple counts of tampering with public records, hindering prosecution and conspiracy to commit identity theft.

malvern on a saturday

So I remember reading many months back that Malvern has approved some unnecessary development up King? I guess it’s this East King Street thing on their website?

This past Saturday as we sat and sat in traffic on Malvern’s main drag, I looked around at all the cute stores and whatnot already there and wondered given the traffic NOW, why they would want to create more density and congestion in basically a one horse town?

It seems to me they stand a darn good chance of ruining a good thing.   Why make Malvern what it isn’t?  Why not enhance gently if they *must* do something? Why does redevelopment ALWAYS seem to mean super-sizing?

When did the vision of communities stop being about the actual community?

Yes, the horse is out of the barn in this case, and it seems a case of alea iacta est   – or the die has been cast, but I can’t help myself.  I look at Malvern and look at those ugly plans and think to myself “what are these people thinking?”

barns, barns, barns

I am obsessed with barns.  I looove barns. I love to photograph barns.  In fact, I have photographed so many barns in Chester County, that I might be able to share one barn a day for quite a while.

Today’s barn is the “This is Woman’s Lib” barn.   Malvern Patch actually has a story on it today.  It is the barn on the banner of this blog for the time being as it just tickles my fancy more than some of the ohters.

I have heard a couple of stories on the barn.    Was it a social statement of the day? Was it nothing more than tongue in cheek? How did it get there?  It’s been picked up on other blogs over the years, including this past September 2011.

I don’t know what tomorrow’s blog barn will be…but I will pick one….