Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Yesterday I went to the Motor Vehicle Agency in Elizabeth. I went late afternoon because MV has night hours on Tuesday but downtown here is open late on Thursday, so I figured most people who needed MV wouldn't know it. The office was not crowded, the workers were polite, they had a system for pre-checking documents, & I was finished in 20 minutes. Amazing. All through the process of renewing my license I was waiting to be told,"There seems to be a problem." Didn't happen. I got my very first photo license. Up to now I'd always renewed by mail, but it was suspended thanks to an unpaid parking ticket, & then expired. Always was a hassle not having a photo license. I had an old county photo ID, & an official-looking card issued by WFMU that Jersey City police are supposed to accept if Montgomery Street is closed & I have to get to the radio station to maintain transmission (FCC requirement) as an "announcer/engineer of an Emergency Alert Systems Broadcast Radio Station," but which has no more legality than a press pass. So without a photo license I felt kind of like a non-person, fumbling around for alternative IDs to establish my corporeality whenever requested to do so. When it expired, I wasn't even able to rent a car over the summer for a scenic route drive to the Jersey shore with my camera. The photo on my new license is less goofy than most people have; I wore a collared shirt & forced myself to smile enigmatically.

Comments:
My driver's license expired in 2003, and I have yet to renew it. So far, the only hassle was when I went to a dental clinic for some x-rays. They wouldn't see me without first making a photocopy of my driver's license (which I carry in my wallet, despite being expired). I couldn't for the life of me figure out what they needed my ID for, especially since I was paying case for the damn services.

Since 9/11 and the requirements, I have purposefully not renewed it because the name on it is different from the name on my birth certificate, and it would require a ton of documents to show how I went from the birth name to the name on the D.L.

I'm also considering just getting a California ID card instead. Especially since I don't drive anymore and don't own a car.
 
In Jersey, if you don't renew within a period of time, 3 years I think, you have to take the test again.
 
I had a similar experience with Motor Vehicles when I renewed my licence this year- quick, efficient, somewhat surprised by how easy it was.
 
There must be something going on in the cosmos. I went to Wyckoff, fully anticipating spending the morning there, and I was in and out in 20 minutes. Looks like I didn't need that VitalCheck $50 express order of a new copy of my birth certificate after all. I went armed with a passport, a certified copy of my marriage license, a property tax bill, a utility bill, and my work photo ID which they don't take because it's from out of state. But 20 minutes? And they were NICE? Unheard of.
 
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