Your complaint about the staffing issue is stupid. They are short of personnel to fully staff this branch because there have been quite a few retirements, and because the current hiring freeze caused by the state’s budget crisis means that they are not allowed to employ new people to help run the branch. They argue that they could probably reopen the branch at current staffing levels, but that service would suffer, and that document security might also be an issue.
You seem to imply that the lack of people, on the one hand, and the fact that no-one is going to be laid off, on the other, is some sort of contradiction. But that’s only if you’re a buffoon. They don’t have enough people to fully staff the Glendale location, but they recognize that the customers who would normally go to Glendale will now need to go somewhere else. They also understand that those other DMVs will now be more crowded because of this, and they have reallocated the existing Glendale staff to help out at the affected branches. It’s all completely logical.
Also, even if the remodeling work started “just a couple of weeks ago,” the office has been closed since August, and was getting its first substantial renovation since it opened in 1961, including new heat and air, as well as flooring and furniture and fencing. You’ll forgive me if i don’t take your word about whether or not these things were necessary.
Furthermore, if you know anything at all about contracting for state work, you’d be aware that the contract for this work was probably opened for bids months, perhaps even years ago. Projects like this don’t get authorized on a whim, and the renovation contracts don’t simply get handed to the cousin of the local DMV clerk. There is a tender process, with bidding and a whole raft of other requirements. The money for this renovation was probably allocated well before the current hiring freeze, and by the time they realized that they were going to have staffing issues the contract for the renovations was probably already signed off.
Furthermore, despite the implication of permanence in your “close it down” rhetoric, the fact is that, while the closure of the Glendale branch is currently termed “indefinite,” it is not intended to be permanent. The DMV has said that when the hiring freeze is lifted, they will be able to fill the vacancies and reopen the branch.
Of course, you will then no doubt start a thread whining about government waste, and asking why the hell they need to spend taxpayers’ money on another DMV office when there’s a perfectly good one in Pasadena.
Sources:
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_16471700
http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2010-10-30/news/tn-gnp-dmv-20101030_1_dmv-glendale-branch-renovations