THE CLOSING OF THE REGISTRY

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” (Luke 16:10)

I first read about the closing of the Framingham Branch of the Registry of Motor Vehicles in last Saturday’s (July 4, 2009) MetroWest Daily News. Initially, I did not want to write about it on the blog. I thought it was too much of a “parochial” issue which would not interest many readers. Instead, I chose to send in a “Letter to the Editor” which I was delighted to find published as a column in the Tuesday, July 7 MetroWest Daily News.

The initial story said that the Framingham RMV branch would be closed, BUT that road tests would continue to be given from that location. Due to my father’s RMV career, I know it was a common practice in the past to have road test locations which were not necessarily at “full” Registry of Motor Vehicles offices. My father used to give road tests from the Quincy RMV at the Franklin Field section of Dorchester as well as at the Norwood Armory back in the late 1950s. In fact, my own 1972 road test was at the Quincy Armory which was a “sub location” of the Quincy RMV at that time. I was not “crazy about” the Framingham RMV closing, nor was I pleased with ten other RMV offices closing, but keeping the road test location and offering a license express and registration express location on the MassPike in Natick didn’t seem like a terrible idea.

Unfortunately, in the middle of this week, the RMV story again hit the press. This time we learned that although Framingham is the 9th busiest RMV in the state, it was being closed anyway, AND that Framingham would NOT be kept as a driving test location. AND, the article strongly implied that although you’ll be able to renew your licenses and registrations at the Natick location, they MAY not be a full service location and thus MAY not issue actual license plates for new registrations. In any event, kids would have to start going to Worcester or Watertown for their road tests.

One person placed a comment under my on-line column about the RMV closing saying that I don’t understand that the RMV is out of money. Talk radio host Michael Graham has correctly pointed out that the RMV has PLENTY of money. It has been budgeted $75 million even though it actually only needs about $50 million to operate. Graham agrees that the closings, especially Framingham and North Attleboro make NO sense.

There’s another aspect of this that our Town leaders in Framingham have not thought about. We have at least one driving school located in Framingham, and I THINK we have two. (One did close about a year ago, but I believe a new one opened recently.) Driving schools strongly prefer to locate near the Registry’s road test locations. Thus it’s not a surprise that we have driving schools in Framingham. They like to take the kids on the actual test routes for practice, and I think a lot of kids and parents like this as well. It’s definitely a selling feature for auto schools. If there is no RMV in Framingham, will the auto schools stay here or will they leave?

Also, Michael Graham has made an excellent observation that the already crowded Watertown RMV will become a total nightmare when 75% of the Framingham RMV clientele and maybe a few of the North Attleboro clientele start doing business there. Will people need to camp outdoors for hours like they’re going to a 4th of July Concert on the Esplanade? Maybe!

I am disappointed that our State Reps., State Senator, and Town Officials seem to have a mostly “ho-hum” attitude about the RMV closing. They should be very vocal and outraged about it. At least Michael Graham is letting his voice be heard!

Incidentally, Michelle McElroy has an excellent piece about the Framingham RMV closing at www.thisisframingham.com