BASIC SERVICES
What The Government Has To Offer

By Johanna Piazza

Want to drive a car in Queens?
Need to pay a parking ticket?
Need to cross a bridge or take a bus?

All of these are fairly simple, but in all cases require the assistance of either New York City or New York State.

From identification cards to emergency telephone numbers, the governments of both the City and State offer a host of services through their agencies that are crucially important to life in Queens.

The following is a list of some of the offerings and how to take advantage of them.

A driver’s license is a card that allows you to operate a motor vehicle legally, but in the United States it is also the most frequently used means of identification when writing a check or using a credit card.

Licenses are issued by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Licenses are small cards that include a photo of the driver, as well as important information like the driver’s name, address, height and weight.

Licenses allow you to drive anywhere in the United States and Canada. It is illegal to drive a car if you do not have a driver’s license.

To receive a driver’s license, you need to pass a written test and a driving test, and take a five-hour prelicensing test.

The first step is to head to your local DMV office to obtain a booklet explaining the rules of the road. That book should be studied in preparation for the written test. Passing the written test will earn you a "learner’s permit," or a card that looks like a driver’s license, but is not.

The permit allows you to legally practice driving a car as long as a licensed driver is in the car with you.

To find your local licensing office, check the DMV website at www.nydmv.state.ny.us, or go to the Phone Book and look in the blue, government section.

Once you find the licensing office, you should either download a driver’s manual from the website or go to your nearest office and pick one up.

After you’ve studied, go back to the DMV office with an application fee of $15 and proof of identity. To prove your identity you must bring several forms of identification. This can include a foreign passport, a permanent residence card, a welfare card, a social security card or even a utility bill.

There is a point system assigned to each form of identification and to receive your learner’s permit you must have enough forms of identification to add up to six points in the state’s point system. Check the DMV website or visit one of the locations to find the most up to date information on what identification will suffice to obtain your permit.

You must show your Social Security card. If you are not eligible for a Social Security Number, you must get a letter from the Social Security Administration that indicates that you are not eligible for a Social Security Number. You must show the letter to the DMV.

Once you prove your identity, you take the written test and take a vision test. If you pass both, you receive your learner’s permit in the mail.

After you have a permit you can practice for the roadtest by taking a driver education course or a DMV-approved pre-licensing course. Once you feel comfortable driving on city streets you can make an appointment for your road test by calling the DMV office or going to the DMV website.

If you pass the road test you will receive your New York State driver’s license.

At that point, even though you have the ability to drive, you can’t legally drive until you have bought liability insurance on your vehicle. Insurance means if you are in a car accident, your insurance company can handle the legal proceedings and, if it is your fault, pay for the damage.

Insurance companies like Progressive and Geico can be found in the telephone book.

Driver’s licenses have to be renewed every four years. You can renew a driver’s license one year before the expiration date but no more than two years after the expiration date.

If you renew two years after the expiration date you will have to retake your driver’s test. Driving with an expired license can also lead to traffic violations and fines if you are pulled over while driving with an expired license.

Before you drive on a bridge or tunnel in New York City, you need to pay a fee. That fee usually goes to both New York State and New York City. The fee can change, but is currently $4 each way for a two-axle car.

The fee is collected at toll booths located right outside either the exit or entrance of a bridge or tunnel. While you can pay cash to a toll collector or throw change in an exact change machine, New York State has created a much easier system – EZ-Pass.

EZ-Pass is a small, square tag that you can connect to the inside of your windshield with velcro. The pass has a small bar code. When you drive through a toll plaza, look for lanes that are marked EZ-Pass. You simply drive through, pause, and a sensor reads your EZ-Pass.

The pass doesn’t cost any extra money but actually saves you 50 cents each way – EZ Pass toll rates are lower. You order it by calling (800) 333-8655 and having an application mailed or by going to www.e-zpassny.com and downloading an application. The way it works is simple – when your order an EZ-Pass, the State sets up an EZ-Pass account for you.

You can put various amounts of money in the account. Every time you go through a toll, the State takes money out of your account. When you’re out of money, the State automatically takes money out of your credit card account to put in your EZ-Pass account. If you don’t want to use a credit card, you can pay other ways.

If you go through an EZ-Pass lane at a toll plaza without an EZ-Pass, or you try to use your EZ-Pass when you have no more money in your account – which can’t happen if you use a credit card – you will be fined.

In an emergency – such as a medical emergency, a crime-in-progress or a fire – immediately call 911 on your telephone. An operator will answer the phone.

The operator will ask what is wrong. Tell them what is happening. Explain clearly.

The operator will ask for your name, address and what number you’re calling from. Give them this information. Your call will be recorded for precautionary reasons.

After you hang up, the operator will call the appropriate emergency services, such as the Police Department, Fire Department, or ambulance corps.

Let these people in your home or wherever the emergency is happening. Answer any questions that they have.

If you have to go to the emergency room for a medical emergency or the Police Department for a crime, go. You may have to fill out forms – if you don’t understand something, ask someone for help.

In most hospitals and police stations, help is available in many language.

If you have a problem that is not an emergency, like a pothole, a noisy neighbor, a question about sanitation pick-ups, or a tree that has fallen in front of your home, call 311 on your phone.

You will get an operator. You can choose to speak to an operators in 171 different languages, making communication simple. The operator will ask what the problem is. Answer.

The operator will refer the problem to the appropriate city agency. Potholes will go to the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), for example. If you have a question, the operator will try to answer it.

If your problem requires time to fix, you will be given a complaint number. That is your reference number. If your problem doesn’t get fixed, you can call 311 again and use that number to help them find your case.

Garbage Collection and Recycling

The New York City Department of Sanitation provides regularly scheduled curbside refuse and recycling collection services for every residential household, public school and public building in New York City. Pick up days vary and a schedule can be found at www.nyc.gov or by calling 311.

Currently in Queens, garbage is picked up twice a week. Recycling is picked up once a week.

On the day that you have to put your garbage out, you must place your garbage in plastic bags and set them out close to the curb, either on their own or in trash cans. You should put the trash out the night before your collection day, because garbage is usually picked up early in the morning.

Very large items that need throwing out may not be picked up during regular collections. If they are not, call 311 and request a special pick-up.

There are certain items that should not go in the trash at all – they should be recycled. Recycling means you take old things, like newspapers and books, and turn them into new paper. This saves trees from being cut down and used as paper.

In New York City, you are given two recycling labels – a paper recycling label to be placed on a green trash can and a metal recycling label to be put on a blue trash can. In the green one, put anything made of paper.

You will be given a day for recycling, as well.

Before discarding any freezer, refrigerator, water cooler, dehumidifier, air conditioner, or other type of appliance containing the ChloroFluoroCarbon (CFC) gas known as Freon, all New York City residents are required to schedule an appointment for the recovery of CFC. These appointments can be made by calling 311. In addition, doors must be removed from refrigerators and freezers before they are put out for the garbage collector.

If you need to take a bus or subway around Queens, the city makes it easy.

You can go into any subway station or in many neighborhood card shops and buy a Metrocard – a thin plastic card that you use to pay your $2 per ride fare. You can buy your card from a subway booth worker, a store clerk or from a Metrocard machine, which are like vending machines for Metrocards.

Metrocards come in the three varieties. The first is the single ride metrocard. This card can be purchased only at Metrocard machines and paid for only in cash. The single ride card is good for two hours and allows the rider one ride on either the subway or the bus. Riders can transfer free between subways and buses when traveling a single route.

Riders can also purchase a declining value Metrocard. These can be bought at neighborhood stores, Metrocard machines and at ticket booths within the subway stations. They can be purchased with either cash or credit or debit cards. Every two dollars put on the card can be used for a subway or bus ride. The card declines in value each time it is swiped. These cards are good for the infrequent rider who does not use the subway more than once a day.

If you are a commuter and plan on using the subway at least twice a day, the unlimited Metrocard is probably the best deal. With the unlimited card you can ride the subway as many times during a day, week or month as your heart desires. You can buy a one-day unlimited card, a one-week unlimited card, or a one-month unlimited card.

Although the one-month card is the most expensive – it costs $70 – you’re really only paying $1.66 a ride instead of $2.

Reduced fare Metrocards are available if you are 65 years of age or older or have a disability that qualifies you for the reduction. Reduced fare cards can be obtained by showing an NYC Department of Aging Card, a Medicaid card or an Access-A-Ride ID card.

To use a Metrocard is simple. The front of the card is gold and has the word "Metrocard" on it. The back has arrows that show which way to put the card in a Metrocard reader. When you take the bus, there is a stand next the bus driver with a slot. Put the Metrocard vertically into the slot. The reader will take your fare.

When you take the subway, the Metrocard readers are right on the turnstiles. Swipe them horizontally through the readers. Sometimes, it takes one or two swipes for it to work. Once it does, you can go through the turnstile.

To find your way around the city, look for subway maps in subway stations and on subway cars. Subways are marked by both letters and colors. Bus maps can be picked up at neighborhood stores, or can be viewed online at www.mta.info.

In addition to city buses and subways, the Long Island Railroad offers train service for slightly more money. Metrocards do not work on the Long Island Railroad – you have to pay for tickets either in a station or on the train.

There are various train stations across Queens.

For more information on subways, buses or trains, go to www.mta.info.

If you park your car in Queens, and notice an orange and white card in your windshield wiper when you get back, you’ve just received a parking ticket from the New York City Police Department.

Tickets can be given for a variety of offenses, including parking too close to a fire hydrant or bus stop, not obeying street parking signs, parking at an expired meter, or for parking on the curb.

The ticket should say what you are in violation of. There are ways to avoid violations – check street signs on the entire block for parking rules, always check your meter to make sure it doesn’t run out, and never take a chance. Even if you’ll only be a minute, don’t park in a hydrant.

If a meter is broken, you may park for up to an hour. If the meter is missing, you may park for as long as the meter would have allowed you to park.

Double parking of passenger vehicles is illegal at all times.

If you get a ticket and you know you’re guilty, follow the directions on the back of the ticket to pay your fine. You can mail a check or money order, or you can pay by credit card online at www.nyc.gov.

If you get a ticket and you believe you are innocent, you have the right to dispute it. If you believe that you are not guilty, you can request a hearing by mail, via the Internet, or in person at any one of the city’s Business Centers / Payment and Adjudication Centers if you are the vehicle’s registered owner or operator.

If you choose to plead not guilty by mail, send a letter explaining why you should be found not guilty of the violation, as well as copies of any evidence that you wish to present. Evidence can include, but is not limited to, testimony, photographs, repair bills, Police Reports, Department of Motor Vehicles or Insurance Company reports, towing bills, and so on.

All hearings are conducted by a judge. Following the by-mail hearing a decision is sent to you by mail. It is best to keep copies of all sent forms for your own records.

You also have the right to dispute a parking ticket that you believe is defective, or incorrectly filled out.

Under New York Law, if the ticket is missing any number of required items such as the license plate number, the time and date of issuance and offense or the make or body type of the car, you may be able to decrease or even eliminate the fine.

Even if the agent simply neglected to sign the ticket it can be dismissed. You can also seek to have a parking ticket dismissed if you believe you were parked legally when the ticket was assigned.

These disputes can be presented by regular mail and on the internet. Addresses and information about disputing your ticket online is at www.nyc.gov.

A response to a parking ticket must be received by the city within 30 calendar days to avoid late fees and or penalties.

For help understanding a ticket, call 311.

Food stamps are part of a government aid program to supplement low-income families in the state.

Low-income immigrants who have been legal residents for five years or more are eligible for food stamps. New Yorkers can determine their eligibility by contacting the state Food Bank, at www.foodforsurvival.org. Beginning in October of this year federal laws changed so that immigrant children can receive food stamps no matter how long they have lived here.

The Food Stamp Program provides coupons and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards to low-income families to buy food. This is a federal program operated by State and distributed through local welfare offices.

You can go to any Food Stamp Office to apply for food stamps. There are several locations to obtain food stamps in Queens – 520 Beach 20th St. in Far Rockaway, 90-75 Sutphin Blvd. in Jamaica, 45-12 32nd Pl. in Long Island City, and 136-56 39th Ave. in Flushing.

These are open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Your application can take up to 30 days to be processed, but if you have an emergency you may be eligible for an emergency benefit within five days.

All Food Stamp offices are now required to translate all materials into Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Haitian-Creole, French, Arabic, Korean, Vietnamese and Yiddish. If you need an interpreter, be sure you tell the office, and they will provide one for you free of charge.

Applications for the Food Stamp program are now available online in English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Russian. These forms can be downloaded and, once completed, can be taken or mailed to your local department of social services office for processing.

In the United States, court cases are often judged by juries, or panels of 12 every-day people who listen to the facts of a trial and make a decision based entirely on those facts.

In order to find people to serve on juries, the courts have a system of Jury Duty.

Any legal resident of New York State is required to serve jury duty if called upon by the courts.

The first step in getting jury duty is receiving a notice in the mail from the court system. It is a questionnaire asking for some basic information. Mail it back to the address on the questionaire.

Several weeks later, you may then receive a second notice, this one telling you to call a number on a certain day at a certain time. Make that phone call. When you make the, an automated voice will tell you if you actually have to serve or not. If you have to serve, the voice will tell you which courthouse.

If you are a resident of Queens, you can serve in three possible spots – Kew Gardens, Jamaica or Long Island City.

Report to the correct courthouse on the day of your jury duty. Bring your jury duty notice.