Ever hear of MSB “A Private Corporation?” Well neither had I, until walking to my mail box this morning. MSB stands for Municipal Surcharge Bureau. MSB is basically a group of outsourced bureaucrats working as collection agents for the Department of Public Safety, and the State of Texas. As best as I can determine, they are currently responsible for the collection of ticket surcharges on infractions such as, driving with an expired license or without a license, driving without insurance, or driving under the influence (DUI). One to three of these infractions entitle the state charge the “Offender” with a surcharge every three years. And by the way, this “Private Corporation” has aspirations far beyond its current collections role. Their website claims the following as their vision: “[To Become the] Receivables Management Solutions for Every Government in: every city, every county, every state.” Reading about these cats makes me reflect on Douglas Adams description of the Vogons in his classic work “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy!” “Vogons are described as mindlessly bureaucratic, aggressive, having as much sex appeal as a road accident… They are one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy – not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous.” I trust my reader perceives my hostility at this point.
As you may have guessed I recentlyreceived a ticket for driving on an expired license. I wrote about my experience in an article for this site several months ago. http://www.tylertxdirectory.com/8936/getting-pulled-over-in-tyler-texas-again/ First off, I was charged more by the city than I was led to believe I would be by the officer who gave me the ticket. Ok fine I’ll just pay the ticket and be done with it. When I had paid up all my charges, and gotten everything current, I was enormously relieved. One less thing to worry about right? Wrong! A walk to my mail box today dispelled my happy delusion. Turns out, now that I had paid the city, the state wants its kick- back. At first I wasn’t even sure it wasn’t a scam. Well it is a scam but… Upon talking to others who had already encountered this organization, I heard stories of people being fined without their knowledge, ever growing penalties as a result of inadequate notification, and even warrants issued for the arrest of citizens who believed they had paid their tickets!
The Driver Responsibility Program, (sounds nice huh), was put into law in 2003. But the whole “Surcharge” nonsense is just another shameless project to squeeze more revenue out of the citizenry! And what’s worse the rules are so unclear, as to make it a sliding scale. No one really understands the fees, so who can tell if they’re being over charged? So what do we do? I don’t know. I guess we can start by calling our congressman, and trying to make the issue visible enough to find someone willing to vote for repeal. The hard thing is to find a politician willing to divest his office of funds, especially if he or she can collect them in the name of “Driver Responsibility.” I guess for now, I’m out another one hundred four dollars. Enjoy it DPS, but you’d better use it to put gas in an officer’s car or something. God knows that’s where it was going before I sent it to you!
The Oil Palace Under Fire
June 9th, 2010A couple of weeks ago I tried to make a case that our city and state are becoming over regulated by unnecessary local legislation and bureaucracy. From the banning of a legal substance in restaurants (namely tobacco), to traffic medians which only serve to further clog roadways, to business owners being told they must remove the flags from their store fronts, we are awash in petty legislation.
The latest example of local interference in the affairs of Tylerites is the attempt to shut down the Oil Palace. As best as I can gather, the facility has twice been the victim of vandalism. Once during a ZZ top concert when insulation was flushed down the toilet; and the water valves turned down, the other prior to the Glenn Beck appearance when the water pressure was again turned down. In light of the health department’s concerns about water flow and restroom access, the facility has brought in air-conditioned restrooms to help insure that the existing systems are not overwhelmed. Yet this is still not sufficient for the health officials, who have threatened to try to shut down the Oil Palace prior to upcoming appearances by guests like George Jones and Sarah Palin. Now as someone who attended the Glenn Beck lecture, I can attest to the fact that the Oil Palace as a venue does leave a lot to be desired, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the health department’s complaints. Both the Glenn Beck, and the Sean Hannity appearances were great nights, and there was no danger posed to any attendee. Personally, I plan to attend the Palin visit and expect to have no issues on that occasion either, nor do I plan to turn off the water valves, or flush any insulation.
I once heard someone say that many local bureaucrats are more concerned with being important than being useful. When a local institution bends over backwards to uphold the spirit of an ordinance while continuing to keep its commitments to provide a place for important local and cultural events, I must conclude this is the case. So a brief note to those oh so important folks in the health department: the fact is I as an attendee understand that there may be a problem with water flow in the building. Guess what, I won’t drink it, I still want to see Sarah Palin. I am willing to risk a water fountain that doesn’t work or a toilet that doesn’t flush right. Do you know why I take such awful risks? Because I’m a grown up! I think I can remember to go before I leave the house, and I’ll take a bottle of water to insure that I don’t over heat, but please stop trying to remove all the risk from every nuance of my life! If the facility is making a reasonable effort to fix problems or find ways to otherwise accommodate attendees I am willing to chance it.
As far as I can see, and from what I’ve read at this point, it seems the staff and management at the Oil Palace has taken reasonable steps to comply with what has been asked of them. At this point the whole thing seems like a silly battle of wills to me.
For more information, or to read up on the conflict go to the KETK website at http://www.ketknbc.com/local/oil-palace-gets-another-health-district-notice, or see the KLTV page at http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=12598373. For more info on the Oil Palace or on upcoming events go to the website at www.oilpalace.com. Readers can also check out my review of the Glenn Beck appearance by looking for the title Glenn Beck comes to Tyler, located elsewhere on this site. Lastly, for a brief look at a few cultural attractions in Tyler this summer, including those coming to the Oil Palace look for the title Cultural Events and Institutions in Tyler TX.
Tags: Attendee, Bureaucrats, Existing Systems, Glenn Beck, Health Department, Health Officials, Legal Substance, Local Institution, Medians, Oil Palace, Oil Palace Tyler TX, Restroom, Restrooms, Roadways, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Store Fronts, The Oil Palace, Water Flow, Water Pressure, Water Valves, Zz Top
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