The northern tier is has an entire different culture than the rest of the commonwealth.

Try not to get stabbed.

Mattucci’s in Mt Carmel. Don’t let the 80’s interior fool you the food is amazing there. I recommend the chicken piccata with their homemade fettuccini.

Sounds like the lyrics to a Backstreet Boys song

In the words of Homer Simpson, “money can be exchanged for goods and services.”

Yeah your write.

/s

There needs to be a there, their, they’re bot and maybe a then/than one. Yeah I’m that guy.

Oh hmm this was like 5 years ago but I remember a local post office being the closest place. I didn’t realize you needed an appt but the lady was nice she had time to see me it doesn’t take long. It was actually easier than I thought it would be once you get the picture and stuff squared away. CVS pharmacy has a background and knows the dimensions and stuff it was like $8 I think. I would suggest doing the post office route if possible.

Who’s “they?” When I did mine I had to make an appointment at the post office. The post master does the in person stuff and they mail it to the State department. They actually take your physical documents. Your birth certificate will be returned in a few weeks in a separate envelope so keep an eye out for it sometimes people think it is junk mail and throw it out. It was a little weird you have to raise your right hand and do the oath of allegiance in the back of the office.

ABAWDS? State law says business of a certain size need to contact L&I if they are closing down or doing layoff ahead of time so they can pre approve claims to make this go quicker but it seems like they often don’t do it.

I agree. I’m not exactly the type of person afraid of poor areas but many people are. I lived in a bad part of Philly years ago and they were the nicest people ever. But yeah random acts of violent or robbery of course can happen but are kind of rare at least in Reading. It is mostly gang or drug related. Be mindful and use some common sense if for whatever reason you are passing through. Those neighborhoods are all residential so yeah there isn’t much reason to be wandering around.

I phrased it clumsy. Not so much in the context of this discussion but when places gentrify rent and stuff usually goes up very quickly so it becomes unlivable for a lot of the folks that used to live there sometimes cresting every denser pockets of poverty somewhere else. It can be a double edge sword sometimes.

I was thinking the same thing. I read it was like $100 million (or more I forget). It seems like more a lack of agents/workers coupled with cumbersome state law.

You need a PA license or ID card first.

New Residents

Someone I know had this happen and it went to the debit card even though they put their bank info in. The commonwealth is really dropping the ball on this.

I didn’t say it was necessarily bad.

My brother lived in West Reading for awhile it’s nice but is gentrified.

For someone older it should be ok. The population in these parts, even more so than the rest of America, is old. It’s hard to find decent work so young people don’t have much of a choice other than deal with it or leave. It’s a little nicer than places like Shamokin or Sunbury. I lived in Upper Dauphin for a few years I liked it much better. That’s more of a rural area though.

Oh is that how it works? Thanks for letting me know.

We would have had it like 50 years ago but our heroic job creators can’t come to a consensus. They hate paying for it but love having the leverage over us peons.

These warehouses usually get huge tax breaks so it doesn’t help as much as it should considering how big they are. A lot of times state and local government will foot the full for the infrastructure as well (roads, water lines, etc). Also the pay at these places is horrible. They are almost parasitic. Local people and local government get crumbs while enormous profits are being made.

These people love socialism when it is for them. When it is me or you it’s “bootstraps.” When you run to “big government” these guys say they hate looking for a handout or public intervention because their business is going under, fine, then the public becomes part owner until it is paid back. That’s how business is supposed to work. We don’t even have capitalism anymore. This is corporatism.

Eh I think misleading is a little strong. It was for sure likely but wasn’t “official” until now.

Yeah good luck with that. Too much “new poor” around where I am from at least.

Almost all railroads are privately owned in the US save a few lines in the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak is a public passenger service running on private lines. That’s why it sucks. The private freight companies always prioritize their stuff over Amtrak.