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     The easiest task in the Bureacratic system is obtaining a marriage license. My partner and I found that the hardest part of this process would be to come up with the eighty dollar fee (minors pay 100 dollars). To research the process of getting a marriage license to create a flow chart, first my partner and I searched the city of Philadelphia's official website. We hit the jackpot with that website it had all the information we needed for every possible situation couples trying to wed could be in.

       To get a marriage license in Philadelphia, you need the eighty dollar fee, your social security card or document containing your social security number. If a person was married before they need proof of dissolution of marriage or the death certificate of your former mate along with the previously stated items. If you are minor you need parental consent and an extra ten dollars per person. Lastly if you've had your name changed you need the court order. After you bring all the required materials all there is left to for the couple to do is sign their signature.   

      They only thing I would change about this process is lower the fee for the license. Philadelphia has the highest fee in the state.

We did well but we can alway improve.

My partner and I chose to illustrate the process of a buying a HUD home. We began by reading the instructions available on the HUD website and choosing a house from the HUD Home Store. Next, we acquired the necessary paperwork frommy partner's aunt, who is a real estate agent. The paperwork for buying a HUD home turned out to be voluminous but straight forward . The hardest part of buying a house, we discovered, is negotiating with people about purchasing the house, and getting it inspected. The forms, as intimidating as they initially seem, actually guide the process. Furthermore, a person buying a HUD home would have a broker or a real estate agent to explain each step of the procedure. It's the decision making, the money managing, not the bureaucracy, that makes buying a home an arduous process.

As we already know, illegal immigration has become a recent rise in our country... However, it recently is comming up more in our nation not only through the DREAM act; which would allow immigrants the proper education of an AMERICAN citizen, I somewhat think this is a good thing, but at the same time it is WRONG. But dont let me get started on that issue, I came here to say that talking about the current problem with immigration is a "touchy" topic with politicians and many other high officials.

With that being said, not many politicians will be so quick to jump and do something on the issue as quick as you would hope they would. Which to me is kind of a let down and would really bring down my hopes of once again seeing this country taking action on the problem.

My bureaucratic 'task' that I selected was task Food Stamps. Food Stamps generally help low-income people purchase food. Although some of the wording on the paperwork was confusing. The paperwork was also lengthy and seemed to ask the easiest questions in the most complicated way. I would not change anything. The whole process was pretty straightforward altogether. But I think the systems have become so complicated so that the people who do not NEED the system, will not abuse it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cVqOWzI78QjbhCxG_BbIuwSdgQ0H-8DWZACXH3agVfs/edit?hl=en

Getting A Restraining Order

The paperwork for getting a Restraining Order really wasn't a lot. The bulk of the work had to be filled out by a court hearing. The most tedious part on there was having to fill out the paper work part for the kids if you have more then 5. Also when they ask for a description of the person your getting the order against, not that its weird but knowing there height, eye color, and weight seems a bit much.

If I could change one thing on my flow chart I would want it to be more complicated. Sometimes i feel like the more complicated things are it makes the subject more interesting. 

I think this process has become as complicated as it is because anybody can get in trouble for any little thing. So making sure that they are not liable for anything they will cover each and every crack they can. 

The only problem I had was locating a Philadelphia Restraining Order.

The bureaucratic task that my partner, Lenea, and I selected is FAFSA. FAFSA is the free application for federal student aid, which is used for receipt of federal, school, and state aid. Lenea and I began by identifying the major components of the FAFSA—documentation, important steps, etc—we then examined the general components in greater depth. Eventually we both tried to tackle different aspects of the FAFSA process. We reconvened to share the information we found regarding our assigned parts of the FAFSA via google document and in-person discussion. As we both anticipated, the flow chart layout was the most challenging and time-consuming part of the project. However, we both continued to collaborate and compromise to create a solid, effective, and visually appealing product.

The paperwork for the FAFSA was straightforward, but when I arrived at the parent section things became confusing. I was not familiar with some of the questions—maybe because I am not familiar with the terms and I do not possess the information that was requested. I am sure that parents will be able to properly complete the section. I can’t identify any aspects of the FAFSA that should be changed because I understand, somewhat, why each step might be essential to the purpose of the process. The system might have become complicated so that people do not attempt to manipulate the system. The FAFSA specifically inquires a lot about family income, earnings, etc. The questions serve to ensure that the proper amount of money is granted to each family. 

There is nothing quite like bureaucracy.  Every system contains it, we all have to work through it, but most agree that it can often be a pain in the rear.  With a partner, we (American Government class) were all assigned to investigate the processes behind a bureaucratic system with a partner.   My partner, Aimee, and I chose to look into Food-Stamps (also known as SNAPS)

            SNAPS is a national food-assistance program for families who are struggling to provide for themselves.  Families receive a certain amount of benefits each month, based on their calculated need.  In PA, these families then receive an ACCESS card, which can be used to purchase food (excluding certain items like alcohol.)

            The Food-Stamps system doesn’t seem necessarily difficult, but is very complex.  Although it is a nationally based system, a person must apply within a specific State, and complete the required paperwork.  You can do part of the process online, depending on your State.  However, Aimee and I did it by hand because we would have had to actually create an account, and this is strictly academic. 

Instead, we printed out a 24-page application and tried to fill it out.  They consider a lot, and much of the information gets repetitive.  Since SNAPS is often closely tied to other systems like Welfare Benefits, WIC, or unemployment, there are many factors taken into consideration.  You have to provide social security, who you’re applying for, people in your household, income (if any, including job and other resources), expenses per person in house, whether you own a vehicle…etc.  To receive benefits, you have to meet specific income eligibility requirements, which vary depending on who lives with you.  It’s quite tedious.

            The 24-page application was for other benefits, including healthcare.  We soon found a much shorter form for just SNAP benefits, and filled that one out for a (non racially stereotyped) single mother of two. 

            In some way I see why there is so much to consider in application.  They have to consider just about any possible scenario a person can have.  When it comes government money, they don’t want to leave any loopholes.  It’s very specific, but probably needs to be. 

            It was very frustrating trying to figure out how to put all the steps and things to consider into one cohesive “flow” that made sense and didn’t exceed our 60-object free trial on Lucid Chart.  There are probably more specific details that could have been included, but we tried to pick out the most important bits.  I would like to see this professionally done, with every detail, just to grasp the complexity. 

My partner, Sophia Moreno and I did our bureaucratic project on food stamps. The Food Stamp Program or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a system made by the federal government in 1939, to provide food benefits to people with little or no income. Individuals such as the elderly, children, or disabled are given an ACCESS card, which are used at most grocery stores.

We started our project by researching the background information on our topic and how the system works. We printed out all the necessary forms that we would have to ‘fictionally’ fill out to apply for food stamps. After going through the research, we had to pull out all the requirements that a person would have to meet to be able to receive food stamps. Knowing that information is what really helped us with the putting together the flow chart.

I must say, the paperwork was bit perplexing. Trying to correctly fill out the forms in the correct boxes and such was sort of confusing, especially working with a fictional character that we were making up along the way. There were a lot of steps and outside of influences that would affect the process of filling the forms out. The flow chart was a bit even more complicated. We didn’t exactly know how to start or go about it but I think we pulled it off pretty well.

If I were to do this project again, I would try and do deeper research on trying to figure out the loopholes around it. I would try to see why there are so many people are on welfare. I really enjoyed this project and going through the process with my partner.

Devon and I chose to do our Bureaucracy Project on Registering a Car and Getting Your License. We separated our task by splitting these two processes up and created two different flow charts. Devon focused more on Getting Your License while I did the Registering A Car portion. 

Registering A Car: http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08d061-7af4-41b2-ae47-04ce0afcbe04

Getting Your License: http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08ca51-c1b4-4d42-9ac7-02fb0afcbe04

The process of this task was I believe pretty easy. We went to the PennDot site which had all the information we needed and a step-by-step setup of how it was supposed to be completed. The hardest part was ironically making the flowchart look appealing to the eye. For example, the first time we did it, the chart had 40+ boxes on it and was just black and white. We both realized that this wouldn't work and therefore started over. During the second time Devon came up with the idea that we should make it look like a street and have the lines look like the yellow broken lines in the middle of the street and vehicle like shapes as cars. We tried our best to mimic the curves and turns of the road with the chart.

• Form MV-1 (could not be found online)

"Form MV-1 is not available online. This form must be completed by an authorized agent of the Department." I found forms from different states like Georgia and Maryland however, none from PA.

After doing this project, I believe that registering a car in PA is so complex. I realized that you have to have so many forms and documents and go to different people to actually do all of this. It's really, just overwhelming with all of the things that you have to complete. I don't know why this process is so complicated when getting your license is not even close to how difficult it is to complete.

I selected to do the adoption for my bureaucracy project because I love kids. This was personal on a level because in the future I am actually considering adoption when I am ready to start a family. Basically the process for this project was simple finding the nuts and bolts of adoption but he hard part came in for the paperwork. Because you have to go through an actual agency to get any type of paper work for a child, we couldn't send any information out to be sent paper work. So that part would have been the most difficult about adoption because you need legal papers and really the process is all about giving families the run around. The adoptive process I think is as simple and complex as it needs to be. There needs to be a point of trust between these agencies and the potential adopters.  Other than doing this project alone after being confronted about not putting in much effort, I really just wanted to get this project done. I learned a lot from this project and it benefited me as well as others who may have been thinking about adoption.

My partner and I researched the long process of obtaining a license to sell liquor in the state of Pennsylvania. The first thing we found in our initial research was that liquor licenses are extremely specific. They are different for bars, restaurants, corner stores, etc. There are certain qualifications and papers you must fill out to distribute certain types of liquors. Purchasing a license alone has been know to cust up to 400,000$ in the state of Pennsylvania. There were about a dozen pieces of paper we had to fill out, and basically all of them asked for the same information. They were separate papers asking for the same information to be sent to different departments; it gets frustrating very fast. The process itself has many checks and balances to make sure that the people whom sell the liquor will be responsible, however the paperwork is still too much. The paperwork doesn't operate as part of the checks and balances system, it's just tedious repeated information. This could be a stretch, but I think the system became complicated after prohibition ended. Prior to prohibition everyone could sell alcohol which is why it used to be such a bigger problem then it is today. Prohibition ended, but regulation strengthened, thus we have the system we see in place today.

For our bureaucracy project, Kristina and I decided to research the process of obtaining a building permit for a house in Philadelphia. This flowchart outlines what you need to submit your application for a permit. Here's the link to the real version of the flowchart, which contains some links to websites with the paperwork.

http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08c727-33f0-41dc-ab32-7f0f0afcbe04

We did our research by finding the application online, and then searching for the supplemental paperwork as we came across it. Also, we used this site as a guide:

http://www.100khouse.com/2008/12/04/how-to-build-a-house-in-philadelphia-building-permits/

The paperwork that we filled out for this was really complicated. We think this is because a lot of registered professionals are required, so we just didn't understand a lot of the language. It was also difficult because there are tons of different forms to fill out, and you have to figure out which ones are required for your individual building.

If i could change one thing about this bureaucratic process, it would be the availability of information. We had to go around in circles looking for this stuff because it's not outlined clearly anywhere on the city's website. I think that the city should have an easy-to-understand guide to make the building permit process more accesible to average people in Philadelphia.

I think that one reason this process has become so complicated is that there are more regulations than there were when the city was first formed. As regulations are added, more paperwork comes along with it so the organization of the process is a bit confusing.

Overall, I think that researching this process gave me a good glimpse of the inner workings of the city. I never realized it was so hard to just get permission to build something!

This project was to choose a bureaucratic system and create a flowchart about it. My partner was Kim Bush and we had two different topics, I predominately worked on the flow chart for Getting your Driver's License in PA while Kim worked on Registering a car in PA. 

Through personal experience, the bureaucratic system for getting your driver's license and dealing with the paperwork is very straight forward, however, getting to the Driver's License Center and dealing with the workers there is the difficult side of it.

Getting your driver's license begins with the process of getting your learner's permit, and making sure you are fit to drive. There are two forms needed to get your learner's permit, they are the DL-180 (Non-Commercial Learner's Permit Application) and if you are under the age of 18 you need the DL-180TD (Parent/Guardian Consent Form). 

After you receive your learner's permit, you have to test for your driver's license. If you are over the age of 18 you can take your driving test whenever you want after you pass the permit test. If you are under the age of 18 you must complete 50 hours and wait 6 months before you can test for your license, you must also bring the DL-180C (Parent/Guardian Certification Form). 

After you take your driver's test, you will have either passed or failed. If you failed your driver's test you will have to re-take that test, however, if you are under 18 you will not have to bring the form DL-180C with you again.

The paperwork for this bureaucratic system is very straightforward, and if you go to the Driver License Center website and it explains the entire process for you.

The process is quite easy, however, if I were to change something about the process, I would make it more difficult to begin the process of getting your learner's permit. In order to make it more difficult, I would suggest that the test is only available after you complete a driver's education course.

Although this process is not as complicated as some of the others, I feel as though they have become more complicated over the years because things have gone wrong within the systems. 

My partner, Marshall Johnston, and I decided to focus on the difficult process of obtaining a liquor license for a restaurant. This process is full of many instances where exceptions occur. There are many options that require people to have different forms depending on their personal preferences. There are options to be applying for a new establishment to use a liquor license or to keep the establishment that the liquor license is already permitted to be used for. It is necessary to buy an already exsisting license from a buisness willing to sell it. This is because the amount of available licenses depend on the population in Pennsylvania. Also, a license can't be sold to anyone outside of the specific county because that is how it's organized according to population. After a license to be sold is found, the buyer can apply for it and bargain a price for what it will be sold. Along with this there are fees for not only the license but the application fees also.

The forms to be filled out aren't simple at all. They ask for a few means of "background checks", like a "criminal report check" and a "tax certification statement". They also ask for every aspect that will be associated with the selling of the liquor such as the areas that will occupy liquor and the amount of space of each of these room. They ask for the information of the employees that will be responsible for the liquor and how long they've been a citizen

I would change the amount of unnecessary paperwork or make it more straight forward. There are many different variables that make it necessary to have different types of paperwork which is one thing that makes it unbearably confusing. I think it's this confusing because of the fact that everyone wants to be able to sell liquor and there are many more restaurants in Philadelphia alone than there are liquor licenses here. 

I thought it was interesting to investigate this process because I often see places around where I live obtaining liquor licenses and wonder why they didn't get one when they first opened. Now I know why and understand why liquor stores aren't open on Sundays. This is because there's a separate license to sell liquor on Sundays.

The bureaucratic task we selected was to have a block party on a street and how to obtain a permit to block the street for a party. The process wasn't quite as complicated as some of the others that were selected by classmates of mine. However, there were a number of steps that were not so straightforward. My partner, Evan Cohen, and I filled out the paperwork. It was significantly shorter than the paperwork for most other processes, but one part of it requires many many signatures from neighbors. It was straightforward, but quite a pain to actually complete it. If I had to change one thing it would definitely be something with the signatures, but I mean I understand why that part is necessary. I think this system is so complicated because it affects so many people. To have a party outside on a residential street affects a lot of people. So it's not too surprising as to why it is complicated.

• Chris Cassise
• Briefly summarize the bureaucratic 'task' that you selected.
• We selected the liquor license as our bureaucratic task for a restaurant in a zone applicable for selling liquor. So we chose two restaurants Adobe cafe and Popis Italian restaurant.
• Give an overview of your process
• We found all the documents that had to be filled out and then seen what the checklist paper on what of them stated we needed to do. From there we created the flow chart using various step by step websites obtaining one and the paperwork documents.
• Reflect upon the paperwork that you needed to fill out. Was it straightforward, easy, difficult, perplexing, etc
• The paper work was only around 5 pages and pretty straightforward. There wasnt any hard parts except for finding out the height and width for how much space the alcoholic beverages are going to be sold on.
• If you could change one thing about the bureaucratic process that you flow charted, what would it be and why?
• I think make some more room to show all the different types of liquor licenses you can apply to if your not a restaurant and maybe show the transfer documents and how that is also a different process then just focusing on obtaining one.
• Why do you think the systems have become so complicated? 
• The systems probably became so complicated to stop fraudulent processing. These documents asked and information asked really show you need everything, you cant just get away with estimating or lying. 
• Other thoughts, reflections, feedback.
• I thought this project was informative and definitively opened my eyes about how confusing and complicated these bureaucratic functions are

http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/edit/4d07c4af-2bac-4ea4-b8a9-391d0afcbe04/0

For our bureaucratic task, we chose to apply for Welfare. Getting Welfare benefits is for families who how have no house income or low income where they are given food stamps, health insurance or regular cash. The process to apply for welfare is not difficult but there is an excessive amount of paperwork. The paper work was straightforward, however filling out the income and rent was quite difficult. The reason the system is complicated is because people are taking advantage of the benefits and there is an increasing of fraud. However, the government does not have any money due to the recession, so they have to be careful with where they spend it. 

By Alex McGrorty and Matt O'Toole

The bureaucratic task my partner and I chose was the process of filing a Restraining Order, or a Protection from Abuse Order.

The process is fairly straightforward, if somewhat tedious. Basically, to file one of these orders, a person has to go to their local county Court of Common Pleas. Upon arriving there and finding the area where a restraining order can be made, there will be several court forms to fill out, such as the Application for Relief from Abuse, the Affidavit for Relief from Abuse and the Request for Nondisclosure of Location. These each respectively give different aspects of the problem.

The Application for Relief from Abuse is a form where the plaintiff (the victim or person filing the order) writes their basic personal information, such as name, address and contact information.

The Affidavit for Relief from Abuse is a form where the plaintiff details what happened to them or what abuse they suffered to make them file the order.

The Request for Nondisclosure of Location is a form the plaintiff will fill out to keep their location classified, so that their abuser cannot access the information. The victim’s location and contact information will have to be on file in this process, and the file is able to accessed by the public, therefore this document is a safety measure to keep the defendant from being able to access it themselves.

These documents should be given to a court clerk, who will present the case to a judge. There will be a hearing regarding the issue, and if the judge decides the case to be legitimate, they can have the order served. However, this will be temporary and only last until the secondary hearing, which will take place after 14 days.

After the 14 day (2 week) period of deliberation, the plaintiff will be summoned to another hearing, where the judge will determine whether the order needs to last another 180 days.  Any evidence or witnesses should be present during this hearing (there is additional documents and forms to be filled out if there is a witness involved).

If the order is given, the plaintiff must have it served by a State Marshall. The State Marshall will deliver the order to the offender (abuser) and order them to obey the limitations of the order. All involved should obey the restraining order, if there is any unlawful contact between parties, the police should be involved immediately.

If there was one thing we could change, I suppose it would be to lessen the 14-day waiting period. Or possibly eliminate the secondary hearing entirely. While I understand this is a period of deliberation by the court officials, if a person is in serious danger and felt threatened enough to file a restraining/protection from abuse order in the first place, then they should be helped immediately and not have to wait so long.

We believe systems have become more complicated because times have changed. We still use archaic bureaucratic methods, even in the face of modern technology and changing times. We possess the technology that could make the process simpler and more straightforward to meet modern needs. 

Flowchart View Link: http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08cde6-8c50-4085-a6b3-1e830af90ae1

 PDF Download Link: http://www.lucidchart.com/publicSegments/view/4d0a2ba5-3d7c-4a7a-8e2f-66ee0afcbe04

    What Emma and I did was research all of the steps involved to enlisting in the Marines. The Marines are apart of the Military and we wanted to research the process of enlisting because it interested us. Emma and I knew someone who recently went through the process of enlisting to the Marines, so we used this to our advantage. We kept in contact with this person frequently so we were able to make a document with all of the steps to enlisting. We then talked to this person regarding paper work. She said that she would try and get the paper work from her recruiter. Since this was not possible, we used the steps we found out to create two flowcharts. One was with all of the steps involved in enlisting the marines, including what you would need to do if you failed certain parts. The second one was all the requirements for boot camp. 

    Since we didn't have our own recruiter we weren't able to get the paper work. This didn't affect getting the steps for our flowchart. If I had to change one thing about the bureaucratic process in the flowchart I would have changed needing a recruiter to fill out the paper work. I think that it should be possible for someone considering enlisting in the Marines to be able to look at the paper work beforehand, instead of getting a recruiter first. I think the system has become so complicated because enlisting in the Marines is a serious thing, and not all people probably take it seriously. They want people who know what they are doing, or can learn what they are doing so it's important to have all these steps in order to accept the people who could have a future in the Marines. I enjoyed this project and thought that it was a great learning experience.  

First flowchart:

(Steps to enlisting)

Second flow chart:

(Boot camp requirements)

• Amira Young and myself chose to do our bureaucratic project based off completing the proper paper work to file for a divorce. Our process was very overweleming and helped us to realize that filing for a divorce was extremely difficult and time consuming. The process for filing for a divorce was interesting being as though we learned that most of the process and proper steps we needed to enact was for the good of both parties and any children intertwined. The paper work was the most easiest part maybe because we're just playing but its was hard because i never understood why this process entitled that much effort. Doing the project helped and unlocked answers based on this task. The process of entirely needed because it prevents problems between two parties who might be sore towards each other. Process is the way it is only because its built off of progress and actually works.

For this Bureaucracy Project my partner Taylor Tomasco and I were assigned to create a flow chart on how to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA). This process involved researching all of the documents needed to complete the FAFSA process. Although we as students cannot complete the FAFSA until January 1st, this flow chart will assist all students preparing to enter into college. This flow chart shows the documents needed, the actual FAFSA form from last year, so that students could get an idea of what the form looks like on paper or online.

We referred to the FAQ, on the FAFSA website to know what information we needed to add to our flowchart, so that no information was misleading. We also printed out the tax forms a student would need, or that their parents would need when filling out this form. We created an alias name and identity to go along with the forms, so that a replica of the forms could be easier to understand; henceforth what information goes where. Filling out this information was a little difficult, because all the information on each page had to make sense.

If we were to change one thing about this Bureaucratic Project, then it would be to document what actually goes into filling this form out; the process, papers, time, and effort with accuracy.

This process has become so complicated in the past decades is because many people attempt to steal others identities so that they could receive a free education. Although there is a limited amount of money, people attempt to use another persons identity to receive the most benefits.

Link to Flow Chart:

https://www.scienceleadership.org/sections/American_Government_-_Laufenberg:2

In American Government, we were given a task to pick a bureaucracy and make a flow chart on the steps of that bureaucracy. The partner I picked was Beth and we decided on doing the steps to obtaining a building permit in Philadelphia. 

We picked this topic without knowing what we were getting ourselves into and didn't know even one step of obtaining a building permit in Philadelphia. The first thing we did was head to google and googled, "building permit in Philadelphia" and came across this site, 100k house, that told us the steps of obtaining a building permit and what each paper/form that needed to be filled out, meant. Then we headed to Philadelphia L&I site to obtain the application and started to fill it out the best way we knew how to.

The paperwork that we had to fill out was very confusing. The paper work needed to be filled out by other people and you have had to contact these people before starting the application. Then you also had to fill out papers like, Zoning permit application, structural design criteria, energy conservation, and more. Most of these paperwork had to be filled out by a hired engineer/architect firm and a lot of contacting.

I don't think I would change anything because even though these steps are so complicated and has a lot of steps, it's made for safety. The city has to be on par with what you are doing because one wrong step/move, someone who wasn't involved, will get hurt.

Flowchart link: http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/edit/4d08c727-33f0-41dc-ab32-7f0f0afcbe04

Block Party: Throwing a block party on a South Philadelphia street.

Over View: Obtain 52 signatures, pay between 10-45 dollars, declare the event, Choose the time, and choose the date. 

Paper work: Our paper work was straight forward. It listed everything you needed and was only 2 pages long.

Change: I would not change a thing about our flowchart, it flows perfectly and is 100% accurate.

Complication: I would say the larger system gas become so complicated because of the many smaller systems that have popped up to only add to the already intricate larger system.