Residents lined up hours before locations were scheduled to open Tuesday across South Florida to submit paper applications for unemployment benefits as the state attempts to address problems with its website amid the increased number of applicants during the coronavirus pandemic. Four locations were set to open at 11 a.m. on Tuesday in Hialeah for residents to get paper applications – something the state has encouraged residents to do after recent problems with its employment website. The locations where applications can be picked up are: Slade Park, 2501 West 74th Street, Hialeah, FL 33016 Goodlet Park, 4200 West 8th Avenue, Hialeah, FL 33012 John F. Kennedy Library, 190 West 49th Street, Hialeah, FL 33012 Babcock Park, 651 East 4th Avenue, Hialeah, FL 33010 Applications should be filled out and mailed back to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Starting Wednesday, applications can also be picked up at 26 locations throughout Miami-Dade’s public library system from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week until further notice. Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the implementation of changes to help processing applications for reemployment assistance. “We want this system to be accessible to people, so that they have a way to do it, and it is responsive,” DeSantis said. He said the computer system’s capacity has been increased to handle 120,000 simultaneous connections, about double the peak usage in recent weeks, and by Tuesday 750 additional state employees will be trained to handle and process phone calls. Private call centers are also being given contracts to provide additional service. “It would take seven seconds just to connect through, that may have been okay in 1996 but not in 2020, so the capacity has improved,” DeSantis said. Stuart Wein told NBC 6 last week about his experience with the online system. […]
