Story Archive

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

In 2001, Norma Parnell went to a city auction. One item listed: a “vacant lot” in her neighborhood of Far Rockaway in the New York City borough of Queens. She bought it for $30,000. Then she found out what it really was: William Court, a street maintained by the city. She’s trying to sell it back; the city says it has “made numerous attempts to offer her a full refund.” But she doesn’t want $30,000. On her tax bill, William Court is listed as “vacant property, zoned residential,” with an assessed value of $257,000. And that’s what she says the city should pay. That, the city says, is “not an appropriate use of taxpayer money.” Meanwhile, it’s taxing the property roughly $1,000 a year. Still, Parnell says she “didn’t want a street” in the first place. “I wanted a lot,” she says. (AC/WCBS New York) ...She still does.