Ah, the efficiency of the Queens Bureaucracy
So five years ago my family was fined for having an illegal apartment in our basement. Apparently they thought a tiny sink and stove, usually known as a summer or canning kitchen, made the basement it's own apartment. This was discovered after an inspector forced his way in past my grandmother's caretaker saying they had received complaints... abut what I don't know. We were never allowed to confront our accuser.
Well bottom line was we were fined $1600 and told that we had to restore the basement to it's original condition. Problem was that no one had the plans for the building on file... so how could they have no we changed anything? Well, turns out we never did. The stuff was all original to when the house was built. We appealed. That was 5 years and $1600 ago.
Today we received a notice in the mail saying our appeal was granted and that the violations were removed from the property. Huzzah for efficient government! Wait, where's our check reimbursing us the $1600 with interest? god damnit... here we go again...
Well bottom line was we were fined $1600 and told that we had to restore the basement to it's original condition. Problem was that no one had the plans for the building on file... so how could they have no we changed anything? Well, turns out we never did. The stuff was all original to when the house was built. We appealed. That was 5 years and $1600 ago.
Today we received a notice in the mail saying our appeal was granted and that the violations were removed from the property. Huzzah for efficient government! Wait, where's our check reimbursing us the $1600 with interest? god damnit... here we go again...