Chutzpah

The above word, is derived from the Yiddish word khutspe, meaning, nerve, gall, temerity. New Yorkers know its meaning well, and what follows is a quintessential New York story. For those that don't know, land is both money and power in the city. Very, very little of it sits vacant and unspoken for. Well, one New Yorker saw a vacant parcel of land, threw a fence around it, and claimed it as his own. 

Meet Darren Miller of Queens, NY. He allegedly grabbed 10 acres of land in south Brooklyn and ran a rather lucrative business within its boundaries. He ran it as a parking lot for trucks, charging hundreds of them a few hundred dollars a month for the privilege of parking. Now you might think Darren Miller only got away with this for a few months, or a year at most. You'd be wrong.

Miller thinks he's got a legitimate claim to the land. The reason? He took it over back in 1995! He's alleging it's his based on the legal claim of "adverse possession". That allows someone to claim title to property they've used for a specific number of years. That claim is still working its way through the courts, but in the meantime, Miller's been busted on charges of trespassing, illegally dumping toxic waste, and dismantling cars without a license. 

All this, prosecutors say, on land that partly belongs to the City and State of New York, and partly to a private developer. When Darren Miller's operation was busted, there were an incredible 560 vehicles on the land, and a thousand tires. He charged truckers $300 dollars a month to park there, half what other, legitimate lots in the city charge. Let's see now, doing some quick math, Darren Miller grossed $168,000 a month using land that wasn't really his.

Now that's chutzpah!