Proposal to control BBQ smoke and odors :( (Austin, Spring: credit, attorney)

[hound 109]

Sounds to me like the City of Austin and the State of Texas should be sending a very large bill to the "neighbors" on whatever the heck street that is. Lots of man hours have been spent on these frivolous complaints. I'd rather my city tax dollars & my state tax dollars not be wasted on a bunch of whiners who ended up suing anyway.

Send them a damn bill (just as one would - or should - for a false alarm to the police or fire). At this point 10s of thousands of dollars worth of City and State man hours have been wasted on these idiots who bought a home above a commercial restaurant on a VERY popular commercial street. It's like buying a townhouse on Bourbon Street and asking the cops to keep the revelry down after 10pm.

& if they lose the civil suit, I hope Blacks BBQ countersues the pants off of them for wasting his time, energy and money.

But no matter how the civil suit goes...they asked the City & State for help & then said "never mind, we'll sue instead". The COA & the State should send them a damn bill. I'd rather use my tax dollars on buying BBQ for the homeless than have city departments wasting time on a bunch of whiners who'll probably ask the city to move Barton Springs (because of the "riff raff") next.

[centralaustinite]

only after we bill Laura Pressley for her ridiculous antics!

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Well, I have a co-worker that lives pretty much right in that plume of smoke, albeit not the closest resident, and it is pretty unbearable. To be fair, the BBQ place worked toward a solution in apparently good faith after a somewhat tenuous start. I expect that there was even a little pressure from the fellow 'Qers around the city. I am not sure how the city council jumped to the 'we gotta pass an ordinance' without recuse to the TCEQ, or if the TCEQ somehow whiffed on this one. If you have seen the videos of the smoke in this peoples back yards, you would be amazed. It was slam-dunk nuisance conditions:

30 TAC 101.4

Looks intolerable to me. I expect most juries would agree.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gR7sxZ0UU8

[Don in Austin]

Originally Posted by hound 109

Sounds to me like the City of Austin and the State of Texas should be sending a very large bill to the "neighbors" on whatever the heck street that is. Lots of man hours have been spent on these frivolous complaints. I'd rather my city tax dollars & my state tax dollars not be wasted on a bunch of whiners who ended up suing anyway.

Send them a damn bill (just as one would - or should - for a false alarm to the police or fire). At this point 10s of thousands of dollars worth of City and State man hours have been wasted on these idiots who bought a home above a commercial restaurant on a VERY popular commercial street. It's like buying a townhouse on Bourbon Street and asking the cops to keep the revelry down after 10pm.

& if they lose the civil suit, I hope Blacks BBQ countersues the pants off of them for wasting his time, energy and money.

But no matter how the civil suit goes...they asked the City & State for help & then said "never mind, we'll sue instead". The COA & the State should send them a damn bill. I'd rather use my tax dollars on buying BBQ for the homeless than have city departments wasting time on a bunch of whiners who'll probably ask the city to move Barton Springs (because of the "riff raff") next.

They bought their homes long before the smoke problem. It is NOT like buying a townhouse on Bourbon Street, not at all.

Don in Austin

[scm53]

Looks intolerable to me. I expect most juries would agree.

Fortunately, juries have to follow the law. What law is Black's breaking? What contaminants are they releasing? (Careful how you answer that last one, lest you be accused of releasing the same ones next time you fire up your fireplace). OBTW - there is a reason there is ZERO reference to any applicable law in the filing.

Look, these folks bought next to commercially zoned property. Black's is in compliance with the applicable zoning. It is no different than had one moved next to an airport that had only operated prop trainer a/c for decades - but suddenly started training jet pilots, and noise increased exponentially. Sorry. You knew what you were doing. Just because the most noxious use of the zoning hadn't been used before didn't grant a permanent ban against it.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by Don in Austin

They bought their homes long before the smoke problem. It is NOT like buying a townhouse on Bourbon Street, not at all.

Don in Austin

If one buys next to (or up from) a commercial property (or Zilker Park), then one gets the (perceived) good and bad. Buyer beware.

These people wasted city resources (& state of texas resources). Then ended up suing. Send them a bill for the man hours spent.


(& I hope they lose the lawsuit....though it's no skin off me who wins)

[hound 109]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=3gR7sxZ0UU8

Cool video. Response?

Please....throw me in that Briar Patch.

[Aquitaine]

I hate to sound frivolous but I'd just ask Black's for a weekly pound of brisket and call it square.

[ImOnFiya]

Originally Posted by hound 109

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=3gR7sxZ0UU8

Cool video. Response?

Please....throw me in that Briar Patch.

No doubt this video clip shows fumes coming from Terry Black's Barbeque, the video and its description is still meaningless unless the business is proven to have been eminating smoke in excess of TCEQ and COA limits.

(Even if Terry Black's somehow has fooled both TCEQ and COA) this video does not address basic questions to give the video validity in a courtroom as evidence. For example, why doesn't the video show with expert testimony or instrumentation to answer:

1. Whether this is a typical day or just when the wind blows a certain direction?
2. Why isn't there a timestamp on this video?
3. Was this clip before or after new smokestacks installed?
4. What is the substance eminating from the exhaust?
5. Why isn't there any testimony or instrumentation showing smoke in excess of TCEQ state-mandated limits or compliant COA ordinances?
6. Why the fumes appears to affect one house, not 15 houses. Where is the video evidence of non-complaint TCEQ/COA smoke affecting these 14 other homes?

In short, the neighbors still have no case.

[HappyTexan]

You drive the live music out of town with "noise issues".
You drive the BBQ out of town with "smoke issues".

What will you end up with ?