Man sues city over seizure of house with underground shelter

Statesman.com ^ | 5/7/12 | Patrick Beach

[G Larry]

Thanks to the pics in post #8, I withdraw my statements.

Over-stimulated & under resourced.....(homeowner....not me!)

[TangoLimaSierra]

I think I might be tempted to throw a handful of birdseed under the guys window on the occasional evening.

[TexasRedeye]

...collection of about a dozen firearms...

So what? Here in Texas he could have a 1,000 guns all loaded and none registered (all acquired from private sellers) and still be within the law. I actually feel sorry for him having only a dozen or so.

[Nervous Tick]

Wow! Very nice.

[Eaker]

For later.

[umbagi]

As a resident of the People's Republik of Austin, I'd posit a somewhat different scenario:

Del Rio inherits the house, with a 50s or 60s era "bomb shelter." He expands on it some (before the age of required permits for storage sheds, doghouses, birdfeeders and rain gauges, and restrictions even on using collected rainwater for your plants), puts in air conditioning, and buys some legal firearms during that time. Hey, it's not that great a neighborhood...

Someone tells the Po-leece that he's got "a bunker, and guns, and suspicious barrels" and APD calls out the SWAT team, and the Bomb Squad, and a Central Command Post, and the Fire Department, and, finally, the code-enforcers (got to have some probably cause, ya know). "Hey, this could be bigger than Waco!"

One dynamic entry later, they realize that they've got a 72-year-old law abiding citizen, retired Air Force Reservist and former City of Austin employee, a harmless hole in the ground, legal guns, empty barrels, and lots of egg on their collective face.

From there on out, it's pure police-state CYA.

"The building's going to cave in tomorrow! Fill his basement with four or five truckloads of concrete!" (Er, 'scuse me, uh, it hasn't fallen in yet, after all these years -- what's the rush?)

"Old car batteries present a hazard! Build a $10,000 double chain-link fence and put scary signs on it!"

"Don't forget to cut off the electricity and water and evict him, then send the guy a bill for the whole screw-up and dare him to sue us."

I'm an ex-cop, and generally "pro-police," but you only have to be on-scene at an everyday automobile accident investigation here to see that APD is "us versus them" on way too many steroids. We're all guilty until proven innocent, and then just suspicious...

[Cowman]

there was an article that came out recently about a new trend for wealthy people to build modest-looking homes with extensive underground facilities

An attempt to reduce the property tax assessment perhaps?

[Cvengr]

I don’t see where he did anything wrong. He even hired a structural engineer to verify if a retaining wall design was required and the PE didn’t think the house structure was unsound.

Only thing abnormal was the owner had been a security guard for the Austin City Council and had retired from that job.

It appears the structure was built directly beneath his house and not directly under the foundation stemwalls or their surcharge.

[tomkat]

From that to this, in just few short years   8^]