"The Project" at 901 EdgeCliff Terrace
Austin, Texas 78704
These photos are pretty much in chronological order showing the progression from BIG house to unlivable disaster area and even BIGGER structure to (WE HOPE!!! but no evidence is forthcoming) a nice, reasonably sized, house and with any luck NOT the behemouth 4 story looming structure that the kid wants to create at our front door.
Oh, did I mention that the guy in the yellow shirt, Jim (Bret's foreman and a karate instructor at Master Yee's Dojo), assaulted me by pushing me around and almost knocked me into a big mud puddle - all because he was upset (poor baby - boo hoo) that I had to call the City Inspectors to get them to remove all their junk from the street (what they should have been doing in the first place"(tm)).
This is what they expected us to put up with - street blocked with materials and junk, dirt strewn all over, no end in sight (this is going on three years now because Bret just won't hire a professional crew to do the work all at once). Also, notice the difference in height between the evil house and a standard house for the Single Family zoned neighborhood.
I thought I really had something here - a guy working while under a RED TAG (which is a "stop all work" order by the city). I was wrong, they couldn't care less about anyone else and have been in CONSTANT violation of red tags as you'll see frequently.
But what's he doing? He's raising the grade so that the house, when checked, will be within the 35 foot height limit. Bret thinks he's very clever to have found this loophole that will allow him to build a 50' building on the highest lot in the neighborhood just so he can get away with "pushing the envelope" as he puts it. Go push your envelope in someone else's neighborhood turkey!
Who is this woman who came over to me while I was shooting and demanded to know who I was and why I was taking pictures and then came back with a series of snide remarks designed to belittle me? Weird! Oh, it turns out that she is an employee of DSI, Inc., Bret's company which he runs illegally out of 903 EdgeCliff Terrace, right next door to the subject of this photo essay.
Notice how our cars are blocked in by their junk.
Erosion barriers that are broken or not in place, allowing runoff dirt to go into the sewers and the river.
Just to pick nits, look at the wall in the back there, WAY over the 6-8 foot height limit and he has re-bar sticking out the top as if he's going up another 3-5 feet!
Parking on the landfill Bret dumped into Town Lake to make his own private parking lot on public land.
Oh, look! What's this? Could it be? Why, YES, it's *another* red tag "stop all work" order.
Jim inspects the gas meter for impending illegal installation.
Interesting. They're not supposed to have electricity but their extension cords work fine from the side of the house.
Juxtaposition - our house with the nice flowers and Bret's structure with it's trash and dirt and open hole.
Notice how the I-beams aren't even welded together straight, they kind of rock back & forth. Also notice the gas meter hasn't yet been illegally installed but watch for its appearance in a picture near you.
Oh! There it is! But not for long - the City will come remove it soon.
This may be stretching things a bit but Feng Shui indicates that Bret's house is shooting "poison arrows" or "bad energy" out onto the surrounding areas - one of which happens to be the adjacent roadway, where, shortly after Bret raised the house even higher, a School Bus carrying children to the School For The Deaf was hit head on by a car that mysteriously jumped the median.
To be continued....