HOA fight over WWII Tank

[Wathen1955]

HOA fight over WWII tank | khou.com

[boracayjohnny]

HOA, a place for Mrs Cravitts to enforce her nosy ass, good for nothing ways.

[MrPeabody]

It depends on if that particular HOA owns and maintains the streets, or are they public streets owned by the city or county. If it's the latter, it's the police that will handle it. And it's bullshit that it's too heavy/big to remove. I've seen pieces of heavy equipment bigger than that on flatbed trucks going down the highway with pilot cars as a wide load. The towing bill he would have to pay would be four or five figures.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by TxAg

Ok the guy has the tank in the road, taking up a lane of driving.

Sorry buddy but you gotta move that thing.

Now if everyone likes it, and the guy is willing to spend $600,000 on it, then why not have the HOA and the owner work together to find a spot where everyone can enjoy it, safely.

Being in a public street is not safe and as soon as one person is injured the tank owner (an attorney) is going to enjoy a nice, fat lawsuit.

And the guy sounds like an arrogant prick and there's no short supply of those in any neighborhood.

Last time I checked, parking on the street is legal, even in tony River Oaks. There might be some kind of issue if the tank doesn't have a valid license plate, though. Perhaps he just needs to attach a slow moving equipment reflective triangle on the back to get around that. Not sure what city ordinance says about machinery parked on the road.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by MrPeabody

It depends on if that particular HOA owns and maintains the streets, or are they public streets owned by the city or county. If it's the latter, it's the police that will handle it. And it's bullshit that it's too heavy/big to remove. I've seen pieces of heavy equipment bigger than that on flatbed trucks going down the highway with pilot cars as a wide load. The towing bill he would have to pay would be four or five figures.

Those are public streets, even though that's the wealthiest area of Houston. I'm sure they would love to make them private and put up gates and guard shacks. The subdivision has their own private security patrol. Many subdivisions out in the county do the same thing, but it's rare to see private security patrols in the city.

[MrPeabody]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

Last time I checked, parking on the street is legal, even in tony River Oaks. There might be some kind of issue if the tank doesn't have a valid license plate, though. Perhaps he just needs to attach a slow moving equipment reflective triangle on the back to get around that. Not sure what city ordinance says about machinery parked on the road.

If they are public streets the only way you park there in California is if it's a registered vehicle, or if you have a special permit which is what they do for some construction equipment if it has to be in the street for a certain amount of time.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by TxAg

Ok the guy has the tank in the road, taking up a lane of driving.

Sorry buddy but you gotta move that thing.

Now if everyone likes it, and the guy is willing to spend $600,000 on it, then why not have the HOA and the owner work together to find a spot where everyone can enjoy it, safely.

Being in a public street is not safe and as soon as one person is injured the tank owner (an attorney) is going to enjoy a nice, fat lawsuit.

And the guy sounds like an arrogant prick and there's no short supply of those in any neighborhood.

If that was me, I'd mat it onto my front yard and just park it there, on my private property. I'm willing to bet the deed restrictions don't prohibit tanks.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by MrPeabody

If they are public streets the only way you park there in California is if it's a registered vehicle, or if you have a special permit which is what they do for some construction equipment if it has to be in the street for a certain amount of time.

Well, technically, the tank is actually DESTRUCTION equipment, so......

[MrPeabody]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

If that was me, I'd mat it onto my front yard and just park it there, on my private property. I'm willing to bet the deed restrictions don't prohibit tanks.

They could always just call it an RV. Most HOAs have rules about the parking/storage of an RV.

[Thunder22]

I sent the link to our property manager with the message:

I'm thinking of getting one too, can i have a parking permit please?"

she just laughed and said "go ahead, try it" lol

[Bill]

Originally Posted by TxAg

1. It is not street legal.
2. It is not being used as a vehicle or moving
3. It is impeding traffic flow
4. It is a safety hazard since he is letting people climb on/around while parked in the street.

It's really simple, he's a lawyer and trying to use "patriotism" to get his way. Plain and simple. And he's being a douche about it.

Like I said, he could easily try to work WITH the HOA to find a safer place for this. Instead he wants to flex his ego and keep the tank where it is. If the stated violations are in the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) then he likely has the following options:
1. Violate them and not care (action he's taking now)
2. Ask for an exception to the rules in violation
3. Follow the rules you agreed to follow when you bought your house

Funny people bitch, moan and complain about illegals not following the rules but guys like this douche flaunt not following the rules/laws and people come to his defense because "patriotism".

I'm just enjoying the irony of rich folks who feel their money will let them avoid the problems of the plebes, having problems anyway.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by TxAg

I used to think the same thing till I got on my neighborhood's board.

It's not nearly as much of that as I once thought.

YMMV.

For what purpose does your HOA exist?

[Dave]

Originally Posted by TxAg

1. It is not street legal.
2. It is not being used as a vehicle or moving
3. It is impeding traffic flow
4. It is a safety hazard since he is letting people climb on/around while parked in the street.

It's really simple, he's a lawyer and trying to use "patriotism" to get his way. Plain and simple. And he's being a douche about it.

Like I said, he could easily try to work WITH the HOA to find a safer place for this. Instead he wants to flex his ego and keep the tank where it is. If the stated violations are in the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) then he likely has the following options:
1. Violate them and not care (action he's taking now)
2. Ask for an exception to the rules in violation
3. Follow the rules you agreed to follow when you bought your house

Funny people bitch, moan and complain about illegals not following the rules but guys like this douche flaunt not following the rules/laws and people come to his defense because "patriotism".

If the HOA has no jurisdiction over the public street, he doesn't have to do a thing with the HOA, and can rightfully tell them to piss off.

The city/county is another matter though.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by TxAg

4. It is a safety hazard since he is letting people climb on/around while parked in the street.

The tank's owner is a trial lawyer. Maybe I'll go climb on, and fall off that tank, then sue him for millions. Attractive nuisance. Deep pockets.

[JRD77VET]

It's going to the tank owner's ranch in a couple weeks. The HOA is trying to show him they are in charge and he's telling them to piss up a rope.

I'd bet a dollar the HOA gave him a hard time about something in the past and he's just being a thorn in their side.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by TxAg

Sure he CAN do that but it's probably not the best idea.

Like the football players CAN take a knee. Just not a great idea to do so.




Yeah I'd like to see billy bazz tank owner pull the same "screw you I'll move it when I want to" attitude with the city/county/state. Come on tough guy, go for it!

He made his fortune suing BP after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, and he was wealthy before that. He's got the deep pockets and the legal know how to put up a time consuming fight. He also represented Rick Perry against the BS charges made against Perry.

He's got $ 600,000 to spend on a tank, I'm sure wasting time on a legal battle with the city of Houston or Harris County would just be an entertainment expense for him.

[OddBall]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

It's going to the tank owner's ranch in a couple weeks. The HOA is trying to show him they are in charge and he's telling them to piss up a rope.

I'd bet a dollar the HOA gave him a hard time about something in the past and he's just being a thorn in their side.

He can legal tap-dance them for two weeks.

If it's a public road, the city/county may be able to act more directly. But he's probably already done the research on that.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by TxAg

Sure he CAN do that but it's probably not the best idea.

Like the football players CAN take a knee. Just not a great idea to do so.




Yeah I'd like to see billy bazz tank owner pull the same "screw you I'll move it when I want to" attitude with the city/county/state. Come on tough guy, go for it!

Not a great idea why?
When he bought his house, he agreed to the deed restrictions that were attached. Nothing more. That the HOA is trying to overstep their bounds should be no concern of his.

Worst that can happen is that the HOA starts nit-picking anything pertaining to him that they DO have authority over. Not good for the HOA if they selectively target him for violations that are present elsewhere because they have their panties in a wad over his tank. That could get expensive for the HOA in a hurry if he slaps a discrimination suit on them.

[boracayjohnny]

My previous post was not exactly correct. The HOA can also be the place for Mrs Cravitts husband. Et tu, Tx Ag?

[mrvette]

I swear the following is true, but for substantiation you would have to contact my ex.....not happening....this happened long about '79 or so.....

we living in a townhouse community on a hillside, basements had sliding glass doors to the back lawns....out front is parking for two cars, right off the street, out in the weather.....each block had about a dozen homes, with some 60' of lawn in between structures/rows.....obviously we had a HOA, used to give me crap about our sailboat mast over hanging the sidewalk in front of our house....BUT at any rate, that 60' of grass area was used as a pet crap area dawgs on leashes, but CATS were allowed to roam per county rules.....

the guys on the two end units on each side decided to take over the grass for their kids to play ball on, football or soccer....anyway they did not want dawg or cat crap all over the lawn....so they pitched a bitch with flyers, and most of the folks paid it never mind....BUT the cats of course continued to use it as a crap/piss area.....

folks next door had a cat they let out front, our cats ran out the back when I removed the fixed glass and put in a cat door......SO one Saturday the parents of the kids gathered on their side around the lawn and were angry about all the cat crap....so they standing around talking, and the pet owners got on OUR side of the street....I set on the front stoop just watching, as some of the kid's parents looking like they wanted a brawl.....

The couple next door let their cat out as per usual, cat bolts out from our crowd, as if on cue/well trained/fat chance, runs directly across the street, straight up the middle of the disputed lawn, stops and lays a large turd, and takes off for the tree line in back.......right in front of everyone, it was SO krazy WE pet owners just cracked up laughing, and even 1/2 the other side was laughing their asses off too......the 2 guys on the end units were trying to keep straight faces though...which made it even funnier.....