Austin360 Outs Unplugged at the Grove 9-1-1 Caller

Wes, all I could afford on a high-tech salary in 1996 was a condo in Clarksville, and single-family homes in Zilker were about the same as there, maybe slightly less ($180K for 2/1 teardowns on interior). We were still talking at least $300K for a 2/1 teardown in the spot Trainer has now.

Aha, I was thinking in terms of a two income family which brings up the point of whether a single person owning a single family home is a good use of resources but I digress.

BAH. I came to Austin in '99 and there were plently of single family homes in the area selling in the low 200s. I thought that the prices were outrageous back then. If only I had known then what I know now.

Sure, shacks half a mile back from Barton Springs were $200K in 1999. That's not what you originally claimed. The spot where Trainer lives was very expensive even in '99.

Your definition of "shack" and "very expensive" differ radically from mine.

I hear you. Add a digit or two to the price and take some sq. footage off and that's what you can get there today. I don't mind though as it's one of the only places in town I want to live.

What gets me is if I had the money I would live there BECAUSE OF the activity and the music. I would trade my house in a quiet neighborhood for Scott's house in heartbeat.

Wes, others have indicated it was built in 1993 - I can tell you that by the time I got here in 1996, that spot wasn't remotely affordable for a single-family house. You're trying really really hard to push a square peg through a round hole here.

Y'all are some jealous mf-ers. A 2200 sq ft house is hardly a "mansion" and the guy built the house years ago before property values in central Austin skyrocketed. Get over it.

Thanks to the several commenters who have quoted from my blog. For further background information, on this and other aspects of Music, and Permits, in Austin, go to:

AustinCityPermits.com/blog

It just boils down to....the music was here before pretty much 90% of the population of Austin. If you want an expensive house without having to hear the sound of the blood that pumps the economy of this city, then you need to build somewhere in North or West Austin, or maybe use the money to save an entire city block in East Austin that will soon net you huge returns in resale markets as the neighborhoods are reclaimed. If you sever the arteries that carry that sustenance then you had better be ready to watch your own property values plummet as a result.

Apparently this man has lived in his home since ’93, and complained about music for a big chunk of that time. But the Shady Grove opened in '92, so he has no excuse or claim to primacy.

I know if I was going to spend $600K+ on a house right on top of the cultural and historic heart of the city (Barton Springs), I would include insulation which would keep out much of the outside sound along with heat and cold. And then if I liked the music playing on a given night I would sit out on my patio and laugh the night away because I was getting the show for free and didn't even have to wrestle for parking.

I realize not everyone in Austin makes music a priority in their life, but it IS the personality of the city, and I don't know too many people who shun the dollars it brings in each year. Austin is big enough that it is pretty easy to find a good, even an extravagant house, where you don't ever have to hear a note. And if you HATE music then I can't imagine wanting to live here for very long anyway because that is the skeleton of everything that happens here.

Why not just move to a city where the views and tastes of the people are already similar to yours so you can sit back and enjoy life instead of making it one incessant, negative fight. Is this guy's ego so fragile, or his anger at life so deep, that he would rather surround himself by his "enemy" and spend his energy trying to destroy it, than to just move somewhere he could be happy and get on with living?

I would be curious to know what decibal levels the police found when they arrived. The enunciation in the background music on the tape was way too clear to be coming from any distance, especially after being rendered more muddy by both a phone connection and tape recording. I have been to concerts where I am sure the music could be heard from ridiculously far away, but even in the parking lots of open air stadiums, the diction and finer points of the music were reduced considerably. I am guessing that this guy went down close to the Grove to make his call, then hightailed it back home to meet the police...and if it was more quiet when they showed up, he just claimed it was a softer song. He has already proven that he is a self centered human being who thinks his personal opinions take precedence over what the majority of Austonians love about their city, so it's not too hard to believe that he would also be willing to lie to try to win his battle.

A last aside…as an emergency response trainer, I would like to emphasize that the correct phone number to call in a non-emergency or information seeking situations is 311 (THREE, not nine). Emergency service workers have way too many critical things to handle to spend their time worrying about answering 911 calls for no other purpose than to bolster one man's self esteem.

Connecting the dots from Scott Trainer through the ANC to Jeff Jack and Laura Morrison.

I sent this using City Council's web site, http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm. Feel free to edit, reuse, and distribute.

Dear Mayor Wynn and members of Austin's City Council,

I am an active voter who has lived in Austin for 11 years and who has voted in every city election for the last 3+ years. I currently live in the Barton Hills neighborhood in south central Austin. I am writing to the City Council and Mayor Wynn for the first time, after being awakened by the fiasco that has shut down live music at The Shady Grove and Freddie's Place, and hearing reports of PACE harassing Guero's.



I am appalled at Ordinances 20080226-028 and 20090312-017 and the implications they have on live music, one of this city's most precious resources. These ordinances have directly resulted in the loss of live music at Freddie's Place and now at Shady Grove, by suddenly restricting restaurants with outdoor music to an unreasonable 70 dB limit. The manner in which Ordinance 20090312-017 was pushed through council as an emergency item, effectively avoiding any defense by Austin's music industry in the weeks before SXSW, was deceitful and I will consider this when voting in in future city elections.



I am equally appalled by the apparent win backers of these ordinances will accomplish by granting Shady Grove a speedy reclassification as a "cocktail lounge." I believe the motive is to set precedent - pressuring existing restaurants to also apply for permits as "cocktail lounges" and eventually forcing any new restaurants to do the same. As cocktail lounges are limited to more restrictive CS-1 zoning the effect is clear: it will soon be even more difficult for musicians to entertain music lovers in Austin. Austin's City Council is facilitating this attack on live music, which has already claimed casualties and will continue to inhibit this significant source of Austin pride.



Instead of granting a permit to Shady Grove as a "cocktail lounge," I ask the Mayor and City Council to amend these ordinances so restaurants with outdoor music can continue playing music at 85 dB without stunting the growth of live music in Austin.

Thank you for your time.

Trainer loves having his cake and eating it too. His various LLCs own a fair bit of commercial real estate in Austin. Well-known tenants include Yoga Yoga and Plumblossom. You don't get more crunchy granola than that even in Austin.

Patronize accordingly.

#28

Could not agree more. Scott Trainer is a first class douche bag!

If you the Music is too loud, it is not the music that needs to go, it is Scott "Douchebag" Trainer that needs to go.

PS Call 911 when it is a true emergency, not when you are upset music is loud, dick!

Shady only plays music on Thursday nights over the Summer, sponsored by KGSR, much more Austin then Scott.

SCOTT = DALLAS, and people like Scott are the problem in Austin!

Austin: Love it or leave it.

scott trainer is a douche bag and needs to move to cedar park or round rock.

a. I think it's pathetic that people are posting this guy's address, number, and property value. The stuff on the austin360 blog is sickeningly stupid.

As a bunch of other people have already stated, the law is the problem -- not this guy in particular. And the fact that his house is *currently* appraised at $650k is irrelevant; He bought it in 1993 which means he probably paid half that, but who cares? A guy living in a cardboard box can also be annoyed at music for any number of reasons. (Don't even get me started on the austin360 idiots who take "buying a house in 1993" to mean "appeared in Austin for the first time ever in 1993" -- everyone who is trying to outdo each other for who got here first is a first class moron)

b. I think it's equally as pathetic that the same commenters (definitely on austin360, here to a lesser extent) spewed filth about condo owners (in the face of the facts) and now are playing revisionist history and calling the guy out for owning a fucking house. Since no recently transplanted California condo owners are complaining, I fully expect people to now call for the demolition of long time single family dwellings to be replaced with tolerant condo lovers!

c. I stand by my original assessment that for every 100 Austinites complaining online, only 1 of you will actually show up for any of these meetings. This noise ordinance didn't just appear last Thursday, yet most people didn't hold their city council representatives accountable in the last election, most people take their time to post useless blog comments instead of calling/emailing their reps, and most people won't bother to actually show up for a single meeting to voice a single decibel of disgust.

* Disclaimer/Devil's Advocate: I don't know Scott, nor do I think he was justified in calling in, etc. But, who knows his actual situation and *why* he called? On any given day, think of all the things that could go wrong in your life and then you come home and are subjected to the final straw of some music you just don't fucking want to hear? It's not necessarily justified, but just imagine if the guy lost his job that day? Or his mom died? Or someone plowed into his car? Or anything else that might make you do something irrational (but within the law) that you *may* regret having done... does he really deserve to be publicly castrated?

As heyzeus put it very well upstream, if this guy hadn't called in, somebody else would've (but I have to thank the gods for making it so obvious even to the aging hippies outside Zilker area that it wasn't the condo dwellers after all).

You make a very good point - how many of the people here voted for Laura Morrison over Robin Cravey or Cid Galindo? If you did, you're part of the problem, not the solution. If you didn't vote at all, your place is still over with those Morrison voters.

Those of us who are ragging on this guy and posting his address and phone number are WAY OUT OF LINE.

Maybe using 911 was a bit excessive but the LAW is the problem, not the guy. He's exercising his rights.

Focus, people.

Exactly. And the people who got fooled into thinking it was condo-dwelling Californians, of course, instead of seeing the elephant in the room - the reactionaries at the ANC who elected Laura Morrison.

Sigh. So many people still missing the point.

The guy who was appointed to be the "neighborhood rep" on the Task Force called in the complaint. This shows you that the purpose of the ordinance wasn't to empower Californians or condo-dwellers; it was payback to certain elements of the ANC best exemplified by Jeff Jack's crowd in near-South Austin.

The councilmember who did this? Laura Morrison (dragging along a doubtlessly regretful Mike Martinez for the ride). What group did Laura Morrison used to lead? What group got her elected?

http://mdahmus.monkeysystems.com/blog/archives/000602.html

Points not missed on me bro. However the call lands on that douche's shoulders since he made it and claimed he's gonna do it every week, etc...

Scott Trainer, YOU ARE A DICK! (Spoken as Spicoli)

No really dude, you are a first class tool! Party at your House? Kegger this weekend.

See you there. By the way get the F out of Austin.

Leave him and his chick a nice message telling them how cool you think Shady Grove is and that the Unplugged @ the Grove concert series ROCKS!

***Comment has been removed. Please refrain from posting personal information. Austinist does not condone vigilante justice.***

Whatever, it's public information and you guys are being wimps for acting so sensitive.

It may be public information, but does that make this the right forum to post it?

The guy may be a Grade-A d'bag, but advocating harassing him isn't the best way to make a point.

A phone call isn't harassment unless of course you sink so low as to be a jerk/threatening, etc... which was not my suggestion. The people here being hypersensitive about said public information and accompanying phone call to thank him and voice how you enjoy the live music are just as bad as this "d'bag" Scott for calling in the first place; i.e. part of the overall problem that has led to such calamity.

I'm not trying to defend the guy, but posting his phone number and suggesting that people "leave him and his chick a nice message" is definitely harassing. A (one) phone call isn't harassing. Trying to encourage many readers to make calls is.

Seriously dude, who cares if he feels harassed? He feels like there shouldn't be any Unplugged series any long @ the Grove, so his feelings are obviously skewed and demented. If everyone made only one call it's not harassment. I'm just pointing out, since it was deemed necessary to induce a wimp move like deleting the information I feel obligated in pointing out the actual fact and by definition it's not harassment.

I'm off the soap-box---life's calling.

Later bro,

S.

If that's the case, "Sean", post your name, address, and phone number for people to give you calls in the middle of the night.

It's pretty easy for you to say it's not a big deal, since you're the one doing the posting while not sharing any of your information, right?

I'm not the one who's being a prick; seemingly unlike you.

You do realize that you've repeatedly called a guy who followed the law (or ordinance, as the semantics may be) a douchebag, posted his full name/address/phone number on a public forum, and advocated people calling him directly to tell him he's a douchebag... and you're calling me a prick because I asked you to post your real name/address/phone number so I can give YOU a call?

While YOU may have had no intention to call Scott at 4am, to berate his [insert X here] (where x= wife, kids, mother, dog, etc), to toilet paper his house, to order 1000 pizzas to his front door, etc... others may very well do so thanks to YOU and YOUR decision to post his personal information.

Who exactly is the prick here?

If you (in your misguided way) want Scott to be held responsible for his actions then you should also be held responsible for your actions. I think it's great that the Austinist did the right thing in removing Scott's contact info.

Odd since what I said is plainly just below, but since you don't have the sense to see it and wish to prove yourself a liar I shall quote myself for you; "Leave him and his chick a nice message telling them how cool you think Shady Grove is and that the Unplugged @ the Grove concert series ROCKS!."

Your pathetic diatribes to make yourself feel superior or better are completely laughable. I'll be @ Shotz Biergarten tonight for some live music, Slaid Cleeves. Email me @ hootnhollarn@yahoo.com and I'll send you my number so we can discuss this further.

Wattage is a wimp. Tard, get a life and grow some balls....

Who would feel harassed? His wife, his kids, anyone else who potentially has to listen to the phone ring all day because Trainer decided to make a jerk out of himself?

I trust you at least made a phone call, right? After all, you wouldn't just be trying to stir up a mob to do the dirty work for you, right?

We disagree. Like you, I've made my point and I'm done.

Bullshit move. If it hadn't been this jerk, it would've been someone else calling in the complaint. The problem's the ordinance, so save your energy for making phone calls to city council to change it, not to harrass the guy who filed a complaint that the idiotic ordinance authorizes.

who do I sign up with and help recruit volunteers to deal with this 70 db limit? Let's not get distracted from the true issue by this little man. He's only a symptom and we need to focus. Thanks for whomever has this movement going forward. Really want to help. Namaste...d

wow. what a dumb ass. this trainer dude is the ahmadinejad of austin right now. he won't be able to walk town lake without getting queso tossed at him. i wish we had a town square because this would be a no brainer flogging.

i bet this guy was the kid in grade school that told the teacher when someone said a 'cuss word'. then he giggled and drew dick pictures all day and ate his own boogers.

REALLY?! A person who owns such an an expensive home(close to so much activity and traffic), then has the nerve to call 9-1-1 emergency because music from Shady Grove was bothering him? REALLY?!

Scott- how long have you lived in Austin?? Didn't you know about this neighborhood already? Or did you think that with a little money and influence, you can "change" it to your liking?

Lesson for anyone- if you buy into a busy, active, noisy neighborhood- invest in some sound proofing or don't move there!

The McMansion whose 10" x 5" backyard abuts my building regularly has a toddler screaming at the top of her lungs "hello daddy hehe" over and over again at a level likely over 70 dB measured inside my unit at 8am on Saturday and Sunday. Do I have a case to call 311? Please tell me yes before I resort to water balloons.

Also shouldn't this guy get fined for using 911 instead of 311? Dying people probably don't care about you can hear on the wind.

I called 3-1-1 to report a suspicious vehicle once, and was told that I had to dial 9-1-1 for that, even though I didn't really consider it an "emergency"... probably the same situation here.

Well, this is going to make the next Live Music Task Force meeting a little awkward.

kenneth, have you not figured out that I'm "M1EK"?

I said it COULD have been some crackpot; that we might never know for sure who it was; but that the impetus for the ordinance itself came from single-family homeowners up in those neighborhood associations, NOT condo dwellin' Californians.

Just to be clear, M1EK or mdahmus, I was not one of those blaming this kerfuffle on California condo-dwellers. Personally, I like the downtown condos. They add a lot of density & character to the area. (I'm old enough to remember when W. 4th was nothing but RR tracks and empty warehouses.)

But yes, I have to agree Morrison deserves the lion's share of scorn for reviving this ridiculous ordinance, which was clearly intended for small cafes in residential neighborhoods, not venues like Shady Grove or Freddie's. I will be voting for her opponent in the next election, provided she has one.

Sorry, it wasn't just some crackpot.

Oh the irony. Thanks Live Music Task Force for saving live music in Austin!

9-1-1? Really? This is exactly the kind of thing that 3-1-1 is meant for (not that I'm advocating the complaint). A "neighborhood representative" on a city task force should certainly know better than to waste emergency response resources on a vendetta.

And I was right to blame this "neighborhood representative" for calling the cops during a late-afternoon concert. It was just some "crackpot," as mdahmus claimed.

Yes the 70 db limit is ridiculous, but that doesn't exonerate someone for complaining about acoustic music wafting into their $650,000 mansion in broad daylight. If it had been 11 p.m. (like the reggae fest, apparently), I could see his point.

Is it safe to be a Californian again? Tubular, dude.

Thanks to Austin360 for the investigative work, and to Allen for the link.