Whistleblower Uncovers Creek Violation
Environmental Attorney Joe Riddell
Austin American-Statesman, April 20, 1987
June 1974
Attorney Joe Riddell discovers construction proceeding without a permit on Barton Creek in violation of Austin's recently passed Waterway Ordinance.
Developer Bill Millburn failed to secure the required permit before blasting and bulldozing along Barton Creek for the installation of a new sewer line. Neighbors had been complaining about the work for two weeks but protests were ignored by city officials until Attorney Joe Riddell verified the infraction and filed a violation charge against Millburn.
It's an unconscionable mess-it is this very kind of cavalier puerility that will get more restrictions on the developers. If people would act like like adult, responsible people, the restrictions we already put on them wouldn't be necessary.
— Councilmember Lowell Lebermann, 1974
