Some took off from work or school to meet with Centex-Pulte Homes at city hall. But instead of information on the upcoming fixes to a failed hillside in their subdivision, residents were faced with a no-show by the homebuilder.
“They shafted all of us,” said one homeowner.
“Quit using excuses,” said another.
Centex-Pulte Homes agreed to the meeting, put together weeks ago by the city. Then suddenly, the company pulled out.
In a statement to the news media Tuesday,Laurin Darnell of Centex Homes said, “Some of the participants in today’s meeting, however, are groups who do not have the best interest of the residents of the Rivermist community. The Alliance for Homebuyer Justice and Home Owners for Better Building are not focused on a solution or in creating a better community,” added Darnell. “It is in the community’s best interest to build the appropriate solution as quickly and safely as possible, and we feel distractions caused by supposed homeowner advocates only serve the interest of those groups—not the communities of Rivermist.”
The last-minute communiqué left the city and its engineers to discuss what little they know of the builder’s conceptual design to not only fortify a failed hillside, but fortify homeowners’ confidence.
“I got a letter back from their lawyer. I didn’t threaten to sue them, take them to court. So, apparently they have lawyers running their customer service department. That’s ridiculous. Who does that?” said one angry resident.
