United Home Owners of Rivermist
Feeling the heat from Rivermist residents, Pulte / Centex agrees to buy back 27 homes. But is that enough?On Wednesday, March 10th, over 80 Rivermist residents, community leaders, and State Rep. David Leibowitz rallied and spoke with reporters to demand that Centex Homes and its parent company Pulte take full responsibility for the harm inflicted on the Rivermist community. Afraid of the negative publicity, Pulte /Centex released a statement to the press simultaneously announcing that they would offer to buy back the 27 homes that had their certificate of occupancy removed by city inspectors
United Home Owners of Rivermist
Weekly Update, March 16th, 2010
Edition #1
Feeling the heat from Rivermist residents, Pulte / Centex agrees to buy back 27 homes. But is that enough?
On Wednesday, March 10th, over 80 Rivermist residents, community leaders, and State Rep. David Leibowitz rallied and spoke with reporters to demand that Centex Homes and its parent company Pulte take full responsibility for the harm inflicted on the Rivermist community.
Afraid of the negative publicity, Pulte /Centex released a statement to the press simultaneously announcing that they would offer to buy back the 27 homes that had their certificate of occupancy removed by city inspectors and that they would rebuild the retaining wall that collapsed. But while Pulte's announcement may have stolen the headlines for a day or two, for most homeowners involved, this offer has come as too little, too late.
Many of the homeowners being offered a buyout are not in any rush to agree with Pulte on this initial offer. As Carlos Pena, the homeowner who hosted the event Wednesday said concisely, "This buy back won't solve any problems. What will is taking care of all my neighbors."
See footage of the rally here: http://www.foxsanantonio.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/vid_1485.shtml
Indeed, Pulte / Centex's offer to buy back 27 homes would only aid a small fraction of the 90 homes that were evacuated the day the wall collapsed and an even smaller fraction of all the homes who�s values will suffer irreparable harm for decades from the stigma caused by the collapse.
On Saturday, the 13th, United Home Owners of Rivermist also organized a community picnic, to which approximately 250 neighbors attended to show support and demonstrate that the fight with Pulte / Centex is still a long way from being resolved.
Rep. Leibowitz calls on City Hall to freeze Centex building at Rivermist and include home owners in the process.
State Representative David Leibowitz stood in solidarity with the residents of Rivermist on Thursday, March 11th, as they petitioned the Mayor and City Council to intervene. Leibowitz highlighted the fact that while investigations are still taking place, Centex continues to build new homes, across the street from the homes that have been vacated.
"It is a slap in the face to the residents who are displaced to see new homes being constructed in the very neighborhood from which they are displaced," said Leibowitz. "Stop the building and issuing of permits until this matter is thoroughly investigated and have more transparency in the city's dealings and discussions with the developer," he told the Council.
The second issue he highlighted was that several military families in Rivermist, many of which are not included in the 27 home buy-back offer, are in the process of being are being deployed and/or transferred.
"They do not have time to wait indefinitely until repairs are made," said Leibowitz. "They will end up deploying or transferring with a mortgage debt and financial crisis because their homes are unmarketable as circumstances currently stand."
Get Involved: Join Our Fight
Centex released a statement today that they "have a long history of standing behind its homes and its homeowners, and that has not changed." We gave them a chance to do just that in February, when over 70 of us sent letters to the company respectfully asking them to buy back our homes. Obviously, our actions this past Wednesday prompted them to agree to a buyback of 27 homes, but they still need to do much more.
Please join us at one or more of the following upcoming events:
Thursday, March 18th, 5:30pm -7:00pm (weekly)
Citizens to be Heard, Weekly City Council Meeting
City Council Chambers, 114 W Commerce St, downtown San Antonio
Saturday, March 20th, 10:00am - 2:00pm (weekly)
Hand Out Flyers and Pickett at Pulte / Centex Sales Offices
Meet at Bonnie Connor Park next to John Igo Branch Library, 13330 Kyle Seale Pkwy
Thursday, March 25th, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Prayer Vigil with religious leaders for Rivermist Residents
Outside the Cathedral of San Fernando 231 West Commerce Street
Saturday, March 27th, 10:00am - 2:00pm
Details to be announced
Saturday, April 10th, 7:00am - 7:00pm
Details to be announced
To sign up for these events or for more information, contact Karen Maxwell
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Finally, please put our neighbor, Mrs. Damian in your prayers as she suffered a stroke on Saturday night.
The United Home Owners of River Mist is a volunteer-based community organization of Rivermist residents. Our goal is to hold the developer Pulte / Centex accountable for the irresponsible practices that have put us all at risk and to ensure that every family that wants their home bought back from Pulte / Centex is empowered to do so. The United Home Owners of Rivermist is in no way affiliated with any other Rivermist Home Ownersââ¬â¢ Association.
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