Tag Archives: Kansas

$100,000-Love Scores Zero With Quivira Falls Homeowners

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Tennis anyone? Well, not for the past several years because the courts have been bolted shut. The surface is broken and the weeds are growing wild up through the cracks. When the courts were open they were enjoyed once in a blue moon by non-residents with Missouri plates on their cars.

On October 22, 2007 six of the board members signed and mailed a letter to every homeowner to defend their position against the petitions that had been signed by over 240 homeowners to recall the board. In that letter they state, “They say we are also frivolous to buy wind screens for the tennis courts.” And, then they go on to say that due to the foreclosures that would impact their revenue they voted “for,” but decided “against,” buying the wind screens and new nets.

You bet there were homeowners opposing that ridiculous and unnecessary purchase because our townhouses were rotten to the point of having frame damage. As a matter of fact, just four months after that letter was written the electric meters fell off my house because the siding and the structural frame was so rotten it just completely gave way. This happened during a torrential rain storm and ripped two holes about the size of five gallon buckets in the back of my house. Water was literally spraying out the electrical breakers on the wall downstairs and the water was gushing in under my new wood flooring, all over my new basement ceiling, down the walls, and running like a river across my brand new white berber carpeting and on across the basement to the drain in the utility room! And there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. My work order had been in for over two years for wood rot repair and it was met with nothing but totally goofy childish excuses. When I told a board member I was going to hire my own contractor to repair the exterior of my house and apply the stucco, she told me…get ready now readers… brace yourselves………………..“If you hire your own contractors we are going to sue you and make you take the stucco off and put the wood rot back on!” To this day, that is one of the most stupid things anybody has ever said to me in my entire life!

Back to the tennis courts. One of the homeowners got ticked at the HOA and decided to report the tennis courts as abandoned property to the City of Overland Park. Of course, I was notified of this because any time people are upset…I hear about it.

Nobody wants to raise hell with this HOA board because if you dare do it, there is hell to pay. Sheer hell. Ugly hell. Hate-filled hell. That treatment silences 99.999% of the homeowners. They haven’t been blind to the treatment I’ve gotten by the board and their cronies so they are not marching down the “Nila Ridings Road.” No sir, they value their quality of life and bank accounts far more than speaking out…thus, this HOA is a horrible nightmare!

Quite by accident I found the property manager on my driveway right after hearing of this report. I decided since she was right here within two feet of me, I’d ask about the status of the tennis courts. She told me it was CITY CODE that Quivira Falls had to have these tennis courts resurfaced or totally removed, including the asphalt. The cost to remove the fencing and asphalt for both courts was going to be $100,000.00 and 1/3 that amount if they were resurfaced. I was skeptical….my gut instinct and intuition was saying this “smells” rotten. My call to the City revealed it is not City code for Quivira Falls to have tennis courts. A plan can be submitted for something new in their place, OR they can be removed. BUT THE ASPHALT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE REMOVED!

I’m 99% sure I could find somebody that would take those fences down for free and haul them off and reuse them. I know a few loads of dirt and some grass seed can be purchased for far less then $100,000.00. And, in the end the HOA would save money by not having to maintain the courts, buy nets, or those wind screens that were voted on in 2007, the lights could be removed as well and probably sold, but certainly there would be no electricity burning and there would be no expense of changing the bulbs when they burn out.

I sent emails to the property manager and the board demanding this project be stopped so further discussion could take place before another $35,000 is wasted. For those of you who don’t know this, my HOA borrowed $1M and most definitely it makes more sense to pay down debt then it does to resurface unused tennis courts! Nope, this CAI property manager is going forward with this project no matter what!

Did I fail to mention just a couple of years ago they built a fancy handrail down the steps to the tennis courts? That’s right, it’s been the “staircase to nowhere” because once you walked down there you were “welcomed” with the padlock!

Homeowners are putting protest plans together. It looks like ANOTHER war is about to begin in Quivira Falls!

Here’s the kicker…”Arizona Dave” just had the tennis courts at his condo complex resurfaced. They are larger than the ones in Quivira Falls. Dave’s association is managed by him, not a CAI property management company. He emailed me the paid invoice….$12,000.

Like I said, something “smells” rotten!

Please Make This Kansas Story Go Viral!

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Guest blog by Nila Ridings

I recently spent eight long days in Wichita at the federal courthouse observing the pre-trial hearing of an HOA lawsuit where a Homeowners Association board member attacked and severely beat a homeowner with a crow bar! These six photos, taken at the hospital, show the viciousness of the attack.

It seems the homeowner discovered work being done on a neighbor’s condo that also happens to belong to the mother of an HOA board member. While others had been on a long waiting list to have their work orders completed, the board member opted to make his mother’s condo top priority over everyone else. The homeowner took his camera and phone to the nearby common area and proceeded to document this “special treatment.”

The board member saw him taking pictures while looking out his condo window, grabbed a crowbar from his garage and started clobbering the camera holding homeowner. The homeowner did not fight back. Obviously, one man was taken to the hospital by ambulance and the other went to jail!

Surprisingly, the District Attorney declined to press charges. The injured homeowner proceeded to file a civil suit in federal court. And as bizarre as this sounds, the HOA members, not their insurance company, are paying all the legal bills because the board member claims his actions were part of his “official duties” as a board member. The legal bills are already estimated at more than $200,000 and the case hasn’t even gone to trial yet!

The homeowner who was beaten began sending emails expressing his anger and frustration with the board of director’s conduct. He did not send any to the defendant. He admitted to the judge that it wasn’t one of his better moments when he attached the somewhat crude “Revenge Song” by Miles Betterman. The HOA board’s legal team actually played that YouTube song in the courtroom, claiming it amounted to a “death threat” to a board member. Give me a break!

The board is seeking a court-ordered injunction to take away this HOA member’s First Amendment rights to communicate with his neighbors. The board also created an HOA “no call” list and they fine this homeowner $100 for every email he sends. The U.S. Constitution be damned!

The community is divided with supporters and haters on both sides. This community has been plagued with lawsuits causing property values to plummet. Even more dramatic, the HOA members have installed security cameras aimed at every nook and cranny of this neighbor’s condo. They even have them installed in their cars!

One other interesting note: While being interrogated about life in this Kansas Homeowners Association, the board member on the stand was asked about a suicide committed by a female resident of the HOA. The woman reportedly had told neighbors she could no longer take the harassment from this particular board member. She hanged herself from a tree right next to the entrance sign to this HOA. I was stunned: When questioned under oath about this tragedy, the board member chuckled.

Dear Readers, let me take you by the shoulders and shake you until you totally understand the madness that’s happening in American HOA neighborhoods!!! “Love thy neighbor” is a completely dead commandment when it comes to life in an HOA!

Insanity!

I cringe to think of the special assessments these HOA homeowners are going to have to fork over when the dust clears. If this homeowner wins a sizeable lawsuit over the crowbar beating or the invasion of his privacy….put a fork in it…this HOA is done!

This story is so sickening, that I’d like to close with the only amusing part of the pre-trial hearing. It involved the HOA attorney and happened on Day 2.

The HOA attorney is very large with a girth that rivals that of Governor Chris Christy. Can you envision that image? While standing at the lectern and questioning a witness his suspenders came loose letting his pants drop down to the floor on one side while he was gripping the other and still questioning the witness. The judge didn’t see it, but those of us in the gallery sure did! Priceless! I nearly burst my lungs trying to keep from laughing out loud!

(Editor’s note:)

Please help this story go viral. Every homeowner in America should read it. Send it to everyone on your email list and ask them to do the same. Send it to your friends, and make the same request to keep it moving throughout our country.

I’m including a link to the song that was actually played as evidence in this Federal Court of law in the case described above. If you are easily offended DO NOT click on the link. If, however, you do listen to the song, just keep in mind that it was introduced into the U.S. District Court record by a well-known Kansas Homeowners Association and its attorneys and is now part of the official court record. Actually, this song could eventually become the national anthem for the anti-HOA movement. Bizarre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my7sxZ0KfHU

“Kansas City, Here I Come!”

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Actually, it’s “Kansas City, there I was.” Doesn’t do much for the old Chuck Berry/Beatles tune. “They got some crazy little women there, and I’m gonna get me one.”

In answer to the many emails, yes, my website was crashed/hacked a week and a half ago. Sadly, this time the intruder so corrupted each file that my poor webmaster has been sweating blood trying to rebuild the old site line by line. This time we’ll make sure it’s mirrored in several places to keep us up and to keep this vandal frustrated. It’s rather wild, but I’ve learned that several other anti-HOA websites were trashed the exact same hour as mine. Of course, that’s only a coincidence, isn’t it?

On that same weekend my computer motherboard was fried and I had to make some quick, new purchases. The Geek Squad was here early on a Sunday morning to set it all up. Windows 8/Windows 12 is an impossible program for an old guy to learn <Ward, quit whining, wouldja?!?>.

The trip to Kansas City was actually a total surprise to me. It all started with a request for me to overnight a thousand pounds of books for a show that opened the next day. That was impossibly expensive and wouldn’t have made any economic sense. So, in a moment of questionable judgment, I was in the car within an hour. Fourteen hours, two ice storms, and five Red Bulls later I was lost and driving in circles through Kansas City and Overland Park. By some miracle, I finally got to my hotel. And yes, the back of my Blazer was full of boxes of books.

I met some great people at the Kansas City book event, tasted the best barbequed ribs in the world, and heard some war stories you would not believe. In fact, I gathered enough information for a full year’s worth of HOA horror story blogs. More to come on that subject. I thought the worst states in the country for HOA lunacy were Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. But nooooo. Homeowners Associations in Kansas and Missouri have a level of corruption, violence and fascism that could rival any of the other states. It all boils down to this: the absolute worst, most horrible HOA in the country happens to be…..wherever you are!

Another thing: I learned of a few really wild happenings/events/stories that have to be kept confidential for the time being, but they’ll ultimately appear on this blog. I’m an open book, of course, but I do respect a source’s request for confidentiality. It’s an old newsguy’s habit.

In any event, for new visitors to this blog, we are desperately trying to get everything working again. Thank you for buying my book. And please email me any links to HOA horror stories you think I might have missed. My email address is: Ward@NeighborsAtWar.com and I do read every single email. Since I’m a lifelong insomniac I also respond to as many emailers as I possibly can.