This letter from Scott Ellis of Overland Park, KS, focuses on time. Yes, Scott spent a lot of money - over $100,000 - but it is, as he says, the TIME, that rankles him so much.

This is but one of many letters that have recently been sent to NeighborhoodNet, Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings (HADD), and, most importantly, the members of the Kansas House Committee on Business, Commerce, and Labor. The hope is that the heart felt letters from homeowners, along with the publicity (see articles in the Johnson County Sun and the Kansas City Star) will persuade legislators that they need to do something immediately. Representative Ray Merrick has submitted bill HD2835 to begin addressing these problems. Representative Al Lane, Chair of the Committee, has stated that there is not enough time to do anything about this legislation.

We fervently hope that Representative Lane and his Committee will find a way to address this legislation after all - that they will understand that the TIME has come to do their duty.

Members of the committee that are deciding the fate of HB 2835.

It's about TIME. It's about TIME that the people that we put in office start working to protect us, the individual citizens, and stop pandering to the businesses who take advantage of those people. It's about TIME that the city take responsibility for failing prevent homebuilders from taking advantage of the constituents who give them their hard earned money in taxes. It's about TIME that an approved inspection from a city official actually meant the house didn't violate code. It's about TIME that a contract and a warranty were forced to actually be worth more than the cheap piece of paper they are written on.

It has come to my attention that you have decided that you do not have TIME to get this bill passed, yet you have had time to pass such important legislation as a bill about vanity license plates. Well, while you sit on this bill, I wonder how much TIME it will take for another person, or 10 people, or 100 people to get taken advantage of by builders who know full well that they can do anything they want and no one in power can or will do a thing to them. I wonder how much TIME it would take for this bill to pass if a few of you had structural damages to your house caused by a builder who refuses to honor his warranty. I wonder how much TIME it would take for you to take action if you had to go home every night and realize that, because your builder decided that he wanted to make some extra money, you will need to spend a thousand, or ten thousand, or like in my case one hundred thousand dollars to get your one year old house up to the level where you could actually sell it. I wonder how much TIME it would take to pass this bill if each of you had to live with the fact that you couldn't do many of the things you wanted to do, because every last dime you had was wrapped up into trying to save your home. I wonder...

You know, there are laws against aiding and abetting criminals. Our president has said that those who aid or harbor terrorists are as bad as the terrorists themselves. So, what does it say when we allow these builders, for one more minute, to take advantage of homebuyers and walk away? The kind of damage these builders inflict on individual lives isn't much different from that inflicted by criminals or terrorists. They leave lives in shambles. Maybe it's TIME that our legislators are held responsible for helping these "criminals and terrorists" who they don't stop when they so easily could by passing a simple bill.

So, what do you think... should we pass this bill now, or are we too busy? You know what I think... It's about TIME.

-Scott Ellis
7916 W 142 Street
Overland Park, KS 66223

Wanna see the kind of damage a builder can do when he wants to? Drop by any time.