Zuckerberg’s compound angers neighbors; they say the city is giving him preferential treatment

The New York Times published a scathing story Sunday saying neighbors of billionaire Mark Zuckerberg are furious that he has forced them to endure years of construction, surveillance, noise, traffic blockages and a loss of street parking as assembled a compound of 11 homes in Palo Alto’s Crescent Park neighborhood.

They say he has benefitted from preferential treatment from the city. And they say that even the police have blocked off streets to allow guests to attend his parties.

“No neighborhood wants to be occupied,” neighbor Michael Kieschnick told the Times. “But that’s exactly what they’ve done. They’ve occupied our neighborhood.”

Kieschnick’s home on Hamilton Avenue is bound on three sides by property owned by the Meta chief executive.

Neighbors say that Zuckerberg should have built his compound in a place like Atherton, Los Altos Hills, Portola Valley or Woodside, where large, gated estates are common.

Neighbors quoted by the Times are also angry with the city for giving Zuckerberg, worth about $270 billion, preferential treatment. For instance, they say that in 2016, a city board rejected Zuckerberg’s application to build a compound, and he withdrew the plan. But then, they say, the city allowed him to create it anyway, just more slowly and piecemeal, according to the Times.

(See related Daily Post story from 2017)

Zuckerberg has spent more than $110 million to buy 11 houses in the neighborhood, offering owners as much as $14.5 million, double or triple what the houses are worth, according to the Times.

The Times article included a map of lots in the neighborhood Zuckerberg has acquired and satellite photos of the homes in his compound.

Large basement

The Times says Zuckerberg has added a 7,000-square-foot basement — something his neighbors call bunkers or even a billionaire’s bat cave. But excavating the basement has led to eight years of construction, filling the streets with massive equipment and a lot of noise.

One property has been used for the past few years as a private school for 14 children including his kids, even though it’s not allowed in the neighborhood under the city’s zoning rules, according to the Times. 

“He’s been finding loopholes around our local laws and zoning ordinances,” Councilman Greer Stone told the Times. “We should never be a gated, gilded city on a hill where people don’t know their neighbors.”

Security cameras

Zuckerberg’s security team has pointed cameras at his homes, which also provide videos of his neighbors’ properties. Visitors are filmed and security officers ask people what they are doing as they walk on public sidewalks, according to the Times.

A spokesman for the billionaire, Aaron McLear, is quoted in the article as saying Meta requires heavy security for its chief executive because of threats. Cameras are not trained at neighbors, and they adjust them when asked, he said.

The Times article said that Palo Alto police put signs on trees, warning drivers there would be a tow-away zone on the streets near the compound last Wednesday night. The reason, neighbor Michael Kieschnick learned, was that Zuckerberg was hosting a backyard barbecue and the police had assigned its officer in charge of dignitaries to assist him.

“Billionaires everywhere are used to just making their own rules — Zuckerberg and Chan are not unique, except that they’re our neighbors,” Kieschnick said. “But it’s a mystery why the city has been so feckless.”