Won't You Be My Neighbor? No Thanks, Elon Musk.

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/technology/elon-musk-texas-neighbors.html

https://archive.ph/0JGeh

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? No Thanks, Elon Musk.
Residents of an upscale enclave outside Austin, Texas, learned the hard way what it’s like when a multibillionaire moves into the mansion next door. Some of them have started a ruckus over it.
By Kirsten Grind
May 5, 2025 Updated 11:41 a.m. ET

At first, residents of the upscale cul-de-sac in West Lake Hills, Texas, did not know who had moved into the 6,900-square-foot, six-bedroom mansion next door.

Then construction workers arrived to erect a 16-foot chain-link fence around the $6 million property, which is one of four homes on the leafy street. They also installed an outward-facing camera. Next, a fleet of cars — many of them Teslas — began parking on the street. Three times a day, a shift change signaled security personnel coming and going at the house. Once, the driver of a passing car shouted late at night that he was looking for a party at “E’s house.”

No one liked the commotion, or the traffic, or the keypad-activated gate opening and closing for workers and cars at all hours. So even when they learned through word of mouth that their new neighbor was Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, that did not stop some of them from grousing to the City of West Lake Hills about his mansion.

The complaints have since escalated into an uproar over city ordinances, permits and exceptions known as variances — so much so that the matter of Mr. Musk’s house landed in a contentious Zoning and Planning Commission meeting last month. The debate is headed next to a West Lake Hills City Council session, scheduled for May 14.

...

[magicarpet]

1. Rules, ordinances, and laws do not apply to Elon Musk.

Billionaires find laws to be so cumbersome and pesky if applied to them.

[dalton99a]

2. +1. Billionaires can buy people who make the rules

[Cheezoholic]

3. Surprised the cul-de-sac hasn't been renamed to Ketamine Court lmao n/t

[Hekate]

4. Nobody likes you, Elon

[not fooled]

5. Wanna bet those neighbors voted for red don?

Disregard for the law is part of the shit sandwich.

[maleficentia]

9. Weslake Hills voted heavily for Kamala

Travis County Precinct 322

Kamala Harris won this precinct
Donald Trump (R): 884 (35.14%)
Kamala Harris (D): 1,564 (62.16%)
Chase Oliver (L): 32 (1.27%)
Jill Stein (G): 17 (0.68%)
Write-In Candidates: 19 (0.76%) Total Votes: 2,516
Registered Voters: 3,358
Turnout: 74.93%

But still mayby those 3 houses did?

[calimary]

12. Welcome to DU, maleficentia!

Still stunning to me that Jill "wannabe-spoiler" Stein still gets any votes at all.

[maleficentia]

16. Thanks, and dont believe the post count :) (EOM)

[Wicked Blue]

6. I would SO be blasting him with Inna-Gada-Da-Vida on a loop

[calimary]

11. Now THERE'S an idea!

A special "extra gift" for the neighbors who somehow don't mind him living there.

[Crowman2009]

13. Followed by Not To Touch The Earth by The Doors.

Maybe even Horse Latitudes!

[misanthrope]

19. If you're really creative

you can do some fun things with drones these days.

[Warpy]

7. Can't blame them, and not just because he's such an asshole

Likely his assholery doesn't matter to most of them, like minds and all that.

The real problem is the level of security Musk is going to require, something that will be highly inconvenient to all other residents in the area.
What Musk needs to do is find a small farm near the city that's for sale, outbid a developer for it, plunk his oversized monstrosity in the middle of it, build a big wall around it, and install all the security his paranoia requires. An additional advantage is that he can have things like a helipad when he's away from other people. It's what other paranoid plutocrats have done and they seem pleased with the arrangement.

[twodogsbarking]

8. In the words of one of the greatest people in the US - Fuck Off.

[Chellee]

10. He's the richest man on the planet,

and he chose chain-link? The cheapest and most utilitarian of all the fencing options? Okay. That's a choice. How sad that he didn't bother to get permission to put it in, it's 10 feet taller than it's allowed to be, and he's going to have to tear it down.

[GoodRaisin]

15. He won't have to tear down his fence.

He will just buy the necessary votes from City Council. Billionaires always get their way with City officials. Been there, fought that and lost.

[Chellee]

18. I don't know, there's hope yet.

He and his employees did not obtain permits for a metal gate and the fence built around the property, making the chain-link structure 10 feet taller than was allowed, local records showed. In total, the construction violated six city ordinances. After some neighbors protested, Mr. Musk’s team tried to gain retroactive permission for the projects.

But Jim Pledger, one of the six commissioners on the West Lake Hills Zoning and Planning Commission, said he and his colleagues voted unanimously last month against recommending that the homeowner — he was careful not to name Mr. Musk — be granted variances for the projects. If an exception was made, Mr. Pledger said, “we’d incentivize people to break the rules.”

Unless the City Council disagrees with that decision, Mr. Musk faces the prospect of tearing down the fence and gate or changing them to comply with the town’s rules.

[GoodRaisin]

20. He'll use City Council to overrule the commissioners, or go back to the City Planning

Director and have them change zoning or make up a brand new city code (law) just for him. Like I said, I’ve seen this show before. This is how billionaires use their money to get what they want. They have many ways of enticing the city to do their bidding, promising jobs, or making threats, whatever works. You watch, he’ll keep his fence.

[Conjuay]

14. A sixteen foot tall chain link fence?

Jeez, that must be attractive...



There goes the neighborhood.

[ToxMarz]

17. The driver of a passing car shouted late at night that he was looking for a party at "E's house."

Then he shouted, "Tell him I got his Ketamine, he'll let me in!"