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Residents in a high-end Austin suburb aren’t happy about their neighbor, Elon Musk, whom they say has turned their quiet cul-de-sac into a thoroughfare of service workers and security all while the billionaire mogul flouts local ordinances.
According to a report from the New York Times, Musk bought the $6 million property in West Lake Hills, just outside Austin, Texas, in 2022 and has changed the character of the neighborhood ever since.
“I call that place Fort Knox,” Paul Hemmer, the president of the local neighborhood homeowners association, told the paper.
Tesla CEO Musk purchased the house and two others in the area with the hopes of creating a compound for his 13 (and counting) children and their mothers. His team quickly got to work making changes, including building a fence around the property 10 feet taller than allowed without obtaining a permit.
Hemmer, one of Musk’s antagonists in the neighborhood saga, complained about all the noise and commotion since the billionaire made his home there, including “transporting service employees to other houses, leaving their cars on our quiet streets, hauling laundry to and fro to other houses.”
Musk’s decision to make changes before asking the local government for permission has gotten him in trouble, and he might have to take down his fence if he ultimately loses his challenges to local rules. People working on his behalf have asked for exceptions citing security concerns, and blamed a former employee for the errors.
Hemmer didn’t buy that excuse. “If you follow him at all in the news, he’s always guilty of building stuff and then asking for permission later,” he said.
The neighbor also complained that he and other residents are under constant surveillance from Musk’s security, even when they’re on their own property. Hemmer said the security caught him peeing on his lawn.
“The cameras got me,” Mr. Hemmer said. “It’s scary they have guys sitting and watching me pee.” They even once called the police claiming Hemmer was naked on the street, but Hemmer just said he was in his underwear on his lawn.
While the saga isn’t over, it appears that local commissioners have turned on Musk and don’t seem likely to grant him exceptions, the Times reported.
“I’m astounded the staff is putting forth any kind of suggestions we bend based on who is asking,” one commissioner said.