Few people want beef with their neighbors to become public. This includes Elon Musk.
In March, Mr Musk’s team pressured officials in the luxurious West Lake Hills, Texas, to keep the details of one of its mansions and security companies quietly, according to emails to the city’s employees received by the New York Times through public requests.
In these emails, billionaire technology employees asked West Lake Hills officials to hold a private public meeting in April – where neighbors could talk about the $ 6 million home. They showed Mr Musk’s work with the Trump administration as a reason that his archives and communications with the city will be exempt from state and federal public archive laws, according to emails.
The homeowner should be relieved because he is a “federal civil servant”, one of Mr Musk’s employees wrote in an email sent to the city on March 3, adding: “We can provide the documentation of the federal clearance”.
Mr Musk, 53, was trying to maintain a disagreement with his neighbors over the construction of a chain fence and a metal gate with a camera in the mansion under wrapper. He had made the changes to the property without obtaining the appropriate licenses, violating six decrees of the city and trying to address the issue retrospectively.
Pushing the privacy was unsuccessful. West Lake Hills City’s lawyer ruled against a closed meeting, the show e -mail. Last month, at a gathering of the Zone and Planning Committee, Mr Musk lost his appeal to keep the fence and gate on his property. The issue goes next to a meeting of the City Council, scheduled for May 14, but was rescheduled for June 11, after “the applicant requested postponement”, said Trey Fletcher, city manager, on Tuesday.
Mr Fletcher refused to comment on the city’s documents. Mr Musk and his team did not respond to commentary requests.
The 6,900 -square -foot home, six bedrooms at West Lake Hills is one of the three mansions that Mr Musk has bought in recent years for his children and their mothers. The mansion, in a inhabited cul-de-SAC of four houses, is where Mr Musk remains when he is in Austin and has become a hub for his growing security companies. Bought the property in 2022 through a limited liability company.
After the erection of the 16 -foot fence and the separate gate, the neighbors complained about the structures and traffic on the leafy street. This led West Lake Hills officials to investigate.
Until March, Mr Musk’s staff had been worried that any documentation he sent to the city would be publicly public, e -mail shows. Tisha Ritta, an employee of the license working for Mr Musk’s limited liability company, sent an email to the city to ask a hearing to be scheduled to discuss the issues on the property to be kept private.
Inna Kaplun, who was recognized as a lawyer working for the “owner of the property”, also sent the city by e -mail, arguing that the owner should relieve a public hearing due to numerous security personnel on the property, including federal soldiers. Referring to a Texas Statute, the lawyer said that government entities should not have an open meeting to discuss “staff or security devices”.
Mr. Musk’s staff and city officials held at least one meeting in March to discuss the property, emails. In mid -March, the city’s proxy for West Lake Hills ruled against Mr Musk’s request for private listening, citing the Texas Open meetings law, according to an email.
At the meeting of the Public Zone and Planning Committee last month, city officials recommended Mr Musk allowed to maintain the fence and gate he had built without licenses, although with minor changes required. Some of the six members of the committee have questioned the city’s staff on the proposal, according to the meeting.
The Commission eventually voted to recommend the City Council to refuse Mr Musk the exceptions for his works.
