Neghbors: Nightmares next door [New York Times]
New York Times, December 11, 2009
Hardly a week goes by without another report encouraging us to live in more densely populated neighborhoods. But close-quarter living comes at a price: neighbors. Jean-Paul Sartre’s definition of hell was other people; in this area, with its share of outsize personalities, hell may be other people who happen to live nearby.
SLAP SHOT For the past two years Scott McNealy, chairman of Sun Microsystems and ice-hockey enthusiast, has transformed his Palo Alto estate’s sunken tennis court into a hockey rink, covered by an off-white dome. Residents across the way in Portola Valley were not too happy last year when what one described to the weekly Almanac newspaper as a “nuclear blast” and another called a “gigantic white whale” slouched into view.
Initially Mr. McNealy did not have a permit for the dome, but this year he was granted a 45-day trial permit if he agreed to mitigation measures. At issue: the dome’s reflective material and the need to screen the rink with a tall fence. Landscaping would be welcome, said Curtis Williams, the Palo Alto planning department’s director, who will review the temporary permit when it expires next week. Will it be a short hockey season?
HOME LAUNDERING Given its secluded location on top of a hilly street, the mansion built on 11 acres in 1991 at 100 Obertz Lane most likely has escaped the notice of most Novato residents. If they are aware of it, they may wish its associations were more salubrious.
The original owner of the 19,000-square-foot home, Michael Shipsey, was convicted on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and theft from an employee pension fund, all linked to his diversion of loan proceeds from an unrelated project to build the Novato palace.
In 1998 Pavlo Lazarenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister, bought the nine-bedroom, nine-bathroom property for $6.675 million. Last month, he was sentenced to 97 months in prison and fined $9 million for his role in laundering $30 million in extorted funds, some of which he used to buy the house.
Should it appear on the market again, its grand ballroom and multiple swimming pools — not to mention its intriguing back story — will generate buzz.
ONE MAN’S TRASH It was decision time at San Mateo Superior Court this week. In fact, it was the latest in a long line of decisions in a case that has pitted Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, against neighbors and architectural preservationists who seek to prevent him from demolishing the 17,000-square-foot Woodside home he bought in 1984.
The Jackling House, built in 1926 for the copper baron Daniel Jackling, was designed by George Washington Smith, the founding father of the Spanish Colonial style. Since Mr. Jobs moved out, it has become neglected. The National Trust for Historic Preservationsupports relocating the home.
Lawsuits and appeals have been bandied back and forth for nine years. The court ruling this week was anticlimactic: the judge wants more documentation of the various claims.