Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has criticized Donald Trumps’s proposed wall, has angered local residents after building a wall of his own surrounding his property on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, according to the Daily Mail.
In 2014, Zuckerberg purchased the 750 acre Kahu’aina Plantation on the north shore of Kauai for $100 million in 2014. The Facebook CEO later bought two more properties surrounding his plantation. Recently, Zuckerberg began constructing a wall around his property that is six feet tall to provide privacy. By constructing a large wall surrounding his property, Zuckerberg has irritated local residents by cutting off the view of the Pacific Ocean.
“The feeling of it is really oppressive. It’s immense. It’s really sad that somebody would come in, and buy a huge piece of land and the first thing they do is cut off this view that’s been available and appreciative by the community here for years,” Kilauea resident Gy Hall told West Hawaii Today. “(The crew) put some boards up, so you can see the future projection of the wall and what it will cut off. It’s quite dramatic because you can see all the pasture land and ocean underneath the boards.”
“I’m super unhappy about that. I know that land belongs to Zuckerberg. Money is no option for him. I’m 5’8” and when I’m walking, I see nothing but wall. It just doesn’t fit in with the natural beauty that we have here. There are people on the island who money can pay for anything. These kind of things that they do take away what Kauai is all about,” Donna McMillen, another Kilauea resident, said.
Another local resident, Shosana Chantara, said that Zuckerberg’s wall obstructs an ocean breeze that causes it to be much hotter behind the wall.
“It’s hot behind that wall. Because it’s up on a berm, there’s not a breath of air on this side from the ocean. You take a solid wall that’s 10 or more feet above the road level; the breeze can’t go through,” McMillen said.
However, while most local residents surrounding Zuckerberg’s Hawaiian estate are angry by his new wall, some people aren’t irritated by the wall. Thomas Beebe, a neighbor adjacent to the wall, thinks Zuckerberg’s wall is beautiful.
“I find that it greatly enhances the natural beauty of the land, appropriately makes use of local materials and serves as a tasteful reminder of an ancient method of defining boundaries,” Beebe said.
Its ironic that despite Zuckerberg’s criticism of Trump’s wall, Zuckerberg has angered people by building a wall around his property that blocks a beautiful ocean view.
