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Billionaire vs. redwood: The world's most egregious landscaping dispute
Super rich person Larry Ellison's years-long landscaping nightmare comes to an end as his downhill neighbors, the owners of view-obstructing backyard redwoods, agree to settle out of court.
Tue, May 31 2011 at 8:00 PM
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PEOPLE SKILLS: Larry Ellison is, among other things, a champion sailor. (He's shown here with the 2010 America's Cup trophy.) But he may not be considered a champion neighbor. (Photo: ZUMA Press)
Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, summer — the season of back porch grilling, front porch lounging, purchasing obscenely large tubs of mayonnaise-based salads, and getting into a heated spat with your neighbor over issues of landscaping — is, for all intents and purposes, upon us. Let’s focus on that last point, the one about landscaping disputes, shall we?
Ever since Martha Stewart notoriously duked it out with her erstwhile East Hampton neighbor Harry Macklowe over misplaced shrubbery, fighting with your neighbor over lawn maintenance has evolved into a late spring/summertime tradition that ordinarily fizzles over after a bit of compromise. However, such disputes can turn violent, malicious, and in the case of Bay Area business magnate/billionaire Larry Ellison, very obnoxious.
Ellison, best known as the fifth richest man in the world and co-founder and CEO of software company Oracle, initiated what the Wall Street Journal calls a “full-blown spectacle” over a cluster of trees that he believes are partially obstructing the views of the San Francisco Bay enjoyed through the floor-to-ceiling windows in a Pacific Heights home that he purchased in 1988 for $3.9 million. (The WSJ article also has photos of the view from Ellison's manse.) The offending trees, three redwoods and an 80-year-old acacia, are growing in the $6.9-million backyard of Bernard and Jane Von Bothmer who moved into a manse downhill from Ellison’s residence in 2004.
The “tree problem” started not long after the Von Bothmers moved into their home and decided to let the trees grow naturally without regular trimming as they enjoyed the privacy that the towering green canopy behind their home provided. Upslope in his 10,742-square-foot home used primarily for “entertaining,” Ellison was not too pleased. After several years of back and forth bickering and allegations of "tree-passing," Ellison and the Von Bothmers were to go before state Superior Court in San Francisco on June 6. Representing Ellison: Barri Bonapart, an arbor-oriented attorney who specializes in “tree and neighbor law.” According to Bonapart's website, Treelaw.com, her firm offers "practical solutions for an impractical world."
But as new details emerge, it looks like Ellison and the Von Bothmers won't be heading to court after all: over the holiday weekend, the lawsuit was settled out of court and the Von Bothmers have agreed to cut the three redwoods and landmark-worthy acacia that have been causing Ellison so much grief. Paging Julia Butterfly Hill ...
Read all the pulpy juicy particulars of the Ellison vs. Von Bothmer case — basically a Lifetime Original Movie meets Court TV special with a dash of the National Geographic Channel thrown in — here and let me know what you think. How have you settled landscaping disputes with neighbors? Any San Francisco residents out there have strong opinions on this much-publicized case and on the city’s “Tree Dispute Resolution Ordinance?”
In my humble opinion, Ellison sounds like nothing more than a schoolyard bully — an extremely powerful, multi-billionaire schoolyard bully who is used to getting what he wants ... including unobstructed San Francisco views.
Related on MNN: Donald Trump is in dispute with his neighbor
Via [WSJ]
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It's as "off-the-shelf" as software goes nowadays. And you can boycott Oracle by using a third-party Java implementation, for a start, but Sun spent a lot of their time suing Java implementors who weren't themselves. Also, you can use LiberOffice if you were using OpenOffice.org before (all 12 of you).
This is outrageous behavior from another bully billionaire. It's obvious the neighbors took the cash. We can't let people like this change the rules and start destroying nature on a whim to appease their greed. Maybe it's time to stop using his products.....hope there's lot of negative buzz about this.
No money was exchanged, so please stop spreading those vile rumors.
He's had a LOT of work done on his face!
What ever arborist topped those trees should be shot. It is very harmful to the trees and can actually cause them to become a hazard down the road. The law is ridiculous since nearly EVERY tree grows taller than 22 feet. Heck to be considered a tree it has to be 9+ inches in diameter and at least 13ft tall. Most ornamentals will top out over 30 ft tall. Topping trees only open them up to decay and disease.
Why hasn't Al Gore entered the fray? I thought he wanted to save the planet by promoting the trees. Cutting down God's trees (not the paganist god Nature) is not saving the planet.
Money makes people like this, makes me happy I am of limited means and have to think before I act. Too bad that he may have started with a vision of making the world a better place and ended up a spoiled adult that won't let nature be.
Too low on the food chain to make any difference. Too bad for the trees.
The trees here only obscure a tiny patch when you stand on this third floor balcony. This is a HUGE balcony. You have a perfect view from 7/8ths of it.
Ellison acted like a spoiled brat... but he will never be happy no matter how often he gets his own way.
http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2011/05/31/pacific_heights_larry_ellison_b...
If you walk just a few feet to the right or left in this photo, you have a pristine view.
i would be interesting to see what would happen if an earthquake would hit and wipe his house off the map? Perhaps he will even be living in it?.
ugly is as ugly does, the ugly has caught up with him quite obviously.
Lets hope there is some justice in the world and Ellison is stuck down by a falling branch from a very large tree.
Rich people fighting over trees. Yep! That's a keeper
Let me seattle this so these A holes can get back to work making money. THE TREES STAY they have been there the longest and cannot walk away. On the other can we can sell buy houses were we please and when we please. Dont like the view, buy another house. case closed now move on idiots
I agree 100% This Elison guy sounds like a complete tool. His victims probably caved for big bucks
No money exchanged hands. They just didn't want the ordeal of a trial. They're very private.
So instead of taking money, they just folded like cowards in front of a spoiled rich bully. Great job, von Bothmers... way to stick to your principles when it mattered most.
Larry =s douchebag! Over compensation, much? Congrats on killing something so vital and precious. I hope you grow a conscience.
Come one gang; Ellison isn't leveling 100s of square miles of Amazon rain forest. He's cutting a few (FEW) trees to improve the viewshed. National parks do this to improve the view from scenic overlooks (overlooks put there for, say it all together, THE VIEW).
well, the trees, of course, are the big losers. and the neighbors are losers too for caving and cashing in to the bully. and ellison, well, he has loser written all over him. FLASH TO ELLISON: if you don't want trees growing in your view, move to the desert. I will tell my children about you, by name, so that your name will go down as a selfish loser and not be forgotten that way for 100 years. Way to go, sport. Top of your head to tip of your toes: loser.
I vote for the trees!
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