Leah Feiger: Zoë, I can’t get enough of this story. Before we dive deeper, I have to mention that Caroline, the amazing reporter behind this, dug up 1,665 pages of documents about the dispute involving Zuckerberg’s house. This story is officially iconic.
Zoë Schiffer: Caroline Haskins is a total gem. Our fact-checking team nearly lost it when I told them about it. They were like, “Wait, how many documents are we going through?” And I was like, “Yep, that’s right.”
Leah Feiger: Major props to the WIRED research team.
Zoë Schiffer: Definitely. Oh, and the school? It’s actually named after one of the Zuckerberg family’s chickens—it’s called the Bicken Ben School.
Leah Feiger: I mean, it sounds serious when you say it, but still.
Zoë Schiffer: The Crescent City neighborhood in Palo Alto, where the Zuckerbergs reside, is prime real estate—some of the best in the country, with stunning homes and lots of greenery. Over the years, Mark Zuckerberg has been extending his footprint in this upscale area. His property now includes 11 previously separate lots. It’s pretty wild; if you bought a house there for $5 million, only to find all your neighbors are Mark Zuckerberg, what a scenario!
Leah Feiger: And it’s crucial to point out that not all of them are connected either. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. Do they have to walk through someone’s porch to get to their horse’s pool? What’s going on there?
Zoë Schiffer: We definitely need to dig deeper into this. I think there are some gaps in this story that we haven’t filled yet. Back in 2016, Zuckerberg’s expansion raised concerns among neighbors, who worried that his buying spree was dramatically spiking property values. Fast forward five years, and neighbors started noticing what looked like a school operating out of the Zuckerberg compound. Since that’s illegal without a permit in the area’s residential zoning code, they reported it to the city. Caroline Haskins, the reporter, gathered over a thousand documents detailing the conflict between the neighbors and city officials, highlighting how it seemed the Zuckerbergs were receiving preferential treatment.
