Posted on 03/09/2019 12:41:49 PM PST by Jyotishi
Pila'a, Kauai -- Last Sunday morning, more than a dozen cars were parked along a six-foot wall built around Mark Zuckerberg's vast retreat on the northeast corner of Kauai, a small, remote Hawaiian island that's home to 70,000 people. The gate, which is almost always locked shut, was open, so you could walk right past the Facebook-blue sign that reads "PRIVATE PROPERTY Thank you for not trespassing." The lava rock wall, which Zuckerberg started building in 2016, inflamed some of his neighbors. It's built on a bluff a mile from the ocean and now stretches for nearly a mile along Zuckerberg's property, making it impossible to see the water from the road.
Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan acquired more than 700-acres on Kauai in 2014 by purchasing two adjacent beachside properties reportedly for more than $100 million. Last year, he purchased another 89-acres for $45.3 million. His property extends a mile inland over a former sugarcane plantation. Multiple streams flow across the land to the ocean, carving out forested valleys through rolling pastures grazed by cattle.
While the Facebook CEO likely hoped this corner of Kauai would be his private oasis, his property is peppered with more than a dozen smaller parcels of what are called Kuleana lands--land that was awarded during the 1850s and has been passed down for generations by local families. For the last several years, these lands Zuckerberg doesn't own have been the source of simmering conflict with the community, as he has taken aggressive steps to buy or otherwise control a part of Kauai.
In the latest development in the ongoing saga, we were let inside ZuckSaturday, March 9, 2019erberg's gates for an open house of sorts for four of these properties, which as a result of an arcane measure called a quiet title action will be auctioned on the front steps of Kauai's Fifth Circuit Court Building on March 22.
The crowd waiting to tour the property included a mix of Hawaiians, Kauai residents, lawyers, journalists, and Zuckerberg employees. Many people seemed to already know each other. Some exchanged a hug and kiss on the cheek, as customary in Hawaii.
In theory, the people that showed up were all there to decide if they want to bid, but really, many came for the rare opportunity to glimpse inside the compound of one of the richest people the world. The whole act of building a giant wall invites intrigue and suspicion.
"I'm just curious to see what it looks like, and I'm curious what he's doing with it because I've heard a lot of different things," said Steph Klockenbrink, a 24-year-old who runs an organic farm on the same street as Zuckerberg's property.
"It's locked down a lot of the time, so just having the opportunity to see it is cool," said Matthew James, a 28-year-old landscaper. "The fact that it seems hush-hush and no one really knows what's going on kinda raises a red flag."
It was hardly only curious observers, though. The controversy over the lands has prompted outrage, and some people were there to register their grievance and do research. Kaiulani Mahuka, who hosts a radio show on Kauai Community Radio about Hawaiian sovereignty, told me she was at the open house as a "Kanaka Maoli," meaning Hawaiian, and said it was "a war crime to sell these lands."
"The lands were deeded in perpetuity, and that means forever," said Mahuka. "Kuleana, you don't own it--your family belongs to it."
Kuleana is a Hawaiian value that translates to responsibility and refers to the reciprocal relationship people have with the land to care for it. The land, in turn, has a kuleana to provide and care for its stewards. In the 1850s, the Hawaiian Kingdom allocated the Kuleana lands, which were intended to go to Hawaiians who already lived on and worked the land. Before this, Native Hawaiians did not conceive of land ownership but instead shared land communally. The Kuleana lands were meant to be passed down to descendants of the grantees forever.
Individual heirs now often claim tiny fractions, and some families collectively use the land. The quiet title action has been used to allow any co-tenant, regardless of the size of their stake, to dissolve relationships with other co-tenants, sort of like a divorce. The plaintiff who starts a quiet title action must notify everyone with an interest, which often requires detailed genealogy research to determine all of the heirs. The co-tenants can only stop the process once it has been initiated if they come up with an agreement. Otherwise, a judge will order all the shares be put up at public auction, forcing heirs to sell. Fighting the process can be prohibitively costly.
Good to hear. I hope he gets no sleep.
Right. And Zuckerberg’s property on Kauai is on a former sugarcane plantation — from the article:
“His property extends a mile inland over a former sugarcane plantation.”
I thought Kauai was very nice.
Did you ever watch “Buying Hawaii”? Perhaps some places are alright but the show certainly didn’t make us ever want to go there much less live there......;)
“Buying Hawaii”, LOL!
Don’t believe everything spewed out by the boob tube.
There are several (small) old herbicide mixing areas (two on Kauai) which had elevated levels of arsenic from the early twentieth century. To say "the soil of sugarcane plantations is usually toxic from arsenic residues" is the kind of gross exaggeration I usually hear from hysterical greenies.
Nah, we saw some of the “not so paradise” features of Hawaii on that show......that and Alaska.....I mean to use the President’s words....shyte holes. I mean, how much does one have to give up for a “view”? Buy a freekin’ calendar.
Not my intention to disrespect any FReepers who live in Hawaii or Alaska.....
////////// Not my intention to disrespect any FReepers who live in Hawaii or Alaska.....
Then I guess no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case against you.
Then I guess no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case against you.
Yep........lol
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.