Some Not Excited Living Next To Gates

What’s it like having the country’s richest man living down the street?

Not very much fun, one neighbor says.

“We had a quiet little dead-end street, and all of a sudden this guy moves in and it changed the whole neighborhood,” said William Richmond, who has lived in his lakefront home in this wealthy Seattle suburb for 45 years.

The guy, of course, is Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who moved into his $60 million high-tech home last September with his wife, Melinda, and baby daughter, Jennifer.

“Here’s a standard thing,” said the 88-year-old Richmond as he pointed out his window. “A helicopter coming by, taking pictures.”

Richmond said at least three families have moved from the neighborhood because of the incessant work on the Gates mansion, which was supposed to be built in 3-1/2 years.

Construction has been ongoing for more than seven years but is nearing completion, Microsoft spokesman John Pinette said.

In that time, neighbors have had to put up with construction-related inconveniences, Richmond said.

“We had nothing against him,” he said, “but we realized we were in for a lot of noise, dirt, dust and traffic.”

Gates has tried to alleviate the situation by asking construction workers to help with other work in the neighborhood, Richmond added.

From free landscaping to repairing wind-damaged docks to washing construction dust off cars, crews have done everything they can to help out Richmond and other neighbors.

There are other benefits, said 92-year-old Audrey House, who lives next door to the Gates mansion, which is protected by security guards and lights.

“You know you’re safer here than if you lived down the street.”