The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District provides water for wealthy celebrity havens to the northwest of Los Angeles, including Hidden Hills and Calabasas, and as a heavy water user, new state mandates say they're supposed to cut their usage by 36 percent starting next month. But that's not going to be easy with all those giant celebrity lawns. One official with the water district estimates that "70 percent of the district's water is going to the lawn maintenance of about 100 manicured estates," including those of highest-profile famous people like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and Jennifer Lopez, says Page Six. Neighbors are now eyeing the hedges and lawns of the famous with parched contempt.
Celebs have no reason to fear overusage fines: they top out at just $100. But they certainly should fear the ire of their droughtshaming neighbors, who say they're livid with the profligate celebs. "The Kardashian flowers and hedges are right in our face. It's disgusting. You walk by and you can smell the freshness," one neighbor says. The listing from when the couple bought the property in August 2014 mentions it has two vineyards and two pools, and documents the very expansive and verdant open space. A rep for Kim and Kanye maintains that "Kim takes this drought seriously and has made some amendments to the property [since buying it]. She has no problem letting her grass go brown."
Other Kardashians are blowing it too, say neighbors. Khloe Kardashian's Calabasas estate, purchased from Justin Bieber last year, is "green and it simply shouldn't be," complains a nearby resident.
They're not the only famous people pissing off the block. Jennifer Lopez's mansion (and its vast expanses of blindingly green grass), which she put up for sale in January, and Jessica Simpson's two-and-a-half-acre estate are similarly lush and neighbor-annoying. "They're just as bad. And because of all their money, they can just pay the extra rates for water and let the city be damned," says a Hidden Hillser, who is almost definitely quite rich himself. An unidentified source says that Lopez's super-green gardens and grass have been the source of lots of complaints from other residents over the years, but that the star's response has been consistently "dismissive."
· Here's what celebrities' lawns look like during California's drought [Page Six]
· Why Do Bieber and These 25 Other Celebs Live in Calabasas? [Curbed LA]
· Kim and Kanye's Surprisingly Classy $20MM Hidden Hills Estate [Curbed LA]
· Jennifer Lopez Selling Classy House in Hidden Hills For $17MM [Curbed LA]
· Justin Bieber Selling His Calabasas House to Khloe Kardashian [Curbed LA]
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