In short:
California has a law that beaches are public property and must remain accessible to the public. Vinod Khosla, a shitstain of the first order, bought a piece of property that just happened to completely close all access to Martins Beach. The previous owners gave adequate means of access. Vinod shut that down. He got sued, fought, lost at almost every turn, and now that the SCOTUS has denied hearing the case, he has probably lost for good.
Vinod claims property rights, blah blah. I’m all for property rights, but Vinod doesn’t own the fucking beach. And he bought the property with full knowledge of state law and that the state had an effective easement with the previous owner. He claimed that the state should pay for the easement rights–no, fucker, that was already built into the cost of the property. The state already had the rights to an easement; you don’t get to charge them for something they already had.
I’m not gettng the point of the outrage here. Billionaire vulture capitalist buys up property, tries to eliminate legacy easement to beach, and gets shut out by the courts because both the legal precident of existing easements and California law regarding beach access prevent him from doing so. This is such a trite West coast rich asshole story that it’s pracically a rite of passage for celebrities and Silicon Valley tech tycoons. “Yeah, I owned a beach once and the state took it away from me. Mister Bartender, I need another drink and I need it right now; one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer.”
I give this pitting two Barbara Streisand’s out of a possible five.
I’ll endorse this Pitting, but want to add that crybaby who wants money for the easement is a multi-billionaire. It’s not like he’s been so mistreated financially that now he must say “M” when McDonald’s asks him if he wants the “Super-size.”
I lived a few miles from that beach most of my life. I got drunk on that (normally freezing ass cold windy) beach in high school which would be like 1972. It has always been a very local community beach.
Vinod is the kind of entitled scumbag who exemplifies the absolute worst type of human being enabled by having more money than some countries. The kind of person who created communism – up against the wall, enemy of the People! He’s a true enemy. Ugh. May he rot internally.
Thank you. I was reading along and getting increasingly frustrated that no one was talking about Trump yet until I finally reached your post. Kudos for speaking truth to power.
It’s not the beach that is at issue (see below), but access to the beach. For Pebble, there is ample access to the beach-- I go there all the time. There is even ample access without paying the fee to get thru the 17 Mile Drive gate. But you can pay the fee, and wander around the grounds pretty much all you want. There is beach access almost immediately before you go thru the gate, but you can walk or bike through the gate without paying a fee. In fact, a huge part of the 17 Mile Drive property is open space with tons of hiking and horse trails. There are access points to the hiking trails inside and outside the gate.
It’s actually two issues, if you follow this closely enough. Khosla is claiming ownership of the beach due to the land previously being a “rancho” with land (and beach) rights predating the CA constitution. I don’t know much about the legal arguments there. Separately, there is the issue of access to the beach, which I never thought would stand up in court based on previous CA law. I suspect he might try a different tactic which is to keep the gate open to the public but charge a fee to limit access.
And yeah, Khosla has been acting like a supreme asshole through this whole thing.
My introduction to Vinod was this profile about him in the NYT. By the end of the article I remember saying out loud: “What an arsehole!”
So I’m glad for this thread, because I was hoping he was going to loose, and he really deserved to loose, and now the arsehole has actually lost, and my day is just a wee tiny bit better today than it was just before. Its the little victories that get me through each day.
I thought the most odious part of the story was that Vinod’s lawyer said he will sue again if the California Coastal Commission rejects his permit request.
What shocked me about the story was that the previous owner charged $10 to cross the property to get to the beach, which is public property under California law.
One of Vinod’s silly arguments was that the government was forcing him to operate a business he didn’t want to operate. There’s no business! Just stop charging for access!
California people bewilder me. Look, if you want to be all superior and don’t want to mingle with the unwashed masses, then don’t live in a socialist state. Go to Florida or some other place.
This isn’t “California people”; this is one overly entitled ass-muppet of the minority class of so-wealthy-I-can’t-even-spend-my-way-into-debt-with-needlessly-extravagant-lifestyle cretins. California is not a “socialist state” for providing basic services and care that would be inadequate in comparison to the majority of modern democratic nations, and Florida is a reeking cesspit of snakes, chiggers, terrible drivers, and obnoxiously loud German tourists.
California has real beaches; not gentle, sewage-smelling wading pools suitable for small children and tiny dogs that go on to the horizon backed by tourist traps and parking lots, but loud, dynamic beaches with real waves you can actually stand up on and beautiful creatures like sea lions, wales, and sea otters. Fuck your Florida beaches, and everything else about that benighted eyesore of America’s flaccid penis.
Let’s get a real Pit going about this instead of this weak sauce about a billionaire jackass who didn’t get his way one time.
I went to Martins Beach for the first time a couple of weeks ago.There’s an area where you can park right along the highway and it’s a fairly short walk down to the beach itself. There’s also a dirt lot down the road a bit that costs $10 to park.
Really nice beach with a collection of houses and trailers down at the bottom of the hill.(Pics) I’m glad the powers that be decided to keep the access road open to the public.
Northern California beaches: rocky, the water is cold, and the weather is usually foggy and dreary.
Southern California beaches: broad and sandy, the water is warm, and the weather is beautiful.
NorCal beaches have rocky parts interspersed with sandy beaches. Plenty of good, long sandy beaches in the vicinity of Martins Beach. The water is indeed generally cold. Colder than the beaches I was used to growing up in Massachusetts.