
Silicon Valley Billionaire Wants You Off His Stretch of the California Coastline - srameshc
https://gizmodo.com/silicon-valley-billionaire-wants-you-off-his-stretch-of-1823263769
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Slansitartop
> Khosla’s appeal with the Supreme Court argues that he shouldn’t have to get
> a permit to lock the public access gates, claiming the California Coastal
> Act is a violation of his constitutional rights. The California Coastal Act
> was enacted in 1976 to ensure the public had access to the California
> shoreline.

So this guy wants to outlaw easements, basically because he's rich so he
shouldn't have to share? Seems like he has more money than sense.

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AareyBaba
Immigrants like me are deeply appreciative of the laws and commitment to set
aside public spaces in America. It's one of those things that "Makes America
Great".

So it is embarrassing to see a fellow immigrant who finds success in this
nation and lets that get to his head. I find it sad how quickly too much
wealth makes you quickly forget your humble roots.

~~~
mitochondrion
It really just depends on who exactly the "public" is that is inhabiting the
"public spaces". I'm sure this Khosla fellow wouldn't mind his property being
used by beautiful surfer girls in bikinis who don't leave litter behind. Maybe
he just wants trashy people to stay away from his property.

~~~
Hydraulix989
It's not his property though, it is public property that is adjacent to his
that he doesn't own.

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Nomentatus
No he can't prevent people from going to that beach, by boat and isn't asking
for that. It is the easement that he doesn't want.

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Slansitartop
The easements are a matter of public policy to ensure beach access. If he
doesn't want to deal with that, he shouldn't have bought beach real estate in
California.

~~~
Nomentatus
I in no way have disagreed. Why post this here?

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mlazos
This is such a joke. The fact that he can waste our government’s money and
time on bs like this is infuriating. He’s just a wealthy person who has
nothing to do with his time other than yell at people to get off his lawn. I’m
just glad the CA Supreme Court declined to hear the case, here’s to hoping the
US Supreme Court does the same.

~~~
dahdum
For all the money he's made and the good he's done, it's gotta sting that
he'll be remembered as much for this beach dispute than anything he's ever
accomplished.

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mikhailfranco
Pity California did not follow Oregon ... when the governor wanted to claim
the shore for the public, he found his only powers of property sequestration
were for building roads, so he made the whole coast a highway:

 _In 1911, governor Oswald West was elected on the promise to reclaim Oregon
's beaches as public land. Though the legislature favored the privatization of
these lands, West was able to make an argument for public ownership based on
the need for transportation, and in 1913, the Oregon legislature declared the
entire length of the ocean shore from the Columbia to California as a state
highway._

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Coast#1860%E2%80%93pres...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Coast#1860%E2%80%93present)

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bad_good_guy
I have a feeling the billionaire problem will only get worse with time.

~~~
Hydraulix989
Right, and money often buys power in government as well so we cannot rely on
the judicial system to curb these abuses of the law and due process.

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l4yao
Is this significantly different from the Seadrift HOA gates blocking off
access to the Stinson Beach peninsula? Is that case exempt because it's still
technically walkable between mean high and low tides?

~~~
dragonwriter
> Is this significantly different from the Seadrift HOA gates blocking off
> access to the Stinson Beach peninsula? Is that case exempt because it's
> still technically walkable between mean high and low tides?

Seadrift, IIRC, is different because property that had access closed off prior
to the adoption of the law requiring access, and Sesdrift’s closed access
preceded the law by ~25 years.

(ISTR there are also an issue caused by the State DoJ, with a Republican AG at
the time, abandoning enforcement and forcing the Coastal Commission to accept
a settlement with Seadrift that significantly limited public use rights
compared to the law’s facial requirements.)

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csense
Previous discussion from 2014:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8365061](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8365061)

