
Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay hit with penalty for not allowing public beach access - ra7
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/13/ritz-carlton-half-moon-bay-faces-1-6-million-penalty-for-failing-to-provide-public-beach-access/
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dpcx
A hotel that charges $1,000 per night with 261 rooms is charged $1,600,000 for
multiple years worth of violations.

If I understand the math correctly, this hotel, when fully booked, would make
that much in revenue in _a week_.

I'm continually reminded why many companies have employees who choose to do
unethical things: they'll make more money than the fine will ever amount to.

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LanceH
I get providing an easement, but requiring not just a parking lot, but to
build it is a shakedown.

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dawnerd
Definitely not. They agreed to it during the permitting phase. Companies are
often required to build public access 'stuff' regularly - nothing different
here, really.

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LanceH
Withholding a permit until the property owner does something not explicitly
required by law is exactly the shakedown I'm speaking of.

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threezero
Just because you own property doesn’t mean you get to do whatever you want
with it. The Ritz knew there would be conditions, and they chose to agree.
They could have sold the property and built a hotel elsewhere if they didn’t
like the conditions.

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hprotagonist
Good deal. Public access is a continual fight.

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11thEarlOfMar
"...they face an intimidating array of hotel staff members, wealthy golfers,
fences, guard stations and gates."

Wealthy golfers are intimidating? And how can you tell the wealthy golfers
from the not-so-wealthy golfers? Ritz Carlton staff members are actually very
friendly. Prison fences may be intimidating, but not so much these fences.

Guard station, agreed. But there is one. Not plural.

I've stayed there a couple of times for company-paid conferences. There are
'beach access' signs, but I agree it's not clear that the public can use the
parking garage to access the beach.

I just find it laughable that the writer uses 'wealthy golfers' as a source of
intimidation. Perhaps the public finds wealthy people intimidating in general.
Is that true?

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GrifMD
Honestly I've thought about going to use the beach there once, but I really
just didn't want to deal with the hassle of people not knowing that I was
allowed. It probably would have been nothing, but just having that in the back
of my mind kept me from going. And I actually have the Ritz Carlton credit
card and stay in their hotels with some frequency!

It's dumb, but the thought is probably there in a lot of people's minds.

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atourgates
Is the additional 27-acre space they're using the funds to purchase the
Wavecrest Open Space that was acquired in 2017[1], or additional open space?

[1] [https://www.hmbreview.com/news/nonprofits-acquire-acres-
in-h...](https://www.hmbreview.com/news/nonprofits-acquire-acres-in-half-moon-
bay/article_2f43791a-e049-11e7-905a-3fc59915925f.html)

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spacegod
The California Coastal Commission is like the IRS out here in California.
Maybe one of the best run planning bodies in the country.

They will find out if you're not abiding by the law.

