Beach blocked by billionaire? Surfers Seek Access to Surf

[The Straight Story]

Now It's Personal: Surfers Seek Access to Surf

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (CN) - A surfers group sued a landowner, believed to be a billionaire computer mogul, for blocking access to a public beach in Half Moon Bay.

The Surfrider Foundation sued Martins Beach 1 LLC and Martins Beach 2 LLC, in San Mateo County Court. The surfers claim the defendants illegally blocked a road that beachgoers have used for decades.

While the names of the people behind the Martin's Beach LLCs are not known, the principal owner is thought to be Vinod Khosla, a 57-year-old billionaire venture capitalist who helped found Sun Microsystems, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The surfers claim the owner of Martins Beach 1 put up a gate to block the only access to Martin's Beach in Half Moon Bay, hired armed guards to intimidate would-be visitors, and covered up a public sign stating that the beach was open for public access.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/03/14/55712.htm

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Go get 'em.

[lonestarnot]

2. Time for sustained beach parties, woohoo!

[theKed]

6. Occupy the Beach?

Probably get a big turn-out for that!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

3. The San Mateo judge is going to carefully listen to the attorney. They are being represented by

Pete McCloskey who, when in Congress, co-authored the 1973 Endangered Species Act. He's well known and well respected in San Mateo county.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Good

Bodes well or them then.

[Brother Buzz]

10. Powerhouse law firm, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy will be seated next to Pete.

There will be a whole heap of talent in that courtroom.

Kowabunga!"

[KansDem]

4. When I was in high school, I heard about a similar situation...

First, let me say I grew up in California, so I know a little something about public beaches and public access.

A similar incident occurred in the late 1960s/early 1970s, if I recall correctly, when a group of wealthy homeowners in southern California had built their homes in such a way as to cut off access to a cove. The cove beach was public but no one could get there without trespassing on private property. You could get to it by water if you had a boat and sailed around the rocks that framed the cove, but that was the only way. In essence, the wealthy homeowners had a private beach.

A group of activists challenged this grab of public beach by the wealthy homeowners. They were able to find an elderly lady who, as a girl, had used a path to the cove over the very ground that would be used to build the expensive homes. She testified in court that she did use that path and the court ruled in favor of the activists by declaring an easement. The wealthy homeowners had to agree to the creation of a path for public access to the cove.

I imagine the same will hold true for Mr. Khosla's land-grab. He needs to be reminded he's living in California.

[Egalitarian Thug]

11. They've been trying this, and so far failing, to do this in Newport Beach for decades.

There's all kinds of interesting episodes of rich fucks trying to steal the beaches in California over the years. One of my favorites is the origin of Huntington Beach. Huntington was a rich fuck real estate developer that, trying to shift shoddy houses he built that no one wanted to buy, was giving away pieces of what was then considered worthless beach property he owned. Buy a house and get a piece of beach front property half a day's drive down the coast.

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."

[KansDem]

16. Pathetic, isn't it?

Wealthy folks today remind me of "Johnny Rocco."

...always wanting more.

Thanks for the info on Huntington Beach. I wasn't aware of the origin of the name! And I lived in SoCal from 1954 to 1979!

Hell, I still remember..."Tin Can Beach."

[cherokeeprogressive]

18. Is that what is now Bolsa Chica? n/t

[KansDem]

20. Yes!

I first saw it as Tin Can Beach (I was just a kid), then after it was cleaned up, the name became Bolsa Chica Beach.

I remember Ralph Story did a segment (in the 1960s) from his "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" TV show about the Bolsa Chica Gun Club. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the gun club located just across Pacific Coast Highway from the beach?


on edit: Ralph Story's segment might have been on both the beach and the gun club. Here's his list of "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" shows:

http://www.usc.edu/libraries/finding_aids/records/finding_aid.php?fa=0249

Segment #252 - Bolsa Chica

[Egalitarian Thug]

19. One of the hardest things about aging is memories of things long gone.

Tin can beach, and the oil rigs right off shore. The fact, and this is still sadly true, that people can live in LA for years and never realize that there's huge beautiful mountains right there! I remember sand dollars and seaweed on the beach, standing out on what is now some billionaire asshole's private drive in Palos Verde and seeing dozens of whales go by with Malibu in the background.

Joni Mitchell had it right.

[KansDem]

26. "...that people can live in LA for years...

"...and never realize that there's huge beautiful mountains right there!"

Ain't that the truth!

I went to school in the Long Beach Unified School District. One day in fourth grade, I was on the playground when I saw the San Bernardino Mountains! A Santa Ana had blown out all the smog and there was Mt. Baldy! It looked like I could reach out and touch it!

And I also remember times during the mid-1960s when I would be out riding my bike and have to pull over and lie down on someone's front lawn to close my eyes and rub them. They were stinging too much from the smog! And during this period it wasn't unusual to come in from afternoon recess and not be able to take a deep breath because it would feel like I had a knife in my chest.

California has done much to alleviate air pollution since. I laugh and shake my head today at folks who still make disparaging comments about LA's "smog problem." It's not perfect but still a hell of a lot better than it was!

And you're right, Joni Mitchell had it right...

[Egalitarian Thug]

28. Without a doubt. I've seen pics (coincidentally, in the Long Beach library) from the 40s/50s

of downtown LA with traffic cops in gas masks and you literally couldn't make out the buildings in the next block.

And to think that the authoritarians want us to go back to those conditions just so those with too much can have more of it.

[SoCalDem]

32. When we first came to SoCal, I was underwhelmed by the mountains

My first mountains were the Grant Tetons..

These were dirt piles to me

and I would not allow my kids into the ocean here.. It was all so dirty-looking to me..

It's all perception..

As a kid I grew up with beaches like this:

[BuddhaGirl]

29. I grew up in Huntington Beach and never knew that! eom

[Cha]

33. I enjoyed your story.. my son grew up surfing

in San Diego and then Kaua'i.. so, I'm always up for a surf story. I know he has a few.

[WillyT]

7. K & R !!!

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. California's Prestige Big Wave Surfing.. Mavericks

Is at half moon bay.

It generates a lot of cash and prestige for the area and california.

[NV Whino]

9. Do not stand between surfers land the surf!

This sort of thing has happened several times in California. We are very protective of the public's beach access.

[wtmusic]

12. David Geffen tried to pull this shit in Malibu years ago. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

31. yup. Man of the people, donates lots of money to good causes, but don't try to get to "his" beach

[L0oniX]

13. The rich want serfs ...not surfers! n/t

[Fuddnik]

15. Amerika's new National Anthem

Serfin' USA.

[L0oniX]

17. LMAO ...so true. n/t

[SunSeeker]

22. LOL

[Cha]

34. I like.. lol thanks SunSeeker

My son's a surfer.. on Kaua'i since 1985.

[meegbear]

14. #firstworldproblems

[Le Taz Hot]

36. You don't see

the deeper danger here? Really?

[Tunkamerica]

37. illegal de facto privatization of public land

#whitewhine

haha

[HiPointDem]

38. Theft of the commons isn't a 'first world problem'. Stupid comment.

[SunSeeker]

21. The rich just can't get over the fact they don't own the beach here in Cali.

[Zoonart]

27. LBI too

Not just in CA, but in LBI NJ... Loveladies.. et-al there are signs for private beach access posted everywhere. They can't keep you from sitting on the beach in front of their mansions, but they can make you walk a couple of miles out of your way to get there. Got to keep the Shoebees off the lawn, dont'cha know. Not to mention those dirty Hippies.

[Cleita]

23. That's against the law. All the beaches in CA belong to the state and therefore the people.

The wealthy home owners and beach goers and surfers fight about this all the time in Malibu. Owners of beach front properties think they own the beach in front of their homes. They don't.

[Sheldon Cooper]

25. I think they only own the property up to the high tide line, or something.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

24. Dude!!! nt

[raccoon]

30. Brian Wilson and Bruce Springsteen should collaborate on a song about this. nt

[Le Taz Hot]

35. A clear sign the owner isn't from around these parts.

His headaches have just begun.