Judge orders billionaire to open gate to Martins Beach
Source: SF Chronicle
The billionaire owner of a Peninsula beach was ordered Friday by a San Mateo County judge to open the gates to the sandy haven, which he insists is his exclusive property.
Judge Barbara Mallach issued her final order in the contentious case, specifically telling venture capitalist Vinod Khosla that he had to reopen the gate to popular Martins Beach, a crescent-shaped inlet 5 miles south of Half Moon Bay.
Khosla, who closed the gate four years ago, was told by the court in July that his failure to obtain a permit before blocking access to Martins Beach was illegal. Khosla, however, argued in legal briefs after the trial that he did not believe he had to open the gate until after he had made an application to the Coastal Commission and he had been told by commission authorities to do so. The gate has been closed since the trial ended five months ago, but surfers and other beachgoers have been walking around it.
Mallach said in her final judgment Friday that Khosla was wrong and that he had to immediately open the gate, said Joe Cotchett, lead attorney for the Surfrider Foundation, which filed a lawsuit demanding public access.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Judge-orders-billionaire-to-open-gate-to-Martins-5938974.php
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Maybe we can get that changed. [URL=
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I just love it when billionaires don't get their way - don't you?
Millions and millions of people benefit from access to California's beaches and from the preservation of coastal views! It is a wonderful law and an exemplar of what is meant by the phrases, "The Commons"--what we all own together--and "the common good"--what our society should be aimed at.
Too much beach access in California has been stolen by billionaires, and also by the highly destructive state policy of "'beach fees" and "parking fees" (disguised "beach fees"
. And, as we've learned with the University of California, State Universities and Community Colleges, once you let the state start charging us for that which we commonly own and that which SHOULD BE FREE, the bureaucrats and politicians WILL start using it as a 'milk cow' and keep raising the fees higher and higher and higher, so that, in the end, only the rich can enjoy "the commons." I am appalled at what the California Coastal Commission has permitted, in this regard, at our state beaches. Southern California is basically one red "no parking" curb from Malibu to San Diego, forcing citizens into high-fee state parking lots. It is disgusting!
But the Coastal Act still works SOMETIMES, though a non-profit group had to go to court to get it enforced. I applaud the Surfrider Foundation for their work on this matter, and Judge Mallach for upholding the law!
Thanks for sharing.
I'll remember to walk where the sand is damp! 
