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I can see his point of view, though: as a rich man, he should be able to do what he wants, and lay claim to this beautiful stretch of the Pacific Ocean.
What if Bill Gates bought the entire coastline? How does that help society? Society has relatively little to gain from letting the super rich buy up fundamentally scarce bits of land like this. Meanwhile making it public access means way more people can appreciate the beach. Not like this VC is on the beach most of the time anyways.
So, how do we make sure that he never tries to pull this stunt again? The level of fines the law allows doesn't seem to be doing anything.
If people truly care about this issue, they can organize public campaigns against those companies as a message to founders to avoid his money or face consequences. He may laugh off fines the court imposes, but this being a stain on his professional reputation would be more damaging.
But it would be hard to pull off. There are some HN favorites in there. How many people here are willing to avoid Stripe or Gitlab over beach access? He's betting that it's not many.
(Why doesn't California declare its coastline public property that is not-for-sale?)
edit: Just found out the answer. Beaches themselves are never for sale, even though properties right up to the edge of the beach are. Next question: Are all river banks public property too? Can you not build a manufacturing plant at a river bank? What about lakes? Are lakes public property?
I can see his point of view, though: as a rich man, he should be able to do what he wants, and lay claim to this beautiful stretch of the Pacific Ocean.
Why stop there? As a rich man, he should be able to replace his failing liver by claiming yours. Alas, he can't in either case, because we the people have created limiting the unchecked exercise of power.
Why is a beach up for sale if it's not up for private gating? (Why doesn't California declare its coastline public property that is not-for-sale?) edit: Just found out the answer. Beaches themselves are never for sale, even though properties right up to the edge of the beach are. Next question: Are all river banks public property too? Can you not build a manufacturing plant at a river bank? What about lakes? Are lake…
So, how do we make sure that he never tries to pull this stunt again? The level of fines the law allows doesn't seem to be doing anything.
You could make it more than just a fight over coastal access. You could make it so that he has more at stake than just this case. He publishes a list of companies his firm has a financial interest in: http://www.khoslaventures.com/portfolio/all-companies If people truly care about this issue, they can organize public campaigns against those companies as a message to founders to avoid his money or face consequences. H…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Christ, what an asshole!
Have you met Vinod? He's..... intense.
Why is a beach up for sale if it's not up for private gating? (Why doesn't California declare its coastline public property that is not-for-sale?) edit: Just found out the answer. Beaches themselves are never for sale, even though properties right up to the edge of the beach are. Next question: Are all river banks public property too? Can you not build a manufacturing plant at a river bank? What about lakes? Are lake…
You'd truly be pretty dense if you wanted to build a permenant structure below the high water mark.
A year after the case was filed, however, a San Mateo County Superior Court judge dealt Friends of Martin’s Beach a setback, ruling there was no right of access. He said the property was subject to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, an agreement that ended the Mexican-American War and required the United States to recognize Mexican land grants.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-martins-beach-sn...