The Sean Parker Wedding Is the Perfect Parable for Silicon Valley Excess

You should see Larry Ellison's compound on the peninsula.

It seems Mr. and Mrs. Parker should have purchased their own coastal land for their fanciful wedding. Surely they could afford to do so. They could have probably avoided public scrutiny. However, I think the author's indignation and clear bias are a little over-the-top -- I think he even came close to using the all-powerful "middle class" hammer we've been beaten over the head with so much in the last year or two: "Basically, what was supposed to be a facility that people of all incomes -- including the general public -- could visit had become a high-end resort...". Sigh. It's worth noting also the CCC is notorious for their zeal in enforcement. Ask anybody who owns property along the California coast, and you will hear story after story of severe enforcement. Most any project is deemed to have significant impact; consequently, only those with deep pockets can afford to obtain the costly permits. To Mr. Madrigal, though, this is "...also part of the new Silicon Valley parable".

Yes. I miss hearing his private jets and helicopters scream over Redwood Shores in the 90s...

It's one thing if you own the land and do everything right, including following regulations and correctly managing the land... another if you're dicing and slicing haphazardly and especially modifying waterways, which are a very complicated ecological and ownership maze, especially in California.

Thanks to one environmental science class I took, I know for example that erosion upstream, even slightly as they've done here can modify the downstream water quality significantly, and have an impact on whole populations of fish and wildlife. They had no right to do what they did, even if they thought the regulations were pointless or dumb. They are not.

There's the not so minor point that this is a freaking fake castle being built in a redwood grove in Big Sur.

I wonder how often the people pooh-poohing this as a bunch of overzealous government regulators interrupting Sean Parker's God-given right to do whatever the fuck he wants have ever even been to Big Sur.

The fine should be closer to 25 million than 2.5.