A tech billionaire blocked public beach access | Hacker News Reader

A tech billionaire blocked public beach access

washingtonpost.com

While the guy is probably a jerk, it doesn't appear as cut and dry from reading the article. Unless I'm mistaken in my reading it was a private beach that had been previously open to the public versus a public beach that went private. Not veering into my opinion of private coastlines, it appears that he did violate a law by changing the public access, though he will probably just price it out of reach for most people out of spite since the law doesn't say anything about how much he can charge for parking. Which was what was monetized by the previous owners.

You are mistaken. All beaches in California are public, up to the "mean high-tide line". The previous owner of the private land adjacent to the beach welcomed public access and allowed public use of his land. But the beach itself, along with the right of way providing access to it, have always been public.

In a town near where I used to live there is a country house set in a beautiful deer park. While owned by the lord of the manor, the park had traditionally been open to the locals to use. Until one day the lord at the time decided he'd had enough of the riff raff tramping through his grounds and put big iron gates over the entrance. This was so unpopular that the locals ganged up one night and threw the gates from their hinges. Wisely, the lord took the hint and the gates have remained open ever since.

Rich people limiting access to previously public spaces has rarely gone down well.

But it wasn't a public space in your story. It was private land he graciously allowed the public to use until they damaged his property to the point that he felt he had to restrict access to the property to protect it for future generations.

HN has rich chronicle of Vinod Khosla's long-running war on the people of California:

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Vinod%20Khosla%20beach&sort=by...

Ah! Billionaries.

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