Tech billionaire Vinod Khosla bought a house by a public beach, then cut off access to it. A court has ordered him to unlock the gates.
Khosla did so despite being told by county planning officials, the Coastal Commission and a different San Mateo County Superior Court in 2009 that he needed to seek a coastal development permit if any of his actions were to change the “intensity of use” of the water or access to it. Mallach ruled that by padlocking the gate, hiring security guards and altering signs without state permission, Khosla had wrongly denied public access to the beach, violating the California Coastal Act.
The fuck-you quality of Khosla’s whole effort–security guards!–is galling. But what did he have to lose?
Photo: GeeJo (cc)