By: Philip | 02-25-2018 | News
Photo credit: Credit: Bloomberg.com

Silicon Valley Billionaire Appeals To Supreme Court To Bogart Beach

A Sillicon Valley billionaire is still fighting in the courts to limit public access to a stretch of beach near his property that is popular among surfers. At this point, Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems is seeking to escalate his case to the US supreme court. The importance of the case rests on the possible legal precedent it could set as California has 1,000 miles of shoreline and millions of millionaires and billionaires who would be more than happy to restrict public access to public areas that border their own private property.

The case centers around Martin's Beach which can currently only be reached by accessing a private road that runs across Khosla's property. Due to a California state law prioritizing public access to beaches and regulating coastline access, Khosla, till now has been fighting an uphill battle. Khosla's attorneys' petitions to the supreme court refer to the California coastline regulation as "Orwellian" and argue that it "crosses a constitutional line."

Mark Massara is an attorney who has represented the Surfrider Foundation in their attempt to keep Martin's Beach open to the public, according to him, "The only way they can find for Vinod is to throw out the entire California coastal program. It’s hard to fathom what would happen to California’s beaches and all beach access in the United States.”

I guess sometimes art really imitates life. With <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2016/05/09/nestle-fights-feds-water-rights/84163260/">Nestle wanting to own the rights to water</a> and Khosla trying to bogart the beaches, is blocking out the sun too far off?

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IyjJbhuwGkU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Source:

https://www.wired.com/story/beach-versus-tech/

Twitter: #SiliconValley #WaterRights #surfing #beaches

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