Opinion: $11,000 per day isn’t enough to stop billionaires from blocking the public’s beaches

To the editor: While The Times Editorial Board rightfully stated that public access to the coast is guaranteed by the state Constitution, and property owners should “accept it or live further inland,” it failed to point out the most disturbing fact in this struggle. (“Billionaires don’t get to decide when and how Californians reach the beach,” editorial, Oct. 7)

Billionaire property owners can afford the $11,000-per-day penalties indefinitely and treat them as a cost of ownership, thereby thwarting the law, the Coastal Commission and the public’s right to access.

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla’s refusal to accept the Coastal Commission’s and the court’s orders to keep open an access road to Martins Beach south of San Francisco also means taxpayers must continue to bear the legal costs of continuing the fight. There should be a limit to the ability to appeal a legal decision, and courts should be able to force Khosla to comply or forfeit his property.

Otherwise, we are allowing rich, entitled individuals to circumvent the law indefinitely at the public’s expense.

Nora Hazi, Pacific Palisades

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