back to article Beach, please... Billionaire VC finally opens way to waves

Billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has finally backed down in his efforts to stop Californians from accessing a beach via a road on lands he owns. The Sun cofounder has been in a protracted legal battle over the beach since 2009, and despite losing time and time again, he has stubbornly refused to open a gate blocking …

  1. Blake St. Claire
    Holmes

    Obvious man is obvious

    > based on usage charts that his team compiled – which conveniently showed the beach is

    > not visited very often.

    Bleeding obvious, isn't it? It's hard to visit when the gate is locked closed. I'm sure that fact wasn't lost on the judge either. Sherlock icon, as in "no shit Sherlock."

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: Obvious man is obvious

      I wasn't a local, but I learned to surf at Martin's (and other places north and south). I was probably there 3 or 6 times per month for thirty years, sometimes more.

      The beach was visited morning noon and night by dog walkers, and by surfers whenever the break was good (small community, word spread fast). There were often shore fishermen angling for rockfish, and occasionally folks wading in with nets for surf-fish (our name for a local sardine variation). A few of the local girls used to ride their horses on the beach, and very rarely someone would trailer in some horses from elsewhere, usually Woodside. It was also a quite popular picnic spot on weekends, especially with folks from the other side of the hill (Silly Con Valley). It was quite rare that I had the actual beach to myself ... maybe half a dozen times total.

      All in all, it was a well loved place to be, and used by many.

      I have as funny feeling Khosla is now, and always will be, friendless. The dude clearly has no soul. Hopefully he'll give up on the property, and take his misery elsewhere. He obviously has zero understanding of what makes Northern California's coast truly one of the most beautiful places in the world.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Obvious man is obvious

        "I have as funny feeling Khosla is now, and always will be, friendless. "

        You'll be surprised what a billion in the bank can buy.

        1. jake Silver badge

          Re: Obvious man is obvious

          Purchased friends are to friendship as purchased sex is to love.

          1. Trigonoceps occipitalis

            Re: Obvious man is obvious

            What, Pretty Woman wasn't a biography?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Even at $20m per year......

    He won't give a toss.

    His income on his shares is worth about $150m per year.....$20m per year won't impact his quality of life in the slightest.

    You need to arrest the fu**er and let him spend a couple of weeks in the holey....that'll get his attention.

    1. John Gamble

      Re: Even at $20m per year......

      "His income on his shares is worth about $150m per year.....$20m per year won't impact his quality of life in the slightest."

      That's over 13% of that income. Sure, I could get by on a mere $130 million, but someone who's whining about beach access for hoi polloi is going to notice that.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: He won't give a toss.

      Bollocks! The rich are often the tightest bastards around. How do you think he got so rich? It wasn't by spunking $30 million on a lost cause.

  3. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Good

    I hope he continues to fight and is ultimately fined tens of millions of dollars. The state could use the money, and >$40M into public coffers is worth more than a few people being denied beach access.

  4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Just impose the fines and back-date them to the moment the legislation was passed. With interest, of course.

    1. usbac Silver badge

      Have an upvote.

      I think that's where the "up to $20 million" part of the article comes from. It mentions that the fine would be $4.1M per year.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. phuzz Silver badge

        Bulldozing the gate would probably drop you in some sticky legal waters (this guy has lawyers, cash, and is clearly an arsehole, so even if you were in the right, you'd be in court for years).

        Instead, rent a boat, sail down, and go sit on the beach right outside his house, as often as you can. Take friends! Take screaming children! Take barking dogs! :)

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. jake Silver badge

        One guy ...

        ... hauled his welding tanks over & tried to burn the gate down. The folks in the court room tried to convince the judge that what he was arrested for WAS community service, and I suspect the judge was on their side ... He got 1 hour of community service. He voluntarily served 100.

      3. JJKing
        Angel

        Do we have a celebrity on this forum?

        If I lived locally, I might be tempted to drive down there in a bulldozer one night and open the gate permanently too.

        @Def, is your real name actually Darryl Kerrigan?

  5. oiseau
    WTF?

    How come?

    Damn ...

    How come that every time you come across such a huge asshole it turns out that he is filthy rich?

    Makes you wonder ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How come?

      money is a prerequisite for being an a**h***. That's the only way they get people to do their bidding.

      1. Captain DaFt

        Re: How come?

        money is a prerequisite for being an a**h***. That's the only way they get people to do their bidding.

        Nah, you can be broke and still be an arsehole.

        The broke arsehole just irritates family, neighbors, and the gang at the pub he frequents, plus the occasional stranger.

        Money just enables an arseshole to broadcast his arseholery to a wider audience.

      2. scarletherring

        Re: How come?

        No, I rather think it's the other way around -- being an arsehole (sociopath) makes it a lot easier to become filthy rich.

    2. Natalie Gritpants

      Re: How come?

      Assholes that are not filthy rich can't afford to become huge assholes.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How come?

      Because many of the nice rich people just get on with their lives and often do a lot behind the scenes to help all sorts of causes.

      Attention seeking Philanthropists like a certain W. Gates give many others a bad name.

    4. Stratman

      Re: How come?

      .............................

      "How come that every time you come across such a huge asshole it turns out that he is filthy rich?"

      ..............................

      As my dear old mum used to say in her broad Irish accent; "You can tell what God thinks of money, look at the people he gives it to".

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

    Who's got an amp that goes up to 11?

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

      No. That beach was never about noise for noise's sake. Try Santa Cruz, just down the coast, if that's what floats your boat.

      Try to remember, this Khosla dude will be just as upset at a lone jogger on "his" beach at sunset as he would a major twelve-dozen keg barn burner with The Who's sound system cranking multi-genre, multi-decade rock&roll for three days ...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

        "a major twelve-dozen keg barn burner with The Who's sound system cranking multi-genre, multi-decade rock&roll for three days"

        Time and date please!

      2. qwertyuiop
        Megaphone

        Re: B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

        @jake - The Who's sound system?

        Stuff that, THIS is a sound system: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wnnayb/the-wall-of-sound

        To quote from the article "This singular work of engineering would come to weigh over 70 tons, comprise dozens and then hundreds of amps, speakers, subwoofers, and tweeters, stand over three-stories tall and stretch nearly 100 feet wide.

        1. jake Silver badge

          Re: B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

          And strangely enough, all of the Dead's songs STILL sounded exactly the same.

          1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

            Re: B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

            Well - there's some of the avant-garde RIO-prog that even I can't listen to that might fit the playlist bill..

        2. lowwall

          Re: B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

          Did regular concert goers judge that the best sound balance was usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles away from the stage?

        3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

          "To quote from the article "This singular work of engineering would come to weigh over 70 tons, comprise dozens and then hundreds of amps, speakers, subwoofers, and tweeters, stand over three-stories tall and stretch nearly 100 feet wide."

          Pah! That sounds about as powerful as Disaster Areas small practice amp!

      3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: B E A C H P A R T Y ! ! ! !

        Try to remember, this Khosla dude will be just as upset at a lone jogger on "his" beach at sunset as he would a major twelve-dozen keg barn burner with The Who's sound system cranking multi-genre, multi-decade rock&roll for three days

        Not saying you're wrong but it sounds like a statement that could be tested.

    2. Stratman

      Re: Who's got an amp that goes up to 11?

      11? Pfft. My Peavey goes to 12 on every knob. It's even got two volume controls, for when one just isn't enough.

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: Who's got an amp that goes up to 11?

        That's odd, my peavey doesn't have any knobs on it. Neither does my cant hook.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is what guillotines were made for

    'nuff said.

  8. JJKing
    Megaphone

    What pedantically obnoxious prick.

    Have a friend in Tenerife who had a hotel corporation try to steal his beach. Took them to court and won but he ended up putting solar powered lights (batteries for night time of course), built some shaded areas and made an area where a small band could play for beach parties. Cost him stuff all but got no end of good will from the locals.

    No idea why Mr Entitled Prick carries on like he does. Hope the fines rain down on him in vast quantities. At least death is a good cure for arsehole (assholes for non English speakers) like these.

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