Posted on 09/14/2015 9:49:02 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
“Just because you buy the front house, doesn’t mean you own the beach,” says Tony Salaza. “The beach is for everybody.”
He gestures towards a sweep of architect-designed houses to his left.
Over the past few years, many of Malibu’s 13,000 residents have been watching with alarm as public access rights to the 27-mile coastline have come under threat.
Many celebrities and multimillionaires own sprawling Malibu homes overlooking the Pacific, including actors Robert Redford and Angelina Jolie, the rapper Dr Dre, the director Rob Reiner and media mogul David Geffen. In an effort to protect their privacy, some homeowners have now taken matters into their own hands by employing security guards to patrol the sands in front of their houses.
Twice in the past few weeks, members of the public have been asked to leave Malibu’s Escondido Beach by a uniformed security guard who wrongly claimed they were on private property and threatened them with a fine for trespassing.
That area is treated as a private riviera … the most egregious example of privatisation of public land in Los Angeles.
Of late wealthy homeowners have taken to erecting their own “No trespassing” signs and putting out traffic cones to discourage people from parking their cars. The hiring of private security guards is the newest skirmish in a long-running battle.
Noaki Schwartz of the California Coastal Commission, tested the waters herself with her six-year-old daughter and a friend. Within minutes of sitting on the sand, says Schwartz, a uniformed guard with a clipboard walked over.
“He was polite but pretty firm and said I was trespassing and needed to leave and if I didn’t leave, I would be fined $1,500 and probably get a citation for trespassing.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
When Schwartz refused, the guard called two police officers from the local sheriff’s department. Despite handing over her business card and a map which highlighted the relevant access areas, the three of them were forced to leave.
“I found it a bit unnerving,” Schwartz says. “I was just a mom with a six-year-old on the beach. I didn’t even have a towel. I was sitting there with my purse. We should have been fine. Honestly, I don’t think people should have to walk around with legal documents to show they can be on a public beach.”
According to Price, the problem stems from the City of Malibu’s disinclination to stand up to homeowners.
Geffen’s mansion is notorious locally for having a set of fake garage doors painted on to a patch of wall adjoining the road. When Aaron Crow, a 42-year-old software engineer, parked his car in this spot last month, he was given a $53 ticket for obstructing access – despite there being no official parking restrictions in place and, ultimately, no garage in place for which access was required. He is now contesting the ticket.
It would be annoying to have all those people walking along your back yard and who knows if some mad person would kill them by using the back door into your home easily. That is what happened to that one girl “some sam show or something”. Killed on the spot. I think there should be some sort of negotiation like they can go to the beach during day light hours only.
Yep, the elite own everything.
It’s the been tried with home along Lake Michigan..NO DICE for home owners.
Not to worry — according to these same brilliant, intellectual celebrities, sea level rise caused by global warming will soon wipe out their houses anyway.
In this case, i don’t care. Their safety should trump a beach. Sorry too dangerous today.
Yep. The non-elites must learn their place.
Not that great a beach. Think I’ll take boogie boarding at Manhattan Beach over this place any day.
A core belief of liberals: Freedom for me, but not for thee.
As a side note, I once read an article in an outdoors magazine written by a British fisherman. One thing he said that we Yanks did right was reserve so many rivers, streams, beaches, etc. for the public use.
So you can’t buy those beaches. They are not for sale. But I guess you can get the same results by pretending to own them.
Where is the “social justice” here?
They are all hypocrites, but Redford is particularly loathsome. His entire environmental activism can be summed up as “let me build a mansion in the middle of a beautiful area and then keep everyone else from building there or being there so I can enjoy myself.” And espouse it in the most arrogant, self-righteous way possible.
ROTFL......seriously funny. I don’t know what you have against rich people. You sound like you would do fabulous over at DU......are you turning liberal. I bet you want income distribution now too.......I have seen rich people getting bashed lately......just a short few years ago that would never have happened. It is sad that jealousy has been taken over by hard work. These rich people worked hard to get where thy are.
That's a fair point. Beaches should be treated like most parks. Close them at a particular time, maybe at 9 PM.
And as for the homeowners, if they don't like to see folks walking along the beach, the homeowners should build a nice high fence right at the edge of their property.
Sorry safety does not trump freedom. If you must decide then pick freedom. If it is that unsafe then don’t build there. It is really simple. Your desire for safety does not superceede my common law right to use the beach.
I really think they all should put up a fence. I think that this would be a good negotiation but have the city pay the fencing since they are causing the problem.
The homeowners were there first. They just nilly willy decided to open it up to the public. Homeowners should sue to city over this travesty. If the rule was in place BEFORE building then I would not be sympathetic.
that is a good place to send the refugee muzzies:-)
It is not a fair point because the beach is not THEIR backyard. As much as they wish it was it ain’t so. Their backyard abuts the beach. The solution is if you don’t like the openness and free flow beach traffic don’t build next to a beach.
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