We couldn’t agree more, and the Parkway is in some danger of becoming Malibuized without a way to purchase private property along the river to add to the public owned Parkway. Our plan is to have a nonprofit organization manage the Parkway, and also create a financial endowment to purchase land as it becomes available.
Editorial: It's everyone's beach
Fake 'private' signs deserve prosecution
Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, June 8, 2007
There is no such thing as a private beach in California. Beaches are public, but some owners of coastal property apparently aren't above lying to try to keep away the huddled masses.
"Private beach and residences," reads one sign at Escondido Beach in Malibu. The sign is only half accurate (assuming that the residence, indeed, is private). It symbolizes the ongoing threat to public access along the coast, and how some new and creative measures are necessary to combat the coastal landowners who want the public to go elsewhere.
The California Coastal Commission's enforcement staff is charged with enforcing various sections of the California Coastal Act of 1976. The enforcement staff is too small for the task at hand. A recent story by the Associated Press' Noaki Schwartz detailed how the commission has only 11 enforcement officers to investigate problems along 1,100 miles of coast.
"We haven't had an officer north of San Francisco since 2001," said the commission's enforcement chief. That's pretty lame enforcement.
