Wow, so crazy that @vkhosla put this sign on a public beach pic.twitter.com/ln46n07kvw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2024
The ongoing legal drama regarding access to Martins Beach has led to an internet scuffle between tech billionaires. On Saturday, Elon Musk sent a tweet goading Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla into commenting on his ongoing legal disputes regarding public access to the Bay Area beach.
The debate over who has access to Martins Beach all started in 2008, when Khosla spent $32.5 million to buy 88 acres of coastal land surrounding the stretch of sand. Two years later, he locked the gates to the lone road providing beach access, posted “no trespassing” signs and hired guards to prevent entry. In response, Surfrider filed a lawsuit in 2013, which eventually resulted in Khosla being required to open the gate.
In response, Khosla’s legal team appealed that decision up to the Supreme Court, who refused to take the case. Though it initially seemed like a clear loss for the billionaire, a San Francisco district appeals court then ruled in favor of Khosla in a separate lawsuit, which muddied the waters. Most recently, the Coastal Commission and State Lands Commission sued Khosla again in 2020. Khosla’s legal team made motions to have the suit thrown out, but on Thursday Superior Court Judge Raymond Swope ruled that the case would move forward and set a trial date for April, as the Mercury News reported.
On Saturday, X (Formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk decided to take to the platform to taunt Khosla regarding the ongoing dispute. “Wow, so crazy that @vkhosla put this sign on a public beach,” he wrote, accompanied by an image of a sign reading “No Plebs Allowed, Property of Vinod Khosla.” Minutes later, he followed up with a tweet that read “Vinod says we should send tens of thousands of unvetted migrants to small towns throughout America, but he didn’t even want to let the public walk on his beach.” He then concluded with another tweet reading “I’m throwing a party on Vinod’s beach! For cuisine, I’m thinking BBQ.” The rant came shortly after the men had an unrelated back and forth regarding their differing political views.
Khosla was quick to reply, writing, “Keeping up with your new mentor @realDonaldTrump in tweeting fictional photographs or at least not one I have ever seen. There has NEVER been a dispute on access to the beach (which is public), just accessing it thru [sic] private property. Every court ruling and appeal of the Friends of Martin’s Beach lawsuit we have won that reasserted acess [sic] thru [sic] private property is not legal. Separately the commies at California Coastal Commission want us to apply for a permit to close an old paid parking business and yet they have not permitted us to apply for this closure. Get details before you tweet nonsense.”
The interaction then devolved once again into a protracted back and forth regarding politics. However, the conversation circled back to Martins beach when Khosla demanded an apology from Musk, then wrote “By the way EVERY court ruling on ‘is there right of public access’ thru [sic] the property has supported my claim this is private property with no right of public access thru [sic] the property to the public beach. Only court case I have lost is the right to shut the gate for the prior paid parking business that was run by the previous owner with teh [sic] state using bureaucracy to not let me apply for a permit to shut it down but requiring a permit. Very California coastal commission.”
