Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla has a brand new critic in his years-long effort to restrict public get admission to to a seashore alongside the San Mateo County coast: the sector’s richest guy.
On Saturday, Elon Musk slammed Khosla, the co-founder of Solar Microsystems, over Khosla’s movements on Martins Seaside, a scenic stretch of sand seven miles south of Part Moon Bay.
“Wow, so loopy that @vkhosla put this signal on a public seashore,” Musk posted on “X,” the social media website online previously referred to as Twitter that he bought in 2022 and renamed.
Musk’s publish depicted a picture of what looked to be an AI-generated signal on a seashore that mentioned “No plebs allowed. Assets of Vinod Khosla.”
In two separate posts mins later, Musk added: “Vinod says we must ship tens of hundreds of unvetted migrants to small cities during The usa, however he didn’t even need to let the general public stroll on his seashore… I’m throwing a birthday party on Vinod’s seashore! For delicacies, I’m considering BBQ.”
Wow, so loopy that @vkhosla put this signal on a public seashore %.twitter.com/ln46n07kvw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2024
The Bay House Information Team reported on Friday {that a} San Mateo County Court docket pass judgement on had passed Khosla the most important felony loss Thursday, turning down his motions to throw out a lawsuit from the California Coastal Fee and the State Lands Fee, which sued him in 2020 to power extra public get admission to to the seashore. Awesome Court docket Pass judgement on Raymond Swope dominated Thursday that the case will transfer ahead, and is scheduled for a tribulation in April.
According to Musk’s social media assault Saturday, Khosla slammed him for his fresh toughen of Donald Trump for president. Khosla hosted a fundraiser at his Portola Valley area previous this yr for President Joe Biden prior to Biden determined to not run for re-election.
“Maintaining along with your new mentor @realDonaldTrump in tweeting fictional pictures or a minimum of no longer one I’ve ever observed,” Khosla wrote. “There has NEVER been a dispute on get admission to to the seashore (which is public ), simply getting access to it through non-public assets.”
He referred to the group of workers on the Coastal Fee as “commies” and informed Musk: “Get main points prior to you tweet nonsense.”
Maintaining along with your new mentor @realDonaldTrump in tweeting fictional pictures or atleast no longer one I’ve ever observed. There has NEVER been a dispute on get admission to to the seashore (which is public ), simply getting access to it through non-public assets. Each and every court docket ruling and attraction of the Pals…
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) September 21, 2024
Their standoff veered towards a back-and-forth argument about immigration, and after Khosla requested whether or not Musk believes the 2020 election used to be stolen, as Trump falsely claims, Musk spoke back:
“You received’t even let other folks use your f***ng seashore, you a**hollow!”
To which Khosla retorted: “Identify calling and beside the point fictional pics is the most productive you’ll be able to do as an alternative of solution the query: Did Trump prevent through his lobbying a robust unlawful immigration invoice that had robust bipartisan toughen?”
Khosla has made few public statements in regards to the Martins Seaside case. However the problem has drawn nationwide consideration for greater than a decade. Khosla has described it as a case of personal assets rights, whilst political leaders, surfers and environmentalists have mentioned the problem may set a precedent about whether or not California’s seashores can also be closed off through rich landowners.
Khosla, 69, is value $7.3 billion consistent with Forbes. Musk, 53, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is value $257 billion, consistent with Forbes.
The seashore fight started greater than 15 years in the past. In 2008, Khosla spent $32.5 million to buy 88 acres of coastal land alongside Freeway 1 that surrounds Martins Seaside, a assets that were utilized by households for generations. Two years later, he locked the gates, employed guards and posted no trespassing indicators.
Surfers and environmental teams protested. They famous that since the seashore, which is public alongside the water line below the Coastal Act, is flanked on all sides through steep cliffs, the street is the one solution to get admission to it.
The Coastal Fee informed Khosla that he should practice for a allow to fasten the gate. The Surfrider Basis, a non-profit workforce, sued him over the problem. After he misplaced that case within the decrease courts, he appealed to the U.S. Splendid Court docket, arguing that the state’s landmark Coastal Act, authorized through citizens in 1972, used to be “Orwellian” and unconstitutional.
In 2018, the Splendid Court docket refused to take the case. The justices left in position decrease court docket rulings that discovered Khosla may no longer lock the gate around the half-mile-long highway with no allow from the Coastal Fee since the Coastal Act calls for lets in if landowners trade public get admission to to seashores.
As of late, Khosla leaves the gate open at various instances, permitting other folks to power half of 1 mile all the way down to a car park close to the seashore and pay $10 to park. 5 years in the past, he received a special lawsuit when a small nonprofit workforce, Pals of Martins Seaside, sued him, claiming the general public had a historical proper over the street as it were utilized by generations of households.
However then the Coastal Fee and State Lands Fee sued him in 2020 over the similar factor, this time presenting letters, pictures and different proof from greater than 200 households relationship again to the Twenties organising that they used the street and the seashore, incessantly with out paying.
If Khosla loses the most recent case, it’ll be nearly not possible for him to procure a allow from the Coastal Fee to near the gate. The fee would most certainly rule the parking price is unlawful, and the state may hit him with fines totaling tens of tens of millions of bucks. If Khosla wins, he will have a more potent argument to near the gate — specifically that there used to be by no means any felony public get admission to to the seashore.
Identify calling and beside the point fictional pics is the most productive you’ll be able to do as an alternative of solution the query: Did Trump prevent through his lobbying a robust unlawful immigration invoice that had robust bipartisan toughen?
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) September 21, 2024
In the beginning Printed: September 22, 2024 at 12:20 p.m.
