Great news, but I wonder if it will be enough. A Malibu billionaire could easily just keep paying the fines instead of complying with the law.
That reminds me of a story about a daycare center that got tired of parents arriving late. So they levied a $5 fine on late parents. To everybodyās surprise, lateness went up - because the parents saw the fine as permission to be late, at a pretty good price.
Not like I give a damn about Malibu. Saw it once. Itās pretty.
if they had the balls to implement, āitās tiny bulldozer timeā
They need the fines to double for every instance. So if they fine once and come back in a week and the access is still impeded, double the fine. That will get expensive real quick.
There needs to be some way for citizens to verify whether no access/no parking signs are indeed legitimate.
Maybe a QR code that when scanned directs the the user to a website verifying the sign as official, along with a photo of its installation (to prevent property owners from simply copying the code from a legit sign).
Tiny Bulldozer needs a song.
Run this through a pitch-changer.
Just make these beaches the most popular spot around through social media. If rich people donāt like a few locals using ātheirā beach, maybe they will enjoy hundreds from miles around?
Bwa ha ha! Exponential fine growth! The trick would be to make sure that it happens at the optimal rate to have enough ābad at mathā rich folks fail to pay fines to ensure that the fines reach optimal pre-payment growth.
If the fine gets big enough, they can put a lien on the property, and if thatās not paid, level the place to restore public access.
Seriously though rich guys, the law exists. You do not have a private access to the ocean. You have to let the general public walk along āyourā exclusive beach. If you donāt like them apples, then buy a property on the edge of a hill or something like the other rich folks.
Many cities have graffiti abatement laws that require property owners to remove graffiti on their property within 30 days. Kind of surprised nobody has tried using those laws to cite these folks.
The original cost of the fines ranges, āfrom hundreds of dollars to around $22,000.ā If it goes unpaid, then it probably will double. Thatās true for a parking ticket here, and many other city fines. (You donāt want to know about our library fees!)
Bingo! Great idea!
Sorry about the delayed reply - I just saw this comment. Missed it when I posted earlier.
Anyhow, there are already regs in Los Angeles that require anyone who posts a āno parkingā sign post the code for the type of parking thatās being enforced and the information for who to call if your car gets towed (either 3-1-1 or a local station). City signs may say theyāre from the city and also say āimpoundedā instead of ātowedā. Grouped city signs (like you see for street sweeping) arenāt required to all bear contact info, but some must. If thereās no police contact number on a stand alone sign, itās not really a city sign.
Even a correctly placed sign for private property (like the ones in our alley to prevent people from blocking our cars in our garages) has to list the number for the private tow company that will be called if your car vanishes. If thereās no number, and no code, itās not an official, enforceable private sign. Anyone towing on a sign missing that information will be fined themselves AND have to pay for your tow.
Unless they allow it to keep doubling exponentially itās still not much of a disincentive to a Billionaire. You could pay a $22K fine every single day for 125 years before going through a billion bucks.
I agree, but there arenāt many living there (there are a total of 111 Bās in all of CA, and about 50 of them live in Silicon Valley and Frisco). Of the 21 miles of shore that make up Malibu, only one mile is the part called āBillionaireās Beachā. They all live clustered together. Even that area is public access, and court battles have already been lost over it by the very rich (David Geffin tried to block a public walkway next to his home and failed.)
Topanga, Malibu State, Paradise Cove and Zuma are all equally gorgeous if you donāt want to duke it out with people who collectively have enough cash to wash out Californiaās debt and still be flush.
The courts have been pretty clear on the issue for some time now, those guys have just been defying court orders. Some for decades.
Thatās exactly what the elitists are betting on. They donāt have the force of law behind them, but they know that they can intimidate the unwashed masses with fraudulent signs and security guard until they give up and go somewhere else.
This isnāt just happening at Bās Beach. Itās happening all over Malibu. Some of the people defying those orders will really feel the hurt if they happen to get tagged, and if that does start to happen, they may not be so kind to their own ultra-rich neighbors. (Thatās the goal here. No one believes you can fine a B into submission, but they arenāt the homeowners there.)
Putting some force all along that coast may make the other owners (whose families may have held that property since the 1920s) be a little less complacent about that type of behavior. They may turn on the ultra-rich themselves.
Yeah, itās a good startāIād just like to see some kind of penalty for bad behavior that put the hurt on ultra-rich people as much as everyone else.
So would I, but itās hard to find a way to hurt people with bank balances that match those of some countries. Hopefully their neighbors will get them to comply when everyone else is forced to do just that. No one in the Malibu Colony will be amused if Bās Beach is the only place not hosting the public.
