Free the Beach! Public Access, Equal Justice, and the California Coast

The struggle to preserve public access to the beach is spreading across the nation from California to Connecticut and from Florida to the Great Lakes. California’s beaches belong to all the people. The wealthy beachfront enclave of Malibu and media mogul David Geffen nevertheless filed suit to cut off the people’s right to reach the beach. A Newport Beach city councilmember opposes improvements to a public beach because “with grass we usually get Mexicans coming in there early in the morning and they claim it as theirs and it becomes their personal, private grounds all day.” People of color and low-income people suffer first and worst from the efforts to privatize public beaches, and have less political clout to protect their rights. While eighty percent of the 34 million people of California live within an hour of the coast, disproportionately White and wealthy homeowners stand to benefit from the privatization of this public good, while communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately denied the benefit of coastal access.

The struggle to maximize public access to the beach while ensuring the fair treatment of people of all colors, cultures, and incomes is part of the growing urban park movement that is transforming the Los Angeles region into a more livable, democratic, and just community.

The Center for Law in the Public Interest and Surfrider Foundation have released the Policy Report Free the Beach! Public Access, Equal Justice, and the California Coast.

We provide the following recommendations for maximizing access to the beach while ensuring the fair treatment of people of all colors, cultures, and incomes.

1. People should go to the beach and have fun. Every beach outing is a victory for public access. Paths to and along the beach should be clear and well marked with user-friendly signs. Beach signs should explain that the California coast belongs to all the people, with maps showing public access. Beaches should have well-maintained toilets and trash cans. There should be affordable buses or shuttles to the beach, with bus stops within a short walking distance of each access path. There should be pedestrian cross walks to and from beach access paths to get across traffic safely. There should be ample parking near the beach access paths.

2. Appropriate signs and law enforcement must protect the right to reach the beach. Phony and misleading “no trespassing” and “private beach” signs should be banned and removed from public beaches. Private security guards should be prohibited from harassing the public on public beaches. All-terrain vehicles should be prohibited on public beaches. Local law enforcement agencies should zealously enforce the public’s right to use the beach, rather than harass people. Law enforcement officials including sheriff’s deputies should be educated about the public’s right of access to the beach.

3. Public education campaigns must inform the public that the beach belongs to all the people. Public education campaigns should inform the public that the beach belongs to all the people. Regional access guides and maps, including public transportation routes, should be published and distributed to educate the public about how to reach the beach and about their right of access. Public education campaigns should include “Your Rights at the Beach” pamphlets, public displays, signs, artwork, a photographic and artistic history of public beaches, mass e-mailings, and websites. Campaigns in schools should educate young people about their rights, about stewardship of the beach, and about the history of discriminatory access to the beach. Children’s books can provide valuable, fun education opportunities about the beach.

4. Strategic media campaigns will help inform the public about beach access and focus public dialogue. Radio and television shows, newspaper articles and editorials, and even comic strips like Doonesbury should address beach access, disparities in beach access, and the legal, policy, and historical justifications for beach access.

5. Diverse coalitions must work together to support equal access to the beach. Activists should organize diverse coalitions by focusing on the different values at stake, to bring people together to support broader access to the beach. Social justice and environmental organizations should collaborate substantively and for purposes of seeking funding in order to advocate for equal access to the beach. This Policy Report is the result of a collaborative effort between the Center for Law in the Public Interest and Surfrider Foundation with funding from the Ford Foundation.

6. Local Coastal Plans must support public access to the beach. The California Coastal Commission has adopted a local coastal plan requiring Malibu to maximize public access to the beach while ensuring the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes. Malibu must implement this mandate. Other coastal communities such as Newport Beach, Santa Barbara, Hollister Ranch, and Trinidad should take action to maximize public access while ensuring fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes.

7. Legislation must support public access to the beach. The California legislature and Governor Davis reaffirmed principles of coastal access through Senate Bill 1962, which provides a safety net for beach access. SB 1962 requires the Coastal Conservancy to accept easements for access to the beach that are within three months of their expiration date. Reports to the Legislature on the progress of SB 1962 should explicitly address how the Conservancy is maximizing public access while ensuring the fair treatment of people of all colors, cultures, and incomes. Coastal advocates, legislators, and the Coastal Commission should support key recommendations by the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) for improving the Coastal Commission’s model of mitigation for coastal permits.

–Support legislation requiring the State Coastal Conservancy to accept responsibility for maintenance of and liability for public access ways until a long-term third-party is identified so that the Coastal Commission can require the permitee to develop the access way upon completion of the permitted development.
–Require the permittee to fund future mitigation development when an offer to dedicate is a permit condition (this shifts the costs of opening and maintaining an offer to dedicate).
–Increase existing development permit fees to fund ongoing operation costs associated with easements.
–Support legislation requiring that construction of access ways be started within one year of acceptance of an offer to dedicate, and completed within three years.

8. Resource bonds must support public access to the beach. Any resource bonds to benefit or protect the coast should require maximizing public access to the beach while ensuring fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes as a condition of any expenditures or grants.

9. The Coastal Commission must provide the information necessary to support informed decision making. The California Coastal Commission must gather, analyze and publish information about beach access throughout the coast of California. Mapping of the entire coastline with existing access ways and Census 2000 demographic data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will help agencies, the Legislature, and the public identify beach access hotspots and the interplay between coastal access and coastal demographics. Using the Broad Beach access guide as a model, the Coastal Commission should make current access guides for all coastal communities available on its website and accessible to the public.

10. Litigation is always an option. Activists should file affirmative lawsuits to enforce public access when necessary and combat litigation by wealthy enclaves and homeowners who seek to cut off public access to the beach. Foundations should fund litigation as well as non-litigation forms of advocacy to support public access to the beach.