Monday, February 3, 2014

An Open Letter to Vinod Khosla


February 3, 2014

To: Vinod Khosla

As of writing this letter, it has been 2.5 years since we first wrote to you to ask that you engage in a dialogue about your closure of Martin’s Beach to the public.   At that time, we could only guess that you were the owner, as there was no public documentation of the name of the new owner of the property adjacent to the beach, other than “Martin’s Beach I, LLC” and Martin’s Beach II, LLC”.  You opted to hide your name from the public for reasons we can only assume, like avoiding public scrutiny and outreach efforts in response to closure of the only road leading to this well-loved beach.

Now that you have been “outed,” your name and face have been associated with this issue, yet you still hide behind proxies who act and speak on your behalf.  This runs contrary to your very public persona that is constantly in the limelight, advocating for cleantech solutions or advising others on achieving success in the tech sector. 

Such behavior also runs contrary to statements made on your behalf, such as “the property owner strives to be a constructive member of the community”, despite being “very aware of the community concern about the situation.” [i]  Certainly it does not reflect that you “feel badly about the controversy surrounding Martin’s Beach.”[ii]  Shirking attempts to engage you in a dialogue reveals you to be rather disinterested in a “community conversation” or an outcome that would be “constructive.”

It almost seems like you think by ignoring the community we will go away.  Like we will forget about this beach that families have enjoyed and built lives around, or forget about the bigger picture of public access to beaches in California. 

We won’t.

Surfrider Foundation continues to hope for a constructive conversation that will result in both public access to Martin’s Beach and respect for the local private property.

We call upon you, Mr. Khosla, to step into the light and demonstrate that you are a constructive member of the community by engaging in a conversation with the community.  Dialogue could eliminate the need for litigation and lead to an amicable solution to give the public access to the beach they cherish.

Citizens wishing to join this call to action to Mr. Khosla may do so here: http://tinyurl.com/write-2-khosla