Faine Greenwood: It’s June and I’m pissed off again about how just getting to the ocean in New England requires intensive tactical planning and at LEAST $25-40 in parking fees (This is because rich assholes named Jessup Blimey the 3rd have been allowed to privatize almost all the beaches).

It’s June and I’m pissed off again about how just getting to the ocean in New England requires intensive tactical planning and at LEAST $25-40 in parking fees (This is because rich assholes named Jessup Blimey the 3rd have been allowed to privatize almost all the beaches).

This is awful and ridiculous to me. ... and one of the big things Canada did against their colonial predecessor: nobody can own shoreline or water bodies here (unless they're man-made and tiny). I wish you all a very rise up and free the beaches.

I had a project once where I wanted to sample invasive algae from public Lake Ontario beaches and needed a permit for it. @kirkwoodlab.bsky.social was aghast, lol.

I mean... that IS weird, but also I can see someone wanting some kind of official paperwork... ... to prove that you aren't stealing water samples for fun or profit (???) 🤷‍♀️

1. Take algae from rocks 2. ??????? 3. Profit!!!

Here at White Sands at Buffalo Lake, there's at least a 30m easement and beach access about every 500m for the entire beach facing part of the village. It's good for people but also wildlife as it prevents the most egregious beach modifications that people might do.

Yeah, that was our cabin, too... Though everyone let the public "beach" access grow over so nobody knew about it. ... there wasn't actually any beach, and our lake prohibited inboard motors (like jet skis etc) so the most you could do was a little putt putt on it. It's no Jackfish Lake.

The village has done a really good job here. Signs, parking areas, mowed wide paths. Even an outhouse at some points. The worst thing is all the private boat docks which are allowed on the beach. Although there have been far fewer in the last couple of years. Gas prices I expect.

Filling up my car yesterday and two guys with big trucks hauling boats were chatting with each other. Very matter-of-factly talking about how their vehicles (not sure if it was the trucks or the boats) were really bad for fuel. No one like that gets to bitch about carbon taxes, IMO.

Know someone that has a big inboard boat and he can spend $2-300 for gas in a -day-.

I'm sure it was both. And these are the exact people the ctax is meant for. Unfortunately, it is unlikely this will change their behavior but they will certainly bitch constantly about it.

Really makes you wonder when the U.S. will find it's spine again and it's people will just start claw this stuff back out of private hands that it never should have gone into to begin with. All of this private shit feels deeply un-american to me. You want a beach, you can afford 1m/year in taxes

We won’t, but the good news is that all of those beaches are going to be underwater by the end of the century, and with some advance planning it’s possible that our great grandkids might end up with a lot more public beaches.

California’s public beach rights is one of the most amazing things in America

Even Florida does this better!

Oregon, however, is the ultimate winner. Oswald West declared the beaches to be a public highway in 1913(!) and then the legislature, with strong backing from Tom McCall, passed the Beach Bill in 1967. www.opb.org/news/article...

How Oregonians came to own the state’s beacheswww.opb.org The state's publicly owned beaches are a point of pride for many Oregonians. And we have one person to thank for that: Gov. Tom McCall.

Hawaii as well.

If Pacific Grove existed in Connecticut there would be armed guards at every beach entrance.

If you're interested, this sums it up. "In 1974, plaintiffs[2] sought declaratory and injunctive relief against defendants, contending that application of the California Coastal Zone Conservation Act of 1972[3] was unconstitutional as applied to them." law.justia.com/cases/federa...

Sea Ranch Ass'n v. California Coastal Com'n, 552 F. Supp. 241 (N.D. Cal. 1982)law.justia.com Sea Ranch Ass'n v. California Coastal Com'n, 552 F. Supp. 241 (N.D. Cal. 1982) case opinion from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

I’m familiar!

Notwithstanding Vinod Khosla. https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/13/billionaire-khosla-loses-bid-to-end-california-beach-access-suit/amp/

the idea of a few ppl simply owning the stuff we all need to live our lives has been souring for me i must admit

Nationalise beaches. If they want a view, they can build a skyscraper a few blocks away and have a penthouse.

jessup blimey the 3rd lololol. that about made me spit up my coffee, thx for that.

His chums in The Porcellian referred to him as "Buffy" for some reason.

New England is great but beach access is one thing that makes me miss living in California

This will be an interesting court challenge to watch: “The public is “allowed to stroll along the wet sands of Maine’s intertidal zone holding a gun or a fishing rod, but not the hand of a child.” Why? By virtue of 1600s Colonial Ordinance, title to intertidal lands is held by the upland owner…

Do ‘fishing, fowling, and navigation’ ring a 'Bell'? - Island Institutewww.islandinstitute.org But what if “fishing, fowling, and navigation” was never intended to be so restrictive? What if the long-abandoned Colonial Ordinance was only ever intended to preserve the public’s right to use the i...

One of my strongest points of CA pride. When I went back there and learned about private beaches I was PISSED. Also all the private swim clubs instead of public pools.

Which state are you trying? I can point you. (With the exception of my Cape national seashore tag, which is admittedly $60 for the year, I don’t typically pay for beach access.)

They’ve been privatized since the 1600s in New England.

Yeah and that’s fucking stupid and archaic and needs to end

just fyi, Maryland has $10/ car beach parking at Assateague Island National Seashore, warmer water, hiking trails, and horsies

Oh shit wow 😯 I know a place in Saco Maine where so far I've found free parking everytime on side streets

Here ya go ❤️ it's an incredible spot too. Dog friendly, and there's a cool little channel that dumps into the ocean. I've even gone clam digging here when I was a kid

Thanks, I’ll check that out! Is there parking lol

Yeah those side streets on the map that I circled all have some parking. You gotta just go up those side streets and you'll find a spot. I have every time so far

My dog fully approves of this beach 😆

Yeah I really don’t want to share the places I know in public but I would say >.> <.< seek points north Or Hammonasset is a little cheaper, $22 on a weekend, $17 on a weekday

This is one of the reasons I really love the MS Gulf coast.

Take the Blue Line to Wonderland and walk across the street to Revere Beach? (Admittedly not the miles of dunes, beach grass, and nature experience.)

Oh joy, I love spending at least an hour on the T one way (assuming nothing breaks) to go to…Revere.

Revere beach is kinda great. It’s three (!) miles of pretty decent sand. It’s clean, too, with public facilities and restaurants and food trucks a short walk away. Water’s cold, but not choked with seaweed. Great assortment of all kinds of people to watch or (I guess?) interact with. I’m a fan!

What kind of parking is there for people who don’t want to deal with the dysfunctional T? I guess you could just park in the Wonderland garage?

You can park at the Wonderland lot (next to garage) for $2 all day. It’s an 8 minute walk from there to the beach. Or free street parking along Revere Beach drive, which I’ve had pretty good luck with except on weekends or other busy times.

Thanks!

I grew up on St Simons Island, GA and years ago, a whole line of blocks fell into the ocean. Now a whole bunch of public streets legally go all the way into the water.

And a bunch of rich people don't want that to change because they still pay a small property tax in case the ocean goes back out.

We should all shit on his beaches

Connecticut is the worst for this, the whole coastline is privately owned. At least here in northeast MA, you can take the train to most coastal towns and we have some little free townie beaches.

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