Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla sues two California agencies as part of protracted legal battle over public access to beach on his property 
 
 Silicon Valley venture capitalist and billionaire Vinod Khosla, who has been engaged in a legal battle over public access to a beloved surfing beach that sits on his land, is suing two state agencies accusing them of using “coercion and harassment” to take away his private property rights – an allegation one campaign group describes as “absurd”. Khosla’s lawyers have now filed a suit against the California coastal commission, state lands commission and San Mateo County, claiming that state and local officials have unfairly and irrationally targeted Khosla to force him to either keep the beach road open year-round for a small entrance fee or apply for a permit to close the beach. The suit, filed Sept. 30, claims there is “a concerted effort by state and local officials to single out, coerce and harass one coastal property and its owner for refusing to cede its private property rights.” 
 
 Khosla claims the defendants have gone after him for “purely personal and political reasons” ever since he decided, in 2010, to break with a decadeslong practice under previous owners of allowing the public to drive down to the water at Martins Beach in exchange for a parking fee. “The amount of time and money and effort they’re spending, and all they’re doing is blowing smoke.” 
 
 Besides arguing that Khosla’s constitutional rights have been violated, the suit appears to ask the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco to strike as unconstitutional a legal statute granting the State Lands Commission, which governs California’s tidal lands, the power to purchase property from private owners. The lawsuit argues that no other coastal property owners, including the previous owners, the Deeney family, have been subjected to similar scrutiny. They did not apply for a permit and were never told by any public official or entity that a permit was required,” said Khosla’s attorney, Dori Yob, in a statement. “They had an opportunity to negotiate with the state in good faith,” said Massara, “and they blew it off.” “This is exactly what certain staff of the Coastal Commission and other state agencies have done — engaged in a campaign to extract private property rights from a property owner through extra-judicial harassing and coercive behavior.” 
 
 Khosla’s critics argue he still hasn’t taken basic steps to resolve the conflict at the state and local levels. Mark Massara, an attorney for the Surfrider Foundation in one of two lawsuits seeking to restore public access to Martins Beach, a secluded cove just south of Half Moon Bay, called the suit “a laundry list of whining and complaining.” 
 
 “I just don’t get these guys,” he said.
– In California, the public essentially has the right to access the portion of the beach that gets wet. But with a great deal of coastal development, how one gets to this public strip of land can be far murkier, as a new lawsuit involving a private property near Half Moon Bay demonstrates. In 2008, Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla, who co-founded Sun Microsystems, bought 53 acres of Martins Beach, which sits just south of San Francisco; two years later, he decided to close the gate and paint over the billboard that had directed beachgoers (it's a popular surfing spot) to a for-a-fee parking area the previous owners had set up, reports the Guardian. In other words, the former owners played nice, and Khosla didn't want to play at all. In his lawsuit filed Sept. 30, Khosla accuses the California Coastal Commission, State Lands Commission, and San Mateo County of unfairly targeting him. The San Jose Mercury News explains that the latter two bodies informed Khosla that what he did in revoking the beach access fits the Coastal Act's definition of development, which means he needs to apply for a coastal development permit. Khosla says the agencies are trying "to harass, coerce, and single [him] out" and says they never interfered when the prior owners locked the gate during winter months or private events. The legal director for the Surfrider Foundation, which has filed its own lawsuit to restore public access to the beach, calls it "almost laughable" that Khosla would claim "state agencies could harass and coerce such a powerful man." (Check out the nation's best beaches.)