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Did you know that there is no such thing as a fully private
beach in California? Every single beach in the state is, at least in part,
public land. If this fact is news to you, you’re not alone.
CSW Research Scholar Jenny Price has spent the last several months developing a
mobile phone app called Our Malibu
Beaches to help clarify the divisions between public and private beaches in
the titular city. Drawing on 10 years of Price’s research and writing on
California’s beaches, the app shows a house-by-house list of where anyone may
use the Malibu shorefront.
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| Jenny Price |
In a
recent interview with AirTalk, Price explained that every beach in the state is
public, at minimum, below the mean high tide line, which is the ocean’s average
high tide line over the past 18.6 years. The working definition of that line,
Price said, is the wet sand from the most recent high tide. In other words, all
wet sand in California is open to everyone. There are many beaches where the
dry sand is also public space, which is where the app comes in handy. The
problem with Malibu’s beaches, Price said, is that many wealthy homeowners along
the coast use illegal signs, cones, fences, and locks to obfuscate or outright block
public parking and walkways to the beaches. In addition, some homeowners employ
private security to intimidate aspiring beachgoers even more. Price explained
that the California Coastal Commission takes this issue seriously but doesn’t
have the resources to keep up with the sheer number of illegal signs and locks
on access points—which are too few in number anyway—up and down the coast.
Our Malibu Beaches
helps by detailing public access points and parking and the hours that each are
open. (While public beaches and easements are open 24/7, the same is not
necessarily true for all access points leading to them.) The app also contains tools
for contacting public agencies if users run into resistance from beachfront homeowners.
By crowdsourcing the locations of illegal signs and other site-specific obstructions,
the app helps make sure everyone has the access to these beautiful beaches that
they are entitled to by state law.
To read more about the app and this issue, see:
Broomstick was an independent, self-published radical feminist magazine dedicated to supporting and promoting women and lesbian activism and art for an audience of women over forty. Founded by Maxine Spencer and Polly Taylor in Berkeley, California, in 1978, it ceased publication in 1993. Its main goals were confronting ageism, stereotypes of the disabled, and breaking down gender conventions in publishing. and explores topics related to radical feminist politics, lesbian culture and art, spirituality of the Crone, women and aging, and feminist coalitions and communities. The collection contains a complete run of the magazine, organizational records, financial statements, correspondence, submissions and rejections, and many of the plates used for printing the magazine. The collection also contains Spencer’s personal papers documenting her personal experiences with radical feminism, lesbianism, disability, sexism, and age discrimination.
