highnote
08-12-2011, 12:53 PM
... I would not allow any development within one mile of the coast, except for important ports and some small towns.
Could you imagine if Wall Street was based in the Bronx rather than at the tip of Manhattan and the island of Manhattan was returned to its natural state of 400 years ago, and access would be open to the public?
When I drove from SF to LA I wondered why no one had developed the coastline. Now I know.
Below is an excerpt of what California has done and the whole column is at the link:
http://steveblank.com/2011/08/11/going-out-with-his-boots-on/
With 37 mllion people it’s remarkable that California has one of the most pristine and unspoiled coastline in the United States. One man and the organization he’s built is responsible for protecting it.
———–
California Dreaming
California Highway 1, (the Pacific Coast Highway) is a two-lane road that hugs the coast from Mexico to the town of Leggett in Northern California. It’s carved out of the edge of the California almost designed to connect you to the Pacific Ocean in a way that no other road in the country does. In some stretches It’s breathtaking and hair-raising and in others it’s the most tranquil drive you’ll ever take.
It goes through quintessential California beach towns right out of the 1950′s. It has hair-pin turns that have you’re convinced you’re about to fall into the ocean. It has open farm fields and hundreds of miles of unspoiled and undeveloped land. It’s the kind of road you see in car ads and movies, one that looks like it was built to be driven in a Porsche with the top down. The almost 400 mile coast drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco is one the road trips you need to do before you die.
15 air miles away, the road parallels Silicon Valley (and the 7 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area.) In that 45 mile stretch – from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz – there’s not a single stoplight and less than 5,000 people.
The Peoples Coast
Yet there’s no rational reason most of the 1,100 miles of the California coast should look like this. 33 million Californians live less than an hour from the coast. It’s some of the most expensive land in the country.
Could you imagine if Wall Street was based in the Bronx rather than at the tip of Manhattan and the island of Manhattan was returned to its natural state of 400 years ago, and access would be open to the public?
When I drove from SF to LA I wondered why no one had developed the coastline. Now I know.
Below is an excerpt of what California has done and the whole column is at the link:
http://steveblank.com/2011/08/11/going-out-with-his-boots-on/
With 37 mllion people it’s remarkable that California has one of the most pristine and unspoiled coastline in the United States. One man and the organization he’s built is responsible for protecting it.
———–
California Dreaming
California Highway 1, (the Pacific Coast Highway) is a two-lane road that hugs the coast from Mexico to the town of Leggett in Northern California. It’s carved out of the edge of the California almost designed to connect you to the Pacific Ocean in a way that no other road in the country does. In some stretches It’s breathtaking and hair-raising and in others it’s the most tranquil drive you’ll ever take.
It goes through quintessential California beach towns right out of the 1950′s. It has hair-pin turns that have you’re convinced you’re about to fall into the ocean. It has open farm fields and hundreds of miles of unspoiled and undeveloped land. It’s the kind of road you see in car ads and movies, one that looks like it was built to be driven in a Porsche with the top down. The almost 400 mile coast drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco is one the road trips you need to do before you die.
15 air miles away, the road parallels Silicon Valley (and the 7 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area.) In that 45 mile stretch – from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz – there’s not a single stoplight and less than 5,000 people.
The Peoples Coast
Yet there’s no rational reason most of the 1,100 miles of the California coast should look like this. 33 million Californians live less than an hour from the coast. It’s some of the most expensive land in the country.