“Its a fabulous victory for the people of California because now their coast is safe,” said Joe Cotchett, the lead attorney for the Surfrider Foundation, which filed the lawsuit. The beach battle has focused national attention on California laws that are supposed to guarantee public access to coastal areas. The 1972 California Coastal Zone Conservation Initiative, which created the 12-member California Coastal Commission, and the California Coastal Act, passed in 1976, prohibit homes or developments from blocking access to beaches. “The activists desiring unfettered access to Martins Beach have misrepresented the issues and facts, and have made reasonable solutions less likely,” Khosla wrote in an op-ed to the Chronicle last month. Should a government agency force property owners to run businesses at a loss?