In some places the nice beaches have been privatised by local hotels or clubs so you gotta pay them to sit on the beach or go sit somewhere less nice. Coming from Western Australia where we have the nicest beaches in the world (all free), I take this concept of “owning beach space” as a personal affront.
Not in California
personal affront
as opposed to personal beach front
Loitering is illegal in the US because public spaces are free. Why are you just sitting in a public space for free when you could be sitting in a cafe or restaurant and contributing to the economy? Oh you don’t have that money? Well then you’re worthless to society and just shouldn’t exist, obviously.
Only illegal if you’re a teenager or a minority.
Most (including my city) places, have no age/other restrictions on the law. Although they are often used against those groups.
when you could be sitting in a cafe or restaurant and contributing to the economy
or even better, being exploited for cheap labor in prison!
Exactly.
Why would you seat doing nothing instead of making money to donate them to some FOSS projects, that are desperately needing them? And there are many such projects. Time to invest in good things, go grab some buzz and donate to your favourite FOSS project(s)! Then we go chilling in the forest with moon partisans and being worthless to regimes around the globe… together.
In the UK all farmland is fenced off, with occasional walking paths available. I used to think the Ridgeway was great because there was about 50 miles of trails one could walk on or ride a bike, and in summer motorbikes and 4x4s were allowed too.
It blew my mind when I moved to Spain and I worked out I could get pretty much anywhere off road whenever I felt like it.
For novelty I once rode my little motorbike from my house to the supermarket, with only about 50m on paved roads. It was very liberating. But unfortunately some of the yoghurt I bought got squashed by the jostling on the way home, and my bag smelled of bad milk for a couple months even after I’d washed it :-/
In Scotland under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 you can walk, camp, and explore most land in Scotland—even if it’s private—as long as you’re respectful, don’t cause damage, and give people (especially homes and farms) their space.
Yeah, bit then the midges get you
Seriously though, Scotland is mostly ahead of the rest of the UK in many ways. I had some of my best times in Scotland :-)
Necause you misspelled ‘but’ I then had to read your comment with a Scottish accent.
Aye, it’s a sexy accent alright
(I don’t have a Scottish accent, lol)
This is also true in New Hampshire in the US.
Nice!
Great for them!
It’s not perfect, but there are cleaners with enzymes that really fight dairy spill smell. They’re primarily marketed here as pet odor destroyers. A spilled spring latte came back to haunt my car carpet in the summer despite my best cleaning efforts initially. I sprayed with the enzymatic cleaner and cut it in half within a few days. I sprayed again a week later and got rid of most of it. If it sits for a few days in the heat, I could smell it upon entering, but it easily got evacuated with open windows for a minute. Like 4 years later it’s still there very faintly, but now it has to sit for like a week in the summer and it’s only identifiable because I know what it is.
I think I have some of the cleaner already, for cleaning dog-related smells out if things, I just never thought of using it for spilled milk. It’ll save a lot of tears, thank you for the tip!
Is this another stupid American thing? I’ve never heard anyone getting in trouble for just laying around on public property
There’s plenty of places by me where you can do this, and I live in the most dense state in America.
When you say dense… what is it we’re… talking about?.. 😏
Credit where it’s due!
You hear about mainly in front of stores and malls in general. Your milage will vary depending on how dark, young or poor you look.
In Canada, a very old arrangement dating from the creation of the country, says that navigable water is a federal matter. Whether it’s on the side of the ocean, a big lake, or a river, the water and anything below high tide is Crown “land”, and public. There are obviously exceptions and access by land can be controlled but not by water. At least not the beach itself.
It leads to weird situations, like a provincial park that can’t stop boaters from using remote parts of “their” beach. Or another where boats band together between some islands, and party and jetboat among kayaks and SUP.
But this also prevents owners of big houses around lakes to claim a part of that lake, or the foreshore.
We don’t have the right to roam in general here, with some exceptions for Crown lands, and it happens that bodies of water and rivers is Crown land.
Anyway, that’s how I understand this.
“Loitering” aka “standing while young”
Let’s be fair, here. You can also get done for “standing while homeless,” and “standing while poorly dressed,” and also “standing while black and/or Hispanic.”
Curiously enough, you’ll never get nicked for loitering if you appear to be doing something vaguely socially acceptable. I suggest showing up with an easel and paints; you can hang around all day without anyone bothering you.
Loitering…I don’t even think that word has a translation in my language. You made up a term and turn it into a crime?
I think it means like hanging around. But I guess they thought a ‘Hanging around’ charge would be hard to take seriously in court. Land of the free, eh
Except in Italy, nearly the totality of the coast is privately handled and you must pay to access it…
It’s like that all up the US Pacific and Atlantic and the US has a lot of coast.
The gulf is for the poors to play in the oil every now and then as a treat.
Shoutout to Daniel Burnham and Montgomery Ward for keeping Chicago’s lakefront free and open for the people.
I’ve been there. It felt so odd being able to go to a government park, after sunset, against the water, and just have it be filled with people (like 100 people in sight, across the 600ft of lakefront I could see). When does it officially close, like 10pm? One cop-type was making rounds in the parking lot but not actually enforcing anything. There were occasional fireworks. I’m sure there are altercations sometimes, but the most I saw in my hour there was unruly kids (10 year olds). It was so peaceful.
I come from the coast where there is only private land and government land that closes dusk to dawn.
The parks and beaches and their associated facilities officially close at 11pm, but the Lakefront Trail is open 24 hours.
Free land can be bought. Bought land can’t be free.
This is a big city problem. In smaller cities you typically have very few places you can’t loiter.
most places aren’t illegal for you to simply stand around in.
you are probably thinking of the “land of the free”
Yes from what I’ve seen here in the “land of the free,” people get suspicious & uncomfortable at anyone who isn’t actively rushing around with a purpose or purchasing goods & services from establishments. Can’t just stand around or lay down or even sit, there are no benches anywhere.
I’m very glad that my tiny east coast island believes in universal beach access. Although it is not yet illegal, I kinda lean towards wearing an all black pantsuit being some sort of citeable offense.
BS, and def doesn’t fit this group.
