No doubt everyone will have their opinions on access. But the history of shoreline access has been a problem for many of us for decades. And those problems will be different for every community in which you live. Nantucket does not have the same problems as Warwick or Newport or Westerly etc.. and never will. Here in RI guys like DZ have been working for years to give a fisherman the opportunity to park their car on a public street at night and not get towed. He could talked to you for hours about his efforts and problems encountered to give us the opportunity for access in Newport.
In the town in which I live we have signs that designate Public Rights of Way. Waterfront homeowners pull the signs out and put up no tresspassing signs on their adjacent properties. Some file court appeals to Public right of Ways knowing that the state has no money to spend in fighting the appeal. In North Kingstown the local homeowners got together and brought in a front end loader to dig a trench to prevent people from driving out to the point at Bissel Cove.
The history of the right to waterfront access for the common citizens and confrontations with the perceived priviledged waterfront homeowners goes back centuries. You can learn more about RI public Right of Way in this link.
http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/daytrip/CRMC/CRMC.html
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