SAN FRANCISCO — A wealthy Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a green city for up to 400,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area has submitted what it says are enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the November election.
The campaign submitted more than 20,000 signatures but would need only about 13,000 valid ones to qualify for the ballot. If verified by Solano County’s elections office, voters will decide in the fall whether to allow urban development on land currently zoned for agriculture. The land-use change would be necessary for the development to be built.
Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader who heads the company behind the campaign, California Forever, said at a news conference Tuesday that he heard from thousands of people who want careers and homes in the county where they grew up but can no longer afford to live there because of high housing costs and a lack of nearby work.
A rendering from California Forever shows their plans for a new community in Solano County in reference to the rest of the Bay Area.
“They are fed up with this malaise that’s plagued California for the last 20 years with this culture of saying no to everything that has made it increasingly impossible for working families to reach the California dream,” he said.
The yet-unnamed development would mix homes, green space, a walkable downtown and jobs between Travis Air Force Base and the Sacramento River Delta city of Rio Vista.
The controversial project has wealthy and powerful backers, including philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. It also faces strong opposition by some elected officials and other critics who say Sramek’s plan is a speculative money grab that’s light on details.
Sramek outraged locals by quietly purchasing more than $800 million in farmland since 2018 and even suing farmers who refused to sell. Reps. John Garamendi and Mike Thompson, who oppose the project, were initially alarmed that foreign adversaries or investors might be buying up the land because of its proximity to the Air Force base.
Sramek unveiled plans for the development in January, but had to amend the land-use change ballot initiative twice to address county and Air Force concerns. The delays haven’t slowed the project’s timeline.
The proposal includes an initial $400 million to help residents and Air Force base families buy homes in the community or for new affordable housing.
California is desperate for more housing, but critics of the project say it would be more environmentally sound to build within existing cities than to convert designated farmland.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 creative director speaks about the dark fantasy RPG's stunning Unreal Engine 5 graphics: 'It’s a key foundation for the studio to really look for the latest technology'
10 tips to get started in Star Wars Outlaws
Мафия-НН: В уютном ресторанчике в центре города встретились девять одноклассников, чтобы отпраздновать Новый Год и провести веселый вечер
КНР и РЖД связывают три буквы — СМП. Арктический экспресс принял эстафету у китайских моряков и повёл по железным дорогам России контейнеры с Севморпути
Портативный ТСД корпоративного класса Saotron RT-T70
Беспроводной сканер штрих-кодов SAOTRON P05i промышленного класса
В Арктике разворачивается «гонка вооружений». США пытаются препятствовать сотрудничеству РФ и КНР
Книжная выставка
«Без меня народ не полный…»
к 125-летию со дня рождения А.П.Платонова,
русского и советского писателя, поэта и публициста, драматурга.
Часть Симферполя без света, Евпатория и часть Ялты без воды
Людей чудом не оказалось на остановке, в которую влетела BMW
Художник из Симферополя Виктор Нефедов создаст в Нальчике граффити на площади 260 квадратных метров