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"content": "\u003cp>As California Forever continues its campaign to build a new city in Solano County, the billionaire-backed company announced on Tuesday that it had paid $500,000 in grants to 45 nonprofits working within the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The awardees include Dixon Family Services, the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, Journey Downtown Theater and the Boys & Girls Empowerment Group in Vallejo. A representative from California Forever said the money has already been distributed, though they did not disclose how much each organization received.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before announcing the grant program in December, company representatives “listened to what the community wanted and needed,” said Michael Fortney, who was part of California Forever’s citizens advisory committee last year and later became the company’s director of partnerships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And the team heard over and over, ‘We need nonprofit money,’” he said. “And a lot of people came back and said, ‘We don’t want [the money] to be tied to the ballot initiative. You need to prove to us that you’re willing to come in and be a good partner and a good stakeholder in the community.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the grants announced Tuesday are only the first round of community funding, according to California Forever, all future money is tied to the November ballot initiative that would clear the way for the new city. That includes $500 million in what the company is calling “community benefits commitments” that would go toward housing, education, parks and family farms, and $200 million that would go toward investing in and renovating homes, offices and shops in downtown Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville and Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This initial round of funding comes with no strings attached, Fortney said, and some of the organizations have not publicly expressed their support for the ballot initiative yet. Others offered their thanks to the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are so few direct services available for unhoused transitional-aged youth in Vallejo,” said Adjoa McDonald, the founder of the youth services organization Vallejo Project. “[California Forever]’s resources will ensure that a handful of the many vulnerable youth in our community have the skills and mentors needed to establish gainful employment.”[aside tag=\"california-forever\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986569/california-forever-says-12-start-ups-will-open-workplaces-in-its-new-city\">California Forever announced a partnership with 12 companies\u003c/a> that promised to open factories, farms and offices in the new town if approved. Representatives also announced plans to build one of the largest solar farms in the state, using local labor to construct and operate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many of the companies are based in California, some are start-ups, and some skeptics of the plan wonder whether those companies will still be able to fulfill their promise after a decade, when the town will potentially be built and ready to move in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming weeks, company representatives have said California Forever will announce another round of employer partnerships and more details about its promises of increased recreation and entertainment opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As California Forever continues its campaign to build a new city in Solano County, the billionaire-backed company announced on Tuesday that it had paid $500,000 in grants to 45 nonprofits working within the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The awardees include Dixon Family Services, the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, Journey Downtown Theater and the Boys & Girls Empowerment Group in Vallejo. A representative from California Forever said the money has already been distributed, though they did not disclose how much each organization received.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before announcing the grant program in December, company representatives “listened to what the community wanted and needed,” said Michael Fortney, who was part of California Forever’s citizens advisory committee last year and later became the company’s director of partnerships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And the team heard over and over, ‘We need nonprofit money,’” he said. “And a lot of people came back and said, ‘We don’t want [the money] to be tied to the ballot initiative. You need to prove to us that you’re willing to come in and be a good partner and a good stakeholder in the community.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the grants announced Tuesday are only the first round of community funding, according to California Forever, all future money is tied to the November ballot initiative that would clear the way for the new city. That includes $500 million in what the company is calling “community benefits commitments” that would go toward housing, education, parks and family farms, and $200 million that would go toward investing in and renovating homes, offices and shops in downtown Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville and Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This initial round of funding comes with no strings attached, Fortney said, and some of the organizations have not publicly expressed their support for the ballot initiative yet. Others offered their thanks to the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are so few direct services available for unhoused transitional-aged youth in Vallejo,” said Adjoa McDonald, the founder of the youth services organization Vallejo Project. “[California Forever]’s resources will ensure that a handful of the many vulnerable youth in our community have the skills and mentors needed to establish gainful employment.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986569/california-forever-says-12-start-ups-will-open-workplaces-in-its-new-city\">California Forever announced a partnership with 12 companies\u003c/a> that promised to open factories, farms and offices in the new town if approved. Representatives also announced plans to build one of the largest solar farms in the state, using local labor to construct and operate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many of the companies are based in California, some are start-ups, and some skeptics of the plan wonder whether those companies will still be able to fulfill their promise after a decade, when the town will potentially be built and ready to move in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming weeks, company representatives have said California Forever will announce another round of employer partnerships and more details about its promises of increased recreation and entertainment opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The billionaire-backed company seeking to build a city from scratch in eastern Solano County took its first steps toward bringing jobs there, announcing partnerships on Thursday with 12 companies that have pledged to open new offices, factories and farms in the proposed city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever has publicly promised to bring some 15,000 new jobs to the county. But it’s unclear how many new jobs the 12 partner companies would provide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives for California Forever and the companies involved declined to provide specific details about whether they would bring their existing employees or add new ones. If voters approve the plan, there are also no binding financial or legal agreements compelling them to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the companies are start-ups, mostly based in California, and their industries include aerospace engineering, self-driving robotics, indoor vertical farming and internet infrastructure. They are Hadrian, Living Carbon, Plenty, Serve Robotics, Meter, Motive, BREX, Cover, Build Casa, Zipline, Freethink and Instant Teams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These employers have committed publicly that they’re interested in bringing jobs to the new community if Solano County voters approve the project this November,” California Forever’s Director of Partnerships Michael Fortney said in a statement to KQED. “Even though we’re a few years away from breaking ground, some of them have already started negotiating terms for acquiring space to operate in the new community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some groups, however, remain skeptical about California Forever’s promises. Sadie Wilson, director of planning and research with the Greenbelt Alliance, said this news is still “devoid of substance and lacking transparency.” She is particularly concerned that all the potential employers are start-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are certain questions about if and how these budding companies and ventures will look in 10 years or so,” when the city is eventually built, she said in a statement to KQED. “As November approaches, Solano County voters need real information, not more hypothetical plans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county lacks enough jobs for its residents. Almost half of those who live in Solano County commute outside of it to work, \u003ca href=\"https://labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/file/commute-maps/StateCommute2015.pdf\">according to a 2015 study\u003c/a> from the state’s Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11985195,news_11985711,news_11984830 label='Related Coverage']Included in its pledge to bring 15,000 new jobs, California Forever has said it would create nearly 1,400 construction-related jobs for a solar farm it is proposing to build near the site of its new city. After the solar farm is completed, it would employ roughly 300 people to maintain and operate the facility in Solano County, while about 130 jobs would be located elsewhere throughout California, company representatives said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed solar farm could potentially generate enough power for 1.5 million homes, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://assets.ctfassets.net/ivxuf0dn6dhw/5UZa0vW0DABZ5A3h4KfjCU/f2bb0baa7819c5fbb0126c29c6c5a7e7/Solar_Farm_Econ_Impacts_-_FINAL.pdf\">economic impact report created by Blue Sky Consulting\u003c/a> and paid for by California Forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the companies have released details on what they plan to build in the new city if it is approved. Chris Power, founder and CEO of the aerospace and defense manufacturing start-up Hadrian, said his company would be looking to acquire space for a new factory “if the East Solano Plan was shovel-ready today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are excited by the vision of amazing neighborhoods located next to a manufacturing zone designed to accelerate innovation in California,” he said in a statement. “Hadrian is building a series of factories across America to enable space and defense manufacturers to get parts 10 times faster and halve the cost of making rockets, satellites, jets and drones.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Travis Air Force Base did not immediately return a request for comment about whether the proposed companies would compete with its operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, California Forever \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984408/billionaire-backed-bid-for-new-solano-county-city-is-closer-to-november-ballot\">submitted signatures for its petition\u003c/a> to appear on the November ballot. A representative from the Solano County Registrar’s Office said it completed its raw count of the roughly 20,000 signatures submitted last week, but is now verifying those signatures to make sure at least 13,062 came from registered Solano County voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make it on the ballot, the initiative will then need a vote of the Solano County Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The billionaire-backed company seeking to build a city from scratch in eastern Solano County took its first steps toward bringing jobs there, announcing partnerships on Thursday with 12 companies that have pledged to open new offices, factories and farms in the proposed city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever has publicly promised to bring some 15,000 new jobs to the county. But it’s unclear how many new jobs the 12 partner companies would provide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives for California Forever and the companies involved declined to provide specific details about whether they would bring their existing employees or add new ones. If voters approve the plan, there are also no binding financial or legal agreements compelling them to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the companies are start-ups, mostly based in California, and their industries include aerospace engineering, self-driving robotics, indoor vertical farming and internet infrastructure. They are Hadrian, Living Carbon, Plenty, Serve Robotics, Meter, Motive, BREX, Cover, Build Casa, Zipline, Freethink and Instant Teams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These employers have committed publicly that they’re interested in bringing jobs to the new community if Solano County voters approve the project this November,” California Forever’s Director of Partnerships Michael Fortney said in a statement to KQED. “Even though we’re a few years away from breaking ground, some of them have already started negotiating terms for acquiring space to operate in the new community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some groups, however, remain skeptical about California Forever’s promises. Sadie Wilson, director of planning and research with the Greenbelt Alliance, said this news is still “devoid of substance and lacking transparency.” She is particularly concerned that all the potential employers are start-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are certain questions about if and how these budding companies and ventures will look in 10 years or so,” when the city is eventually built, she said in a statement to KQED. “As November approaches, Solano County voters need real information, not more hypothetical plans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county lacks enough jobs for its residents. Almost half of those who live in Solano County commute outside of it to work, \u003ca href=\"https://labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/file/commute-maps/StateCommute2015.pdf\">according to a 2015 study\u003c/a> from the state’s Employment Development Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Included in its pledge to bring 15,000 new jobs, California Forever has said it would create nearly 1,400 construction-related jobs for a solar farm it is proposing to build near the site of its new city. After the solar farm is completed, it would employ roughly 300 people to maintain and operate the facility in Solano County, while about 130 jobs would be located elsewhere throughout California, company representatives said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed solar farm could potentially generate enough power for 1.5 million homes, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://assets.ctfassets.net/ivxuf0dn6dhw/5UZa0vW0DABZ5A3h4KfjCU/f2bb0baa7819c5fbb0126c29c6c5a7e7/Solar_Farm_Econ_Impacts_-_FINAL.pdf\">economic impact report created by Blue Sky Consulting\u003c/a> and paid for by California Forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the companies have released details on what they plan to build in the new city if it is approved. Chris Power, founder and CEO of the aerospace and defense manufacturing start-up Hadrian, said his company would be looking to acquire space for a new factory “if the East Solano Plan was shovel-ready today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are excited by the vision of amazing neighborhoods located next to a manufacturing zone designed to accelerate innovation in California,” he said in a statement. “Hadrian is building a series of factories across America to enable space and defense manufacturers to get parts 10 times faster and halve the cost of making rockets, satellites, jets and drones.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Travis Air Force Base did not immediately return a request for comment about whether the proposed companies would compete with its operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, California Forever \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984408/billionaire-backed-bid-for-new-solano-county-city-is-closer-to-november-ballot\">submitted signatures for its petition\u003c/a> to appear on the November ballot. A representative from the Solano County Registrar’s Office said it completed its raw count of the roughly 20,000 signatures submitted last week, but is now verifying those signatures to make sure at least 13,062 came from registered Solano County voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make it on the ballot, the initiative will then need a vote of the Solano County Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A Fairfield City Council member’s wife, who was paid $4,000 by California Forever, the investor-backed group trying to gain approval to build a new city in Solano County, has returned the money \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984830/california-forever-shells-out-2m-in-campaign-to-build-city-from-scratch\">after reporting by KQED\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sue Vaccaro received the fee from California Forever earlier this year, according to the group’s campaign finance filings released last week, which listed her as a campaign consultant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever spent $2 million on its campaign in the first quarter of this year as it works to gain county-wide support for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985195/billionaire-backed-bid-for-new-solano-county-city-will-likely-be-on-the-ballot\">a November ballot initiative\u003c/a> that would allow the company to transform thousands of acres of farmland into a dense, walkable city akin to Berlin or Paris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccaro, who is married to Fairfield City Councilmember Rick Vaccaro and serves as president of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Solano County, said California Forever paid her after she coordinated an informational meeting between the company and various Solano nonprofits, including the Chinese American Association of Solano County and Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs. She told KQED she was unsure why she was paid for the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though no campaign finance rule would bar Sue Vaccaro from taking such a fee, she opted to return the money this week after KQED reported on it as part of a story about California Forever’s campaign finance spending because she didn’t want to be associated with the initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rick Vaccaro said that neither he nor his wife have endorsed the plan to build the city, which would be a few miles away from Fairfield.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do not plan on endorsing the project at any time,” Rick Vaccaro said. “[Sue] gave the money back because she didn’t want it to look like she was endorsing them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more housing coverage\" tag=\"housing\"]Opinions about the project have varied since the company announced its plans late last year. Several elected officials have spoken out against the project, including Congressmen John Garamendi and Mike Thompson, Vallejo Councilmember Charles Palmares and Princess Washington, the Mayor Pro-Tem of Suisun City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only one elected official has voiced support for the project: Vacaville Vice Mayor Greg Ritchie, who has received \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/775318240797761/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=798238288505756\">criticism on social media\u003c/a> from constituents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The billionaire-backed ballot initiative moved one step closer to the November election when California Forever submitted more than 20,000 signatures to the Solano County Registrar’s Office earlier this month. The office now has 30 days to verify those signatures before passing them along to the Board of Supervisors, which will have to approve the initiative to go before voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A Fairfield City Council member’s wife, who was paid $4,000 by California Forever, the investor-backed group trying to gain approval to build a new city in Solano County, has returned the money \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984830/california-forever-shells-out-2m-in-campaign-to-build-city-from-scratch\">after reporting by KQED\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sue Vaccaro received the fee from California Forever earlier this year, according to the group’s campaign finance filings released last week, which listed her as a campaign consultant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever spent $2 million on its campaign in the first quarter of this year as it works to gain county-wide support for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985195/billionaire-backed-bid-for-new-solano-county-city-will-likely-be-on-the-ballot\">a November ballot initiative\u003c/a> that would allow the company to transform thousands of acres of farmland into a dense, walkable city akin to Berlin or Paris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccaro, who is married to Fairfield City Councilmember Rick Vaccaro and serves as president of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Solano County, said California Forever paid her after she coordinated an informational meeting between the company and various Solano nonprofits, including the Chinese American Association of Solano County and Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs. She told KQED she was unsure why she was paid for the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though no campaign finance rule would bar Sue Vaccaro from taking such a fee, she opted to return the money this week after KQED reported on it as part of a story about California Forever’s campaign finance spending because she didn’t want to be associated with the initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rick Vaccaro said that neither he nor his wife have endorsed the plan to build the city, which would be a few miles away from Fairfield.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do not plan on endorsing the project at any time,” Rick Vaccaro said. “[Sue] gave the money back because she didn’t want it to look like she was endorsing them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Opinions about the project have varied since the company announced its plans late last year. Several elected officials have spoken out against the project, including Congressmen John Garamendi and Mike Thompson, Vallejo Councilmember Charles Palmares and Princess Washington, the Mayor Pro-Tem of Suisun City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only one elected official has voiced support for the project: Vacaville Vice Mayor Greg Ritchie, who has received \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/775318240797761/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=798238288505756\">criticism on social media\u003c/a> from constituents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The billionaire-backed ballot initiative moved one step closer to the November election when California Forever submitted more than 20,000 signatures to the Solano County Registrar’s Office earlier this month. The office now has 30 days to verify those signatures before passing them along to the Board of Supervisors, which will have to approve the initiative to go before voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Billionaire-Backed Bid for New Solano County City Will Likely Be on the Ballot",
"headTitle": "Billionaire-Backed Bid for New Solano County City Will Likely Be on the Ballot | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California Forever, the billionaire-backed group behind an effort to build a city from scratch in Eastern Solano County, is plowing ahead in its campaign to convince voters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last week, the company announced that it has gathered enough signatures to qualify its measure for the November ballot. KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamundi unpacks the last few months of campaigning and speaks to voters.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"card card--enclosed grey\">\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC6487870674&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. California forever, the group backed by tech billionaires who want to build a city from scratch in Solano County, has been real busy these past few months. This year, they want to get their plan passed by voters in the November election, and now they say they’ve got enough signatures to put it on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>So I know voters have made that first decision and they have made it loud and clear. Over 20,000 Solano residents have signed the petition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>If it clears this hurdle, voters will be asked to change county rules to make way for a new, walkable city of about 400,000 people near Rio Vista today. How California Forever has been trying to convince voters to get on board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>This is a humongous issue, and California forever is wasting no time in getting started on getting out to the voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Adhiti Bandlamudi is a housing reporter for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They announced last week that they collected more than enough signatures needed, and they basically started that process earlier than I think we all expected them to start. Can you remind us why California Forever even needs Solano County voters approval to do what they’re hoping to do?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Yeah, Solano County is interesting because it has this provision called the Orderly Growth Initiative that basically restricts any sort of residential or commercial development to happen in areas that are already zoned for agriculture or that are sort of protected by this orderly growth initiative. The whole point is to sort of keep farmland as farmland and keep cities as cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>What California Forever is doing is this totally different thing, where they want to replace like 60,000 acres of farmland and turn it into a walkable city. By law for California forever. To start construction on a project like this, they have to bring it before the voters who have to approve this in order for them to start any sort of development process. They needed to get 13,062 signatures and they produced 20,000 signatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>That’s more than 7000 signatures. More than was required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Now Jan Sramek, who is the CEO of California Forever, basically said in his press conference that that number is evidence of the amount of support that California forever got from the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>From people from all walks of life, all parts of the county who are all saying the same thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Now, for context, I spoke with a few campaign experts and campaign strategist who said California Forever hired PCI consultants. They’re one of the best signature gathering firms in the country, and if you hire the best of the best, then you’re going to get a result. And basically, they’re doing their best to make sure that this gets to November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>They do sound really excited about where they’re at right now too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They do. They really do. I think they’re very hopeful about the future. The vibe of the press conference was definitely very excited and celebratory. At this press conference, you had actual Solano County Council members who were speaking in support of this plan, and it kind of feels like things are becoming a little bit more mixed now. It’s not a full on skepticism. Some people are actually becoming more open to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, clearly California for ever. Folks have been really busy these last couple of months. What exactly have they been up to?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>The last three months have been a lot of signature gathering work for them. They were very aggressive in getting those signatures. We actually, had had heard and then later confirmed from the registrar’s office that some residents complained that the signature gatherers were misleading or a bit too aggressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>We actually spoke to a woman, Tina Collins, who says that she was followed to her car by a California Forever signature gathering. They got, I think, like nine complaints, and we tried to see if the Secretary of state was investigating that. We couldn’t get an answer whether they were or not. They’ve also been trying to drum up support for their plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>From some of the organizations that I think people are looking to as like a bellwether. You know, we talk sometimes in campaigns about like single issue voters in this campaign. I’m seeing many people take Travis Air Force Base as that single issue. Like if Travis Air Force Base is okay with California forever, there are some people who are like, okay, we’ll be fine with it, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>California Forever has been coming up with these, like, ads that are very, like, veteran focused and sort of highlight the fact that they, you know, made sure to change their initiative language to specifically cater to Travis Air Force bases needs. So they’re really leaning into that. So as we get closer to November. We’re only going to see more of that language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>How much money have they spent so far trying to get the word out?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They’ve spent about $2 million so far within basically the first three months of their campaign, and a majority of that money has gone towards signature gathering. Other expenditures have gone towards campaign strategy literature. So that means, like pamphlets and booklets that that explain what the plan is about, different things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, is that a lot of money?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>It is a lot of money for Solano County, but comparatively, you know, California wide, it’s not really that much. It’s kind of par for the course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I know they’ve also been gathering more support from local politicians in Solano County. Right. Even though they were kind of on a lot of people’s bad side at the beginning of all of this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They were, and I will say, the support that they’ve gotten from local politicians has been slow. But, you know, significant. For example, Vacaville Vice Mayor Greg Ritchie spoke at that press conference in support of the East Solano Plan, as it’s called.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Ritchie: \u003c/strong>I think with this project. We can take clear canvas and create the design that we choose for our community. I think together with their passion, we can do that. We’re here SLO County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>And when we were looking through campaign finance records, we actually saw that the wife of Fairfield Council member Rick Vaccaro was paid $4,000 in campaign consulting. So it’s kind of interesting how slowly there are local politicians who might have distanced themselves from California forever at first. Now people are starting to take sides. People are starting to say, actually, this plan is a good idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Coming up, we’ll talk about the groups against California forever and hear from some residents about how they’re feeling. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Have there been any more, I guess, organized efforts against California forever in Solano County?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Oh yeah. There are actually two packs that were formed. The Greenbelt Alliance Solano Initiative Fund is one of them. And no to California Forever. That’s like literally what the pack is called is another one. Both of them basically oppose the plan and are campaigning against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And are these like environmental groups? Are they just concerned residents? Like, who are the people behind these packs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>It’s kind of a combination of both. The Green Belt Alliance is one of the loudest voices that I’ve seen in my reporting, and they’re a collection of, you know, local Solano residents who are very skeptical of the plan and really support the Orderly Growth Initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They consist of local politicians who are against it, farmers who want to protect that farmland, environmentalists who are worried that this new city will just create more sprawl, and it will just cause people to drive more because it’s literally in the middle of farmland. I will say, I think many of the talking points from these groups sort of draw back to the cloud of mystery surrounding California forever, and what their true intentions are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>The company did buy 60,000 acres of land really in secret since 2017, and were only forced to come out publicly about their plan like last year, because a New York Times investigation found out about this company who is like buying up all the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>There is a lot of skepticism surrounding that. There are people who feel like the promises that are being made on the campaign trail are too lofty. They don’t seem like they’re going to be able to follow through with those promises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Yeah. And not to mention the folks behind this idea are tech billionaires from Silicon Valley, which is far, far away from Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>And, you know, some of those tech billionaires live in Atherton, where housing is expensive. And some of those billionaires have come out against housing in their own backyard, yet they want to build housing in Solano County. And depending on how you feel about housing and all of these different issues, like you’re, you know, it’s dicey. Excuse me. Hi there. I’m a reporter for KQED, and I’m doing a story about California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, I know already you spoke with a bunch of folks in in Sassoon and Dixon about how they’re feeling. Who do you hear from? Who I guess is excited about this? And what’s their take on this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>The person who showed the most excitement was this man, Tyree Carey. I met him outside of a Sassoon like Walmart Supercenter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tyree Carrie: \u003c/strong>Honestly, I feel like it’s something that’s very necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>He was basically like, we need this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tyree Carrie: \u003c/strong>There’s a lot of people who are struggling with like affordable housing and just housing in general. So I always think it’s also when there’s more options available. Of course, things are affordable and just, you know, being able to generate more income in an area as far as giving people work, things of that nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>And he was sort of like, even if these promises are like half fulfilled, it’ll be good for the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tyree Carrie: \u003c/strong>I think there are a lot of empty promises just in general. So if somebody is trying to do something good is I feel like it’s worth a shot. If it doesn’t work out, we could always try something different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>He sort of was like, at least it’s something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What did you hear from people who maybe aren’t so excited about this idea?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>I was talking to Khristiana Knight in Dixon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Khristiana Knight: \u003c/strong>Born and raised. Brought up, grew up in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>She right now lives in Sacramento, but she used to live in Solano County and had to move because of affordability reasons. But her family still lives in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Khristiana Knight: \u003c/strong>If you’re going to bring affordable housing to our community, I’m 100% for that. But with that, you’re going to have to take into account the responsibilities of infrastructure, the roads, the water supply, energy supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>She’s still concerned about how affordable is the housing going to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Khristiana Knight: \u003c/strong>So I’m curious to know what kind of people will actually be able to afford to live in these houses, because the heart of the communities are not the people that move out here. So they can take Amtrak to commute to the city. They’re the people that work here in the community, in the agriculture, in the bureaucracies, in the office buildings, in the warehouse districts, Travis Air Force Base, trucking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>And for what it’s worth, those are questions that California Forever has not answered yet. California forever, I think, will have to answer at least some of them in order to convince a lot of people to vote in favor of it. But we’ll see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>When can we know whether this will, in fact be a question that Solano County voters will have to decide on in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>So right now, the Registrar of Voters is like counting all of the signatures and making sure that it’s actually the right amount. But after they say, hey, they have the right amount of signatures, it goes to the Board of Supervisors, and the Board of Supervisors has the final say on, you know, it going on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>One of the supervisors, Mitch Mashburn, he did say that if the ballot initiative comes to the Board of Supervisors, he’s going to ask for a report that basically shows all of the impacts, both negative and positive, that the new town would have on Solano County, the date that really matters, where everything has to be done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>The Board of Supervisors has to sign off and say this is going to the voters is August 9th. So if they make it past August 9th, we’re going to see it on the ballot. And because they already submitted signatures so early, like end of April, it’s likely that they’ll make it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So wherever I guess folks stand on this, these billionaires are going to need Solano County voters approval in November if they want to get this done. So do you get the sense at all that all this money that they’re spending, all this campaigning, these billboards are working on voters here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>When I spoke to the campaign, analysts, I asked them this question, like, if you spend enough money, like, can money buy votes? And what they were saying is like, not really. Money can get you on the ballot, but it can’t necessarily win you votes. What it is doing is it is raising awareness about the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>There were very few people who I met who didn’t know anything about California forever. Most people had an opinion one way or another. There were very few people who are like, I don’t know, maybe people who are speaking were like, oh yeah, I hate it. Or oh yeah, I love it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, I guess as a housing reporter, why are you interested in, in this story and then in continuing to follow it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>This story has so many, like, juicy elements that are like so tricky for me because the promise of California forever is is really enticing, but it is being built in an area that doesn’t have existing infrastructure. So that means that it’s going to take a lot to get the city built. I think there are a lot of promises in this project that are quite lofty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>15,000 new jobs paying almost $90,000 a year, down payment assistance programs, walkable streets, new public transportation. They’re promising a lot. And if they’re able to follow through on their grand plan, it will be one of the first successes in this kind of master planned city to exist in modern American society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Because many developers have proposed master plan communities like this in the past, and they’ve all become suburbs, basically. So if somebody can do it, then that’s interesting, but they have to be able to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Adhiti, thank you so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Adhiti Bandlamudi, housing reporter for KQED. By the way, we’ve got tons of older episodes on California forever and the people behind it. I’ll leave you some links to those in our show notes if you want to take a look back at those. This 36 minute conversation with oddity was cut down and edited by producer Esquinca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Ellie Prickett-Morgan is our intern. They scored this episode an ad about the tape. Our senior editor is Alan Montecillo. Music courtesy of the Audio Network. The Bay is a listener supported production of KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Peace.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California Forever, the billionaire-backed group behind an effort to build a city from scratch in Eastern Solano County, is plowing ahead in its campaign to convince voters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last week, the company announced that it has gathered enough signatures to qualify its measure for the November ballot. KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamundi unpacks the last few months of campaigning and speaks to voters.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"card card--enclosed grey\">\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC6487870674&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. California forever, the group backed by tech billionaires who want to build a city from scratch in Solano County, has been real busy these past few months. This year, they want to get their plan passed by voters in the November election, and now they say they’ve got enough signatures to put it on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>So I know voters have made that first decision and they have made it loud and clear. Over 20,000 Solano residents have signed the petition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>If it clears this hurdle, voters will be asked to change county rules to make way for a new, walkable city of about 400,000 people near Rio Vista today. How California Forever has been trying to convince voters to get on board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>This is a humongous issue, and California forever is wasting no time in getting started on getting out to the voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Adhiti Bandlamudi is a housing reporter for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They announced last week that they collected more than enough signatures needed, and they basically started that process earlier than I think we all expected them to start. Can you remind us why California Forever even needs Solano County voters approval to do what they’re hoping to do?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Yeah, Solano County is interesting because it has this provision called the Orderly Growth Initiative that basically restricts any sort of residential or commercial development to happen in areas that are already zoned for agriculture or that are sort of protected by this orderly growth initiative. The whole point is to sort of keep farmland as farmland and keep cities as cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>What California Forever is doing is this totally different thing, where they want to replace like 60,000 acres of farmland and turn it into a walkable city. By law for California forever. To start construction on a project like this, they have to bring it before the voters who have to approve this in order for them to start any sort of development process. They needed to get 13,062 signatures and they produced 20,000 signatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>That’s more than 7000 signatures. More than was required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Now Jan Sramek, who is the CEO of California Forever, basically said in his press conference that that number is evidence of the amount of support that California forever got from the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>From people from all walks of life, all parts of the county who are all saying the same thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Now, for context, I spoke with a few campaign experts and campaign strategist who said California Forever hired PCI consultants. They’re one of the best signature gathering firms in the country, and if you hire the best of the best, then you’re going to get a result. And basically, they’re doing their best to make sure that this gets to November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>They do sound really excited about where they’re at right now too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They do. They really do. I think they’re very hopeful about the future. The vibe of the press conference was definitely very excited and celebratory. At this press conference, you had actual Solano County Council members who were speaking in support of this plan, and it kind of feels like things are becoming a little bit more mixed now. It’s not a full on skepticism. Some people are actually becoming more open to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, clearly California for ever. Folks have been really busy these last couple of months. What exactly have they been up to?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>The last three months have been a lot of signature gathering work for them. They were very aggressive in getting those signatures. We actually, had had heard and then later confirmed from the registrar’s office that some residents complained that the signature gatherers were misleading or a bit too aggressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>We actually spoke to a woman, Tina Collins, who says that she was followed to her car by a California Forever signature gathering. They got, I think, like nine complaints, and we tried to see if the Secretary of state was investigating that. We couldn’t get an answer whether they were or not. They’ve also been trying to drum up support for their plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>From some of the organizations that I think people are looking to as like a bellwether. You know, we talk sometimes in campaigns about like single issue voters in this campaign. I’m seeing many people take Travis Air Force Base as that single issue. Like if Travis Air Force Base is okay with California forever, there are some people who are like, okay, we’ll be fine with it, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>California Forever has been coming up with these, like, ads that are very, like, veteran focused and sort of highlight the fact that they, you know, made sure to change their initiative language to specifically cater to Travis Air Force bases needs. So they’re really leaning into that. So as we get closer to November. We’re only going to see more of that language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>How much money have they spent so far trying to get the word out?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They’ve spent about $2 million so far within basically the first three months of their campaign, and a majority of that money has gone towards signature gathering. Other expenditures have gone towards campaign strategy literature. So that means, like pamphlets and booklets that that explain what the plan is about, different things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, is that a lot of money?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>It is a lot of money for Solano County, but comparatively, you know, California wide, it’s not really that much. It’s kind of par for the course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I know they’ve also been gathering more support from local politicians in Solano County. Right. Even though they were kind of on a lot of people’s bad side at the beginning of all of this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They were, and I will say, the support that they’ve gotten from local politicians has been slow. But, you know, significant. For example, Vacaville Vice Mayor Greg Ritchie spoke at that press conference in support of the East Solano Plan, as it’s called.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Ritchie: \u003c/strong>I think with this project. We can take clear canvas and create the design that we choose for our community. I think together with their passion, we can do that. We’re here SLO County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>And when we were looking through campaign finance records, we actually saw that the wife of Fairfield Council member Rick Vaccaro was paid $4,000 in campaign consulting. So it’s kind of interesting how slowly there are local politicians who might have distanced themselves from California forever at first. Now people are starting to take sides. People are starting to say, actually, this plan is a good idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Coming up, we’ll talk about the groups against California forever and hear from some residents about how they’re feeling. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Have there been any more, I guess, organized efforts against California forever in Solano County?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Oh yeah. There are actually two packs that were formed. The Greenbelt Alliance Solano Initiative Fund is one of them. And no to California Forever. That’s like literally what the pack is called is another one. Both of them basically oppose the plan and are campaigning against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And are these like environmental groups? Are they just concerned residents? Like, who are the people behind these packs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>It’s kind of a combination of both. The Green Belt Alliance is one of the loudest voices that I’ve seen in my reporting, and they’re a collection of, you know, local Solano residents who are very skeptical of the plan and really support the Orderly Growth Initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>They consist of local politicians who are against it, farmers who want to protect that farmland, environmentalists who are worried that this new city will just create more sprawl, and it will just cause people to drive more because it’s literally in the middle of farmland. I will say, I think many of the talking points from these groups sort of draw back to the cloud of mystery surrounding California forever, and what their true intentions are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>The company did buy 60,000 acres of land really in secret since 2017, and were only forced to come out publicly about their plan like last year, because a New York Times investigation found out about this company who is like buying up all the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>There is a lot of skepticism surrounding that. There are people who feel like the promises that are being made on the campaign trail are too lofty. They don’t seem like they’re going to be able to follow through with those promises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Yeah. And not to mention the folks behind this idea are tech billionaires from Silicon Valley, which is far, far away from Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>And, you know, some of those tech billionaires live in Atherton, where housing is expensive. And some of those billionaires have come out against housing in their own backyard, yet they want to build housing in Solano County. And depending on how you feel about housing and all of these different issues, like you’re, you know, it’s dicey. Excuse me. Hi there. I’m a reporter for KQED, and I’m doing a story about California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, I know already you spoke with a bunch of folks in in Sassoon and Dixon about how they’re feeling. Who do you hear from? Who I guess is excited about this? And what’s their take on this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>The person who showed the most excitement was this man, Tyree Carey. I met him outside of a Sassoon like Walmart Supercenter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tyree Carrie: \u003c/strong>Honestly, I feel like it’s something that’s very necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>He was basically like, we need this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tyree Carrie: \u003c/strong>There’s a lot of people who are struggling with like affordable housing and just housing in general. So I always think it’s also when there’s more options available. Of course, things are affordable and just, you know, being able to generate more income in an area as far as giving people work, things of that nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>And he was sort of like, even if these promises are like half fulfilled, it’ll be good for the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tyree Carrie: \u003c/strong>I think there are a lot of empty promises just in general. So if somebody is trying to do something good is I feel like it’s worth a shot. If it doesn’t work out, we could always try something different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>He sort of was like, at least it’s something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What did you hear from people who maybe aren’t so excited about this idea?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>I was talking to Khristiana Knight in Dixon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Khristiana Knight: \u003c/strong>Born and raised. Brought up, grew up in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>She right now lives in Sacramento, but she used to live in Solano County and had to move because of affordability reasons. But her family still lives in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Khristiana Knight: \u003c/strong>If you’re going to bring affordable housing to our community, I’m 100% for that. But with that, you’re going to have to take into account the responsibilities of infrastructure, the roads, the water supply, energy supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>She’s still concerned about how affordable is the housing going to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Khristiana Knight: \u003c/strong>So I’m curious to know what kind of people will actually be able to afford to live in these houses, because the heart of the communities are not the people that move out here. So they can take Amtrak to commute to the city. They’re the people that work here in the community, in the agriculture, in the bureaucracies, in the office buildings, in the warehouse districts, Travis Air Force Base, trucking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>And for what it’s worth, those are questions that California Forever has not answered yet. California forever, I think, will have to answer at least some of them in order to convince a lot of people to vote in favor of it. But we’ll see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>When can we know whether this will, in fact be a question that Solano County voters will have to decide on in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>So right now, the Registrar of Voters is like counting all of the signatures and making sure that it’s actually the right amount. But after they say, hey, they have the right amount of signatures, it goes to the Board of Supervisors, and the Board of Supervisors has the final say on, you know, it going on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>One of the supervisors, Mitch Mashburn, he did say that if the ballot initiative comes to the Board of Supervisors, he’s going to ask for a report that basically shows all of the impacts, both negative and positive, that the new town would have on Solano County, the date that really matters, where everything has to be done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>The Board of Supervisors has to sign off and say this is going to the voters is August 9th. So if they make it past August 9th, we’re going to see it on the ballot. And because they already submitted signatures so early, like end of April, it’s likely that they’ll make it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So wherever I guess folks stand on this, these billionaires are going to need Solano County voters approval in November if they want to get this done. So do you get the sense at all that all this money that they’re spending, all this campaigning, these billboards are working on voters here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>When I spoke to the campaign, analysts, I asked them this question, like, if you spend enough money, like, can money buy votes? And what they were saying is like, not really. Money can get you on the ballot, but it can’t necessarily win you votes. What it is doing is it is raising awareness about the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>There were very few people who I met who didn’t know anything about California forever. Most people had an opinion one way or another. There were very few people who are like, I don’t know, maybe people who are speaking were like, oh yeah, I hate it. Or oh yeah, I love it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, I guess as a housing reporter, why are you interested in, in this story and then in continuing to follow it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>This story has so many, like, juicy elements that are like so tricky for me because the promise of California forever is is really enticing, but it is being built in an area that doesn’t have existing infrastructure. So that means that it’s going to take a lot to get the city built. I think there are a lot of promises in this project that are quite lofty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>15,000 new jobs paying almost $90,000 a year, down payment assistance programs, walkable streets, new public transportation. They’re promising a lot. And if they’re able to follow through on their grand plan, it will be one of the first successes in this kind of master planned city to exist in modern American society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Because many developers have proposed master plan communities like this in the past, and they’ve all become suburbs, basically. So if somebody can do it, then that’s interesting, but they have to be able to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Adhiti, thank you so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adhiti Bandlamudi: \u003c/strong>Thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Adhiti Bandlamudi, housing reporter for KQED. By the way, we’ve got tons of older episodes on California forever and the people behind it. I’ll leave you some links to those in our show notes if you want to take a look back at those. This 36 minute conversation with oddity was cut down and edited by producer Esquinca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Ellie Prickett-Morgan is our intern. They scored this episode an ad about the tape. Our senior editor is Alan Montecillo. Music courtesy of the Audio Network. The Bay is a listener supported production of KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Peace.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"title": "California Forever Shells out $2M in Campaign to Build City from Scratch",
"headTitle": "California Forever Shells out $2M in Campaign to Build City from Scratch | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>California Forever spent some $2 million in the first three months of the year on its campaign to convince voters it should be allowed to build a city from scratch in Eastern Solano County, newly released campaign finance records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money includes funds it has budgeted but has yet to pay out to contractors and around $1 million of in-kind contributions. The company has thus far been the sole contributor to its campaign, according to the records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972769/not-just-a-crazy-idea-california-forever-releases-ballot-details-for-new-bay-area-city\"> introduced the initiative\u003c/a> in January, California Forever CEO Jan Sramek promised to spend “as much [money] as we need to win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The filings show California Forever has so far spent the largest portion of its money — more than $330,000 — on firms hired to collect the more than 20,400 signatures it submitted to the Solano County Registrar’s Office \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984408/billionaire-backed-bid-for-new-solano-county-city-is-closer-to-november-ballot\">earlier this week\u003c/a>. More than $200,000 went toward campaign workers’ salaries, and nearly $210,000 was spent on campaign websites and emails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the payments also show more than $238,000 paid to consultant firms headed by highly connected political campaigners, including several former strategists and aides to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the wife of a current Fairfield councilmember.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Forever's Campaign Payments\" aria-label=\"Pie Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-oaHsx\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/oaHsx/2/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"850\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a countywide ballot initiative, the spending is “robust,” said political and election lawyer Bradley Hertz, but “not terribly over the top.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it were LA County, for example, with 5 million voters, [the budget] would be at least five or 10 times this amount to gather signatures and get the necessary publicity going,” Hertz said. “The big money needs to be spent at this stage for signature gathering.”[aside postID=news_11984656 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/12/14289_transform-1440x960.jpg']A representative from California Forever did not comment on its spending, but said the team is “feeling good” and that the company will have more updates on its plan in the coming week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company is relying on several high-profile political strategists to get initiative to the November election, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/14/legislative-affairs-secretary-angie-wei-to-depart-new-legislative-affairs-secretary-appointed/\">Angie Wei\u003c/a>, a former legislative aide to Newsom; \u003ca href=\"https://www.rodriguezstrategies.com/\">Matt Rodriguez\u003c/a>, who worked with the governor in 2022 to oppose Proposition 30; and \u003ca href=\"https://www.themediacompany.llc/\">Brian Brokaw\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://brianbrokaw.com/bio/\">Dan Newman\u003c/a>, two longtime campaign advisers to Newsom. Brokaw also served as Vice President Kamala Harris’s former campaign manager when she ran for Attorney General in 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever also paid Sue Vaccaro, wife of Fairfield Councilmember Rick Vaccaro, $4,000 for campaign consulting. Councilmember Vacarro has not responded to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Forever Campaign Payments\" aria-label=\"Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-yF2wI\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/yF2wI/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"614\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Registrar’s Office is now verifying California Forever’s submitted signatures. If they all check out, the Registrar will pass the initiative along to the Solano County Board of Supervisors, which must decide whether to approve it outright or put it to voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Mitch Mashburn, a critic of the plan, said Wednesday that if the initiative qualifies for the election, he would call for a special report assessing the proposed city’s impacts, both positive and negative. But Hertz suspected California Forever has accounted for the added delay this report would require. The supervisors have until Aug. 9 to vote to place the initiative on the November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next set of campaign finance reports is due by the end of July. Paul Mitchell, owner of polling firm Redistricting Partners, said California Forever’s spending on getting the ballot measure to voters is likely a drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to build the proposed city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just because it gets passed by voters isn’t going to build a house,” Mitchell said. “[The amount spent so far] is not an enormous sum for what they’re looking to do, and it’s probably not going to break records.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California Forever spent some $2 million in the first three months of the year on its campaign to convince voters it should be allowed to build a city from scratch in Eastern Solano County, newly released campaign finance records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money includes funds it has budgeted but has yet to pay out to contractors and around $1 million of in-kind contributions. The company has thus far been the sole contributor to its campaign, according to the records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972769/not-just-a-crazy-idea-california-forever-releases-ballot-details-for-new-bay-area-city\"> introduced the initiative\u003c/a> in January, California Forever CEO Jan Sramek promised to spend “as much [money] as we need to win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The filings show California Forever has so far spent the largest portion of its money — more than $330,000 — on firms hired to collect the more than 20,400 signatures it submitted to the Solano County Registrar’s Office \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984408/billionaire-backed-bid-for-new-solano-county-city-is-closer-to-november-ballot\">earlier this week\u003c/a>. More than $200,000 went toward campaign workers’ salaries, and nearly $210,000 was spent on campaign websites and emails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the payments also show more than $238,000 paid to consultant firms headed by highly connected political campaigners, including several former strategists and aides to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the wife of a current Fairfield councilmember.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Forever's Campaign Payments\" aria-label=\"Pie Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-oaHsx\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/oaHsx/2/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"850\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a countywide ballot initiative, the spending is “robust,” said political and election lawyer Bradley Hertz, but “not terribly over the top.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it were LA County, for example, with 5 million voters, [the budget] would be at least five or 10 times this amount to gather signatures and get the necessary publicity going,” Hertz said. “The big money needs to be spent at this stage for signature gathering.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A representative from California Forever did not comment on its spending, but said the team is “feeling good” and that the company will have more updates on its plan in the coming week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company is relying on several high-profile political strategists to get initiative to the November election, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/14/legislative-affairs-secretary-angie-wei-to-depart-new-legislative-affairs-secretary-appointed/\">Angie Wei\u003c/a>, a former legislative aide to Newsom; \u003ca href=\"https://www.rodriguezstrategies.com/\">Matt Rodriguez\u003c/a>, who worked with the governor in 2022 to oppose Proposition 30; and \u003ca href=\"https://www.themediacompany.llc/\">Brian Brokaw\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://brianbrokaw.com/bio/\">Dan Newman\u003c/a>, two longtime campaign advisers to Newsom. Brokaw also served as Vice President Kamala Harris’s former campaign manager when she ran for Attorney General in 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever also paid Sue Vaccaro, wife of Fairfield Councilmember Rick Vaccaro, $4,000 for campaign consulting. Councilmember Vacarro has not responded to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Forever Campaign Payments\" aria-label=\"Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-yF2wI\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/yF2wI/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"614\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Registrar’s Office is now verifying California Forever’s submitted signatures. If they all check out, the Registrar will pass the initiative along to the Solano County Board of Supervisors, which must decide whether to approve it outright or put it to voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Mitch Mashburn, a critic of the plan, said Wednesday that if the initiative qualifies for the election, he would call for a special report assessing the proposed city’s impacts, both positive and negative. But Hertz suspected California Forever has accounted for the added delay this report would require. The supervisors have until Aug. 9 to vote to place the initiative on the November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next set of campaign finance reports is due by the end of July. Paul Mitchell, owner of polling firm Redistricting Partners, said California Forever’s spending on getting the ballot measure to voters is likely a drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to build the proposed city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just because it gets passed by voters isn’t going to build a house,” Mitchell said. “[The amount spent so far] is not an enormous sum for what they’re looking to do, and it’s probably not going to break records.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "billionaire-backed-bid-for-new-solano-county-city-is-closer-to-november-ballot",
"title": "Billionaire-Backed Bid for New Solano County City Is Closer to November Ballot",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>This story was updated on April 30, 2024, at 11:15 a.m.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970694/california-forever-lawsuit-looms-as-solano-county-farmers-fight-back\">California Forever\u003c/a> has gathered enough signatures to qualify its measure for the November ballot, representatives for the billionaire-backed company said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company, which hopes to transform farmland in Eastern Solano County into a dense, walkable city, must first get its plan approved by voters. However, California Forever had to submit just over 13,000 signatures to get on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Solano County Registrar’s Office confirmed with KQED that they had received the signatures early Tuesday morning. The company claims it collected over 20,000 signatures, but the registrar’s office will spend the next five days counting each signature individually to make sure they have enough to qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s announcement marked a turning point in a campaign that’s been controversial from the start. Despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972769/not-just-a-crazy-idea-california-forever-releases-ballot-details-for-new-bay-area-city\">revealing the ballot initiative\u003c/a> in mid-January, California Forever didn’t begin collecting signatures until late March due to back-and-forth with the registrar’s office over the ballot language. The company also faced accusations that the firm it hired to gather signatures, PCI Consultants, was misrepresenting the initiative and manipulating voters into signing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever has denied those allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, characterized the speedy signature-gathering effort as an endorsement for the plan itself, noting workers gathered 7,000 more signatures than required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That number reflects the breadth and depth of support for the East Solano plan across Solano County, from all walks of life, all parts of the county who are saying the same thing: Yes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Paul Mitchell, who heads the political polling organization Redistricting Partners, said signature gathering can be done quickly — if you’re willing to pay for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These signature firms, when they have the resources to hire staff, don’t fail in collecting signatures,” he said. “The signature-gathering process is very mechanical. So if you have the resources to pay for all those mechanics, you’ll be fine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Secretary of State’s Office did not confirm or deny whether it was investigating any formal complaints against California Forever, a spokesperson at the Solano County Registrar’s Office said at least nine people had emailed the office, complaining about misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vacaville resident Tina Collins said she saw that conduct first-hand in early April from a signature gatherer standing outside a Walmart Supercenter in Dixon. She said the worker handed her several pieces of paper to sign, but she was confused about what she was approving. When she refused to sign the documents, she said the signature gatherer followed her to her car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt extremely uncomfortable,” she said. “I haven’t heard much about [California Forever], but from what I’ve heard, I don’t think it’s promising.”[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='housing']California Forever may have an uphill battle ahead of them as they seek approval from voters, who have been deeply skeptical of the plan since it was unveiled last August. It, along with its parent company, Flannery Associates, were forced to reveal their identities after spending the past six years \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970694/california-forever-lawsuit-looms-as-solano-county-farmers-fight-back\">discreetly buying about 60,000 acres of land\u003c/a> in the Montezuma Hills. Since going public, California Forever has been met with harsh criticism from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11976108/california-forever-faces-resistance-from-federal-lawmakers-and-local-leaders-in-solano-county\">several lawmakers\u003c/a>, affordable housing advocates and residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A poll conducted in early March by FM3 Research on behalf of the Greenbelt Alliance, an organization staunchly opposed to the project, found that 60% of people aware of the company’s plan opposed it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But despite vocal naysayers, some Solano County voters are supportive. Tyree Carrie lives in Suisun City, a few miles from the proposed new town. He said if it makes it to the November ballot, he’ll vote “Yes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel it’s something that’s very necessary,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who are struggling with housing in general, so I think it’s awesome when there are more options available and being able to generate income in an area, as far as giving people work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the myriad of promises California Forever has tied to its proposal, the company said it would bring 15,000 new jobs with higher-than-average pay. A recent \u003ca href=\"https://assets.ctfassets.net/ivxuf0dn6dhw/7d88UkQMImn6Q01yvy1RWM/76e2a1e38c16fc52ab3b758f6caf71b0/CMC_Solano_Analysis.pdf\">study\u003c/a> conducted by Michael Genest, the former California Director of Finance, found a “significant economic gap between Solano County and its neighbors in the Bay Area,” with a 30% gap in average household income between Solano County residents and other Bay Area residents, based on 2022 numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In cities like Fairfield and [others], there’s not a lot of good-paying jobs and not a lot of affordable housing either,” said Niyah Proctor, a Fairfield resident. “The state of California is really expensive, so I feel like we should add more places for people to be able to afford.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To woo more voters like Carrie and Proctor and get its initiative approved, California Forever promised to spend big bucks on its campaign. Just how much won’t be publicly available until the company files its campaign finance statements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bob Stern, who served on the first council of the Fair Political Practices Commission, said deep pockets don’t necessarily guarantee a “Yes” vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just because you spend a lot of money doesn’t mean you’re going to win an election,” he said. “It does mean you’re going to get on the ballot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Billionaire-Backed Bid for New Solano County City Is Closer to November Ballot | KQED",
"description": "On Tuesday, California Forever, a company with a controversial vision to transform Eastern Solano County farmland into a dense, walkable city, moved one step closer to appearing on the November ballot.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>This story was updated on April 30, 2024, at 11:15 a.m.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970694/california-forever-lawsuit-looms-as-solano-county-farmers-fight-back\">California Forever\u003c/a> has gathered enough signatures to qualify its measure for the November ballot, representatives for the billionaire-backed company said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company, which hopes to transform farmland in Eastern Solano County into a dense, walkable city, must first get its plan approved by voters. However, California Forever had to submit just over 13,000 signatures to get on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Solano County Registrar’s Office confirmed with KQED that they had received the signatures early Tuesday morning. The company claims it collected over 20,000 signatures, but the registrar’s office will spend the next five days counting each signature individually to make sure they have enough to qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s announcement marked a turning point in a campaign that’s been controversial from the start. Despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972769/not-just-a-crazy-idea-california-forever-releases-ballot-details-for-new-bay-area-city\">revealing the ballot initiative\u003c/a> in mid-January, California Forever didn’t begin collecting signatures until late March due to back-and-forth with the registrar’s office over the ballot language. The company also faced accusations that the firm it hired to gather signatures, PCI Consultants, was misrepresenting the initiative and manipulating voters into signing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever has denied those allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, characterized the speedy signature-gathering effort as an endorsement for the plan itself, noting workers gathered 7,000 more signatures than required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That number reflects the breadth and depth of support for the East Solano plan across Solano County, from all walks of life, all parts of the county who are saying the same thing: Yes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Paul Mitchell, who heads the political polling organization Redistricting Partners, said signature gathering can be done quickly — if you’re willing to pay for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These signature firms, when they have the resources to hire staff, don’t fail in collecting signatures,” he said. “The signature-gathering process is very mechanical. So if you have the resources to pay for all those mechanics, you’ll be fine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Secretary of State’s Office did not confirm or deny whether it was investigating any formal complaints against California Forever, a spokesperson at the Solano County Registrar’s Office said at least nine people had emailed the office, complaining about misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vacaville resident Tina Collins said she saw that conduct first-hand in early April from a signature gatherer standing outside a Walmart Supercenter in Dixon. She said the worker handed her several pieces of paper to sign, but she was confused about what she was approving. When she refused to sign the documents, she said the signature gatherer followed her to her car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt extremely uncomfortable,” she said. “I haven’t heard much about [California Forever], but from what I’ve heard, I don’t think it’s promising.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California Forever may have an uphill battle ahead of them as they seek approval from voters, who have been deeply skeptical of the plan since it was unveiled last August. It, along with its parent company, Flannery Associates, were forced to reveal their identities after spending the past six years \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970694/california-forever-lawsuit-looms-as-solano-county-farmers-fight-back\">discreetly buying about 60,000 acres of land\u003c/a> in the Montezuma Hills. Since going public, California Forever has been met with harsh criticism from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11976108/california-forever-faces-resistance-from-federal-lawmakers-and-local-leaders-in-solano-county\">several lawmakers\u003c/a>, affordable housing advocates and residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A poll conducted in early March by FM3 Research on behalf of the Greenbelt Alliance, an organization staunchly opposed to the project, found that 60% of people aware of the company’s plan opposed it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But despite vocal naysayers, some Solano County voters are supportive. Tyree Carrie lives in Suisun City, a few miles from the proposed new town. He said if it makes it to the November ballot, he’ll vote “Yes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel it’s something that’s very necessary,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who are struggling with housing in general, so I think it’s awesome when there are more options available and being able to generate income in an area, as far as giving people work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the myriad of promises California Forever has tied to its proposal, the company said it would bring 15,000 new jobs with higher-than-average pay. A recent \u003ca href=\"https://assets.ctfassets.net/ivxuf0dn6dhw/7d88UkQMImn6Q01yvy1RWM/76e2a1e38c16fc52ab3b758f6caf71b0/CMC_Solano_Analysis.pdf\">study\u003c/a> conducted by Michael Genest, the former California Director of Finance, found a “significant economic gap between Solano County and its neighbors in the Bay Area,” with a 30% gap in average household income between Solano County residents and other Bay Area residents, based on 2022 numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In cities like Fairfield and [others], there’s not a lot of good-paying jobs and not a lot of affordable housing either,” said Niyah Proctor, a Fairfield resident. “The state of California is really expensive, so I feel like we should add more places for people to be able to afford.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To woo more voters like Carrie and Proctor and get its initiative approved, California Forever promised to spend big bucks on its campaign. Just how much won’t be publicly available until the company files its campaign finance statements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bob Stern, who served on the first council of the Fair Political Practices Commission, said deep pockets don’t necessarily guarantee a “Yes” vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just because you spend a lot of money doesn’t mean you’re going to win an election,” he said. “It does mean you’re going to get on the ballot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Two federal lawmakers on Thursday joined a growing chorus of local elected officials raising concerns about California Forever’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972769/not-just-a-crazy-idea-california-forever-releases-ballot-details-for-new-bay-area-city\">proposal to build a new city\u003c/a> in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it comes as California Forever, a company with funding from noted tech billionaires, is seeking approval from voters for its plan to add shops, office and industrial space and enough homes for up to 400,000 new residents on what is now around 17,500 acres of farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic California Reps. John Garamendi and Mike Thompson said the development could impede training exercises for Travis Air Force personnel, strain the local water supply, and raise public transit infrastructure costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.)\"]‘Bottom line is this is no place for a 400,000 person city.’[/pullquote]“My concern has always been our national security and our food security and the fact that the people of Solano County have a role in what happens in their county,” Thompson said. “I think this company has put all those issues at risk and violated the trust of the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The comments made to reporters came after several local elected officials have been critical of the project, including Suisun Mayor Pro Tem Princess Washington, Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn, Will Brazelton of the Solano County Farm Bureau and Vallejo Councilmember Charles Palmares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976084\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2160px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976084\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration of an aerial view of a large residential area and city.\" width=\"2160\" height=\"1215\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg 2160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2160px) 100vw, 2160px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of California Forever’s proposed new city in Solano County. The company said it would include a mix of apartments and townhomes, along with shops, offices and industrial uses. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement following the formation of a new group opposed to the project called Solano Together, Mashburn decried California Forever’s ballot initiative as “shockingly light on real details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11972769,news_11970694\" label=\"Related Stories\"]“Should the initiative qualify for a November ballot, our community will be asked to provide an up or down on the project,” he said. “We’d be asked to make this decision without basic facts needed to make an informed decision. That should make everyone concerned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the company remains steadfast in its race to November’s ballot. Brian Brokaw, a spokesperson for the company, has great respect for elected officials but said, “They don’t get to make up their own ‘facts.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The initiative spells out very clearly what the proposal is — and what it is not — and includes ten voter guarantees to ensure accountability,” he told KQED. “We are delighted with the feedback we are receiving from Solano voters since publishing the full plan this January and we know that the voters will make their own decisions based on the facts this November.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many local elected leaders remain skeptical as to why California Forever’s subsidiary company, Flannery Associates, began in 2017 buying tens of thousands of acres in the Montezuma Hills without revealing their identity or intentions until just last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson and Garamendi have been vocal opponents of the project even before details emerged. Last July, before California Forever officially announced its plans, Garamendi, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee’s readiness panel, asked the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment to investigate the land purchase. That inquiry prompted California Forever to go public with their plans in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976085\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2160px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976085\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration of a neighborhood with trees and people sitting on benches and stairs of buildings.\" width=\"2160\" height=\"1215\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg 2160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2160px) 100vw, 2160px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of a residential street in the city California Forever is proposing to build in Solano County. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Garamendi is particularly concerned about the Travis Air Force Base and how the development could interfere with operations there. In January, California Forever amended its ballot measure text to locate the town back farther away from the Air Force base, but Garamendi said light pollution from the proposed city could impact training for nighttime raids and sorties. The base also generates loud noises that Garamendi said could impact residents in the new city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Bottom line is this is no place for a 400,000 person city,” Garamendi said. “There is no way that Travis Air Force Base will be positively affected [by this development]. It’s all negative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, just a day before Garamendi and Thompson officially conveyed their concerns about the plan, California Forever announced in a \u003ca href=\"https://californiaforever.com/news/we-revised-our-initiative-to-provide-additional-protections-for-travis-afb\">blog post\u003c/a> that it would move the town even farther away from the base than initially proposed and create a “Travis Security Zone” which would double the size of the current area around the base from 7,971 acres to 14,900 acres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976131\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1476px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976131\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1476\" height=\"1680\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM.png 1476w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM-800x911.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM-1020x1161.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM-160x182.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM-1349x1536.png 1349w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1476px) 100vw, 1476px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map showing the proposed area for the new city within Solano County. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The base abuts the northwestern part of the new development. California Forever’s amended ballot initiative, which was filed on Wednesday, includes an additional 4,200 acres zoned as “Travis Compatible Infrastructure,” where the only permitted uses are “infrastructure, agriculture, and habitat preservation.” The residential areas of the new city will also be moved farther away from the base, and the downtown area will be relocated one mile south to address light pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re committed to being a strong and productive partner to the base and its families for decades to come and to supporting the critical role it plays for both our national security and for Solano County,” the blog post reads. “Our swift action to modify our plans and the initiative is proof of that unwavering commitment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the amended ballot initiative only spurred more questions from officials who worry California Forever’s vision isn’t as clear as it appears. Garamendi raised questions about what kind of infrastructure would be included in the 4,200-acre zone and said his concerns about who will pay for that infrastructure remain unaddressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are enormous issues of who is going to pay the cost of infrastructure,” Garamendi said. “Flannery [Associates] says they’ll pay their fair share. Guaranteed, the rest of Solano County will be picking up a huge tax bill here. My opposition to this [development] is even stronger today.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“My concern has always been our national security and our food security and the fact that the people of Solano County have a role in what happens in their county,” Thompson said. “I think this company has put all those issues at risk and violated the trust of the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The comments made to reporters came after several local elected officials have been critical of the project, including Suisun Mayor Pro Tem Princess Washington, Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn, Will Brazelton of the Solano County Farm Bureau and Vallejo Councilmember Charles Palmares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976084\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2160px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976084\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration of an aerial view of a large residential area and city.\" width=\"2160\" height=\"1215\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg 2160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/01_Building-complete-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2160px) 100vw, 2160px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of California Forever’s proposed new city in Solano County. The company said it would include a mix of apartments and townhomes, along with shops, offices and industrial uses. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement following the formation of a new group opposed to the project called Solano Together, Mashburn decried California Forever’s ballot initiative as “shockingly light on real details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Should the initiative qualify for a November ballot, our community will be asked to provide an up or down on the project,” he said. “We’d be asked to make this decision without basic facts needed to make an informed decision. That should make everyone concerned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the company remains steadfast in its race to November’s ballot. Brian Brokaw, a spokesperson for the company, has great respect for elected officials but said, “They don’t get to make up their own ‘facts.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The initiative spells out very clearly what the proposal is — and what it is not — and includes ten voter guarantees to ensure accountability,” he told KQED. “We are delighted with the feedback we are receiving from Solano voters since publishing the full plan this January and we know that the voters will make their own decisions based on the facts this November.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many local elected leaders remain skeptical as to why California Forever’s subsidiary company, Flannery Associates, began in 2017 buying tens of thousands of acres in the Montezuma Hills without revealing their identity or intentions until just last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson and Garamendi have been vocal opponents of the project even before details emerged. Last July, before California Forever officially announced its plans, Garamendi, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee’s readiness panel, asked the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment to investigate the land purchase. That inquiry prompted California Forever to go public with their plans in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976085\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2160px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976085\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration of a neighborhood with trees and people sitting on benches and stairs of buildings.\" width=\"2160\" height=\"1215\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg 2160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/02_Safe-and-slow-streets_IMAGE-CREDIT_-Designed-by-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2160px) 100vw, 2160px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of a residential street in the city California Forever is proposing to build in Solano County. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Garamendi is particularly concerned about the Travis Air Force Base and how the development could interfere with operations there. In January, California Forever amended its ballot measure text to locate the town back farther away from the Air Force base, but Garamendi said light pollution from the proposed city could impact training for nighttime raids and sorties. The base also generates loud noises that Garamendi said could impact residents in the new city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Bottom line is this is no place for a 400,000 person city,” Garamendi said. “There is no way that Travis Air Force Base will be positively affected [by this development]. It’s all negative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, just a day before Garamendi and Thompson officially conveyed their concerns about the plan, California Forever announced in a \u003ca href=\"https://californiaforever.com/news/we-revised-our-initiative-to-provide-additional-protections-for-travis-afb\">blog post\u003c/a> that it would move the town even farther away from the base than initially proposed and create a “Travis Security Zone” which would double the size of the current area around the base from 7,971 acres to 14,900 acres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976131\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1476px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976131\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1476\" height=\"1680\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM.png 1476w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM-800x911.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM-1020x1161.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM-160x182.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-15-at-3.58.52-PM-1349x1536.png 1349w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1476px) 100vw, 1476px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map showing the proposed area for the new city within Solano County. \u003ccite>(Courtesy California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The base abuts the northwestern part of the new development. California Forever’s amended ballot initiative, which was filed on Wednesday, includes an additional 4,200 acres zoned as “Travis Compatible Infrastructure,” where the only permitted uses are “infrastructure, agriculture, and habitat preservation.” The residential areas of the new city will also be moved farther away from the base, and the downtown area will be relocated one mile south to address light pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re committed to being a strong and productive partner to the base and its families for decades to come and to supporting the critical role it plays for both our national security and for Solano County,” the blog post reads. “Our swift action to modify our plans and the initiative is proof of that unwavering commitment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the amended ballot initiative only spurred more questions from officials who worry California Forever’s vision isn’t as clear as it appears. Garamendi raised questions about what kind of infrastructure would be included in the 4,200-acre zone and said his concerns about who will pay for that infrastructure remain unaddressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are enormous issues of who is going to pay the cost of infrastructure,” Garamendi said. “Flannery [Associates] says they’ll pay their fair share. Guaranteed, the rest of Solano County will be picking up a huge tax bill here. My opposition to this [development] is even stronger today.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Forever Unveils Ballot Measure Plans for Its New City",
"headTitle": "California Forever Unveils Ballot Measure Plans for Its New City | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California Forever, the billionaire-funded company behind the controversial plan to build a new city from scratch in Solano County, has released language for a ballot measure they hope to bring before voters. KQED’s Erin Baldassari tells us what’s in the plan, and how residents are feeling about it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC7105220546&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. So if the billionaire investors behind the group California for ever really want to build a new city from scratch in Solano County, they’re going to need permission from voters first. After years of buying up land in the county in secret California for ever released language for a ballot measure that they want to take to voters this November, with hopes of getting their blessing to build a new utopia on undeveloped farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>It’s no different than a company doing, research and development to design a new gadget or a new car. And then you come out and you announce, this is the project. And, that’s exactly what we’ve done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Today, what Solano County could be voting on and what California Forever is offering in return. Well, Aaron, I’m wondering if you could just first tell me about this press conference that you went to this week. Where was it and what was the mood like?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>It was in the Veterans Memorial Building in Rio Vista.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Erin Baldassari is senior editor of KQED housing affordability desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>You know, there was a lot of reporters and TV cameras there. Obviously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>Today is a day that, many of us have been looking for, looking forward for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>But also some local elected officials, members of the Community advisory board and other members of the public who were generally supportive of California Forever’s plan. And those were the people who were invited inside to try to. And I think there was probably maybe a couple dozen people outside who had wanted to hear more about what California Forever was proposing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>There was a number of people who maybe had more questions about the plan. Some people were holding signs saying things like save our farmlands, but they were not allowed in for this meeting. And why? Rio Vista Rio Vista was a really intentional choice. You know, it will be one of the most impacted by this new development. It is, you know, directly adjacent to the proposed new community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Driving through, I saw farmhouses and livestock and wind farms and croplands, and it’s got this small but kind of quaint downtown with neon signs and, you know, painted facades that has, you know, it’s very reminiscent of, like, small town, 1950s vibes. And originally the meeting was supposed to happen in the old movie theater in Rio Vista, but at the last minute they moved it to the Veterans Memorial Building, I think, just to accommodate more people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>I do want to talk about the venue that we want it to be initially, because I think it’s a microcosm of what we hope to achieve here in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And Jan Sramek, the CEO of California Forever, said he really wanted to unveil their proposal at that movie theater because to him, you know, it represents a new chapter for towns in Solano County like Rio Vista, that haven’t shared in that urban growth and development and and also economic investment that the rest of the Bay area has had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>We believe that, we can have a very special relationship with Rio Vista, and bring some of the things that the community needs, whilst at the same time allowing Rio Vista to keep its small town character and the identity that makes those special.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So the purpose of this press conference was to unveil more details about this brand new city that California forever wants to build. But of course, they need the okay from Solano County voters first. Can you remind us, what do they need voters permission to do exactly?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>So Solano County, like a lot of more, rural or agricultural counties in the state, has an orderly growth ordinance. So basically these were ordinance passed in the 1970s and 80s that limited development to within city boundaries. Environmentalists at the time wanted to combat sprawl. There was a housing crunch then, as now, and so developers were eyeing orchards and farms and other open spaces to put new tract housing. So that’s where these orderly growth ordinances come in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And so basically it says that if you want to build outside of these existing cities, you need a vote of the people to do that first. Now, I think it’s worth noting that there was another attempt to do something similar to what California Forever is proposing, albeit on a smaller scale, in the 80s in Solano County. Back then, a San Francisco developer, Hiram Wu, wanted to turn nearly 900 acres of pasture land into a new town with about 6000 residents. But voters at the time did not go with that plan. They turned it down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So what are voters going to be asked to decide exactly in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>It’s actually kind of a lot. The initiative that California Forever put forward is 83 pages long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Oh my goodness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Yeah. It’s a lot to digest. They’re going to be asked to agree to changes to the county’s general plan, as well as what’s called a specific plan, which is basically rezoning the land as well as open space requirements and community benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Okay. So they’re asking voters for basically permission to build this new city. How many people are going to live in this new community they want to build in? And what is the idea exactly again?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>California Forever wants to transform what is now around 60,000 acres of farmland into a new city, with as many as 400,000 people over the next half century. So they’re envisioning this as a medium density community. That means a lot of rowhouses and apartment buildings. They want to have lots of bike lanes. They want their own rapid bus system and parks of various sizes, and they want all the neighborhoods to be mixed use so they can have shops and restaurants and offices mixed in with housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And while they’re contemplating that this community will grow over many decades to, as I said, around 400,000 people, the critical number to think about is 50,000. And that’s sort of the medium term number of residents that developers are contemplating. And that’s also tied to a lot of the community benefits that they’re promising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Right. Tell us a little bit more about what California Forever is offering to do in order to kind of convince voters to make this happen?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>California Forever is saying that they will pay $500 million in community benefits for every 50,000 residents that the new city adds, so that community benefits package includes $400 million in down payment assistance and affordable housing funds. There’s $70 million in grants for college tuition or vocational training, or to start a new business. And there’s 30 million for parks and ecological habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Every time the new city adds another 50,000 residents, they will put in another $500 million into those community benefits funds. And then a second fund called Solano Downtowns, would contribute 200 million in for profit investments for every 50,000 new residents. Again, scaling up as the community scales up. And that would support, you know, designed to sort of revitalize the downtowns in existing Solano County cities. They’re also saying that they will pay for all of the infrastructure in this new community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>So that’s things like waterlines and roads that normally the county or, you know, another municipality would pay for. So they’re saying that taxpayers who reside outside of this new community will not have to pay for these traditional county funded services or infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>It seems like some of what is being offered is sort of intended to respond to some of the criticism. I mean, like this idea of promising money to help already existing cities in Solano County and in saying it won’t become a bedroom community. I mean, I feel like that’s sort of a criticism, that came up during some of the town halls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think they really wanted to tout the fact that they are listening and that they are trying to incorporate feedback from existing Solano County residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Patrice Lewis: \u003c/strong>I see this project as something that can definitely help interconnect the county as a whole and bring the county up as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And I spoke with a community advisory board member, Patrice Lewis, who said that she was really heartened to see that it did seem like they were incorporating that input.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Patrice Lewis: \u003c/strong>Instead of looking at kind of the negatives of what went on in other kind of tech related regions of our state. We can actually do it the right way and have that community input that we actually need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And one of the big things that they are saying that they’re going to do is a promise to limit growth to 50,000 residents. If the new city doesn’t produce good paying jobs. So they’re saying they want to produce at least 15,000 jobs that pay 125% of the county’s average weekly salary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And if they don’t do that, they will stop adding new residents. And that was a direct outcome of this community input process. And as you said, this desire that this new community doesn’t become a bedroom community, that it has local jobs that folks can, can go to and and not have to crowd the existing highways into the Bay area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Coming up, we’ll hear from Rio Vista residents about what they think about California Forever’s offer and what Solano County voters can expect ahead of the November election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What is your sense of how people are responding so far now that California Forever has had a few town halls, and then also has really revealed more about what it plans to do and how it plans to do it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Yeah. You know, I mean, I think it’s just a mix, right? First off, for a long time people did not know who these people were. And and so I think there’s just this fear and suspicion that, you know, they had been operating in the shadows for so long, and now they’re coming out with these grand promises. And that’s just a big hurdle to overcome for a lot of people. There’s a lot of concerns about water and infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>A lot of folks out in Solano County have a really grueling commute into Oakland and San Francisco and other parts of the Bay area, and highway 80 is already really congested. These smaller highways that folks are commuting on are also really crowded. So adding more people, even if some of them will work locally, is definitely a concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bill Mortimore: \u003c/strong>I’m skeptical, but they barred me from coming in. So how do I make a decision?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>One guy that I talked to outside of the meeting on Wednesday, Bill Mortimore, is a longtime Rio Vista resident, and I think for him, it’s just it’s just such an incredible large project that it’s hard for him to even wrap his mind around it. Pie in the Sky is how he described it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bill Mortimore: \u003c/strong>Talk to other developers and look at their projects and what they build to turn a profit. And you’ll see what reality is. The difference between conceptual and reality is a whole different ballgame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>The folks who spoke during the meeting were. All from outside of Rio Vista. And I think that was a huge frustration for the folks in Rio Vista who saw that this meeting was happening. Maybe assume that it was open to the public, because there have been a lot of town hall meetings and and opportunities for folks to to weigh in and give input, and were frustrated that they were ultimately barred from coming in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>You know, so I think things like that also do not engender trust. But, you know, on the other hand, the housing crisis is real, and there’s a lot of people who really want housing, who want housing that’s more affordable. And if you know, California forever is seeing that they can provide that. I mean, I think folks are at least open to the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And what about local leaders in Solano County, Erin? What’s your sense of how they’re feeling? Because I know they’re among some of the more skeptical, given so many of them had been trying for years to figure out who was behind buying up all this land in Solano County. So what’s your sense now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>I talked to one city council member in Rio Vista, Sarah Donnelly who was actually at the Veterans Memorial Building on Wednesday. She first off won’t take a position for or against the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sarah Donnelly: \u003c/strong>Well, I’m just going to start with again. Our legal counsel has told us that we should not take a position for or against. So but I think we can still be skeptical. And I think the voters should be skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And I think some of that skepticism comes from a lot of the big promises that California Forever is making and questions about, you know, what happens if there’s a recession, what happens if inflation goes crazy? Again? What if there are unintended consequences from this development that they hadn’t yet anticipated? But someone like her in Rio Vista will have to deal with once those problems creep up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sarah Donnelly: \u003c/strong>This is ground zero. This is where they’re the most impact will happen right up against us, and we have the fewer fewest votes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>But on a more human level, you know, Rio Vista is a really small community. And I get the sense that it’s really tight knit. And so, you know, part of her skepticism comes from some of California forevers past actions, including suing some people in Solano County and folks who haven’t agreed to sell their land yet, who they allege were price fixing. You know, she’s looking at that behavior and and seeing it as maybe not the most, friendly or collaborative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sarah Donnelly: \u003c/strong>I’m skeptical about them guaranteeing anything when they’re doing what you’ve already heard of, you know, suing our friends and neighbors, to try to get their way in a situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Do we know now, Erin, whether this is going to be on the ballot in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>It’s not a guarantee. First, they have to gather, a requisite number of signatures. I think it’s somewhere in the range of 13 to 14,000 from across the county. Those have to be verified. And then the Board of Supervisors votes to put it onto the ballot. So there’s still a number of steps. It seems unlikely that it would not be on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek; \u003c/strong>And a lot of the people who have been excited about this or who’ve been open minded about it. Are going to come out and they’re going to tell their neighbors, hey, I believe in this…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Jan Sramek, the CEO of California Forever said, you know, they were willing to spend as much money as it takes to win this ballot measure in November. So I think we’re going to see some really aggressive campaigning between now and then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>I’m going to make this happen no matter what.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>They’ll have more town hall meetings, people doing outreach, and I’m sure we’ll begin to see lots of ads and, mailers and all the traditional, tools of election campaigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Yeah, I am actually already seeing those, so. Oh, well, yeah, I’m sure they’re just going to, gearing up from here. Do we have a sense yet of Solano County voters willingness to approve something like this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>I don’t know. I think some people already made up their mind about how they feel about California forever. And some people, I think, who are already open to the idea, might look at these community benefits and say, oh, you know, I see something for myself in here. I see scholarships and, you know, help with starting new businesses, money for open space. I mean, I think all of that is really appealing to folks, and obviously people really want housing. So, we’ll see as we get closer to November, in the last several election cycles, going back to 2016, voters in the Bay area have pretty strongly supported housing measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>So funding for affordable housing, measures to approve, affordable housing developments. But voters in Solano County have been less willing to support those measures than other Bay area counties. And so I think one thing that’ll be really interesting to see is whether this sort of historical resistance will continue in Solano County, or if this desire to have more housing and more affordable housing will win over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Erin, thank you so much for talking with me, I appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Erin Baldassari, senior editor of KQED’s housing affordability desk. This 30 minute conversation with Erin was cut down and edited by producer Maria Esquinca, and Alan Montecillo is our senior editor. He scored this episode and added all the tape. Music courtesy of NPR, First Call Music and the Audio Network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>The rest of our podcast team here at KQED includes Jen Chien, our director of podcasts, Katie Sprenger, our podcast operations manager, Cesar Saldana, our podcast engagement producer and Maha Sanad, our podcast Engagement Intern. The Bay is a production of member supported KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you next time.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California Forever, the billionaire-funded company behind the controversial plan to build a new city from scratch in Solano County, has released language for a ballot measure they hope to bring before voters. KQED’s Erin Baldassari tells us what’s in the plan, and how residents are feeling about it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC7105220546&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. So if the billionaire investors behind the group California for ever really want to build a new city from scratch in Solano County, they’re going to need permission from voters first. After years of buying up land in the county in secret California for ever released language for a ballot measure that they want to take to voters this November, with hopes of getting their blessing to build a new utopia on undeveloped farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>It’s no different than a company doing, research and development to design a new gadget or a new car. And then you come out and you announce, this is the project. And, that’s exactly what we’ve done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Today, what Solano County could be voting on and what California Forever is offering in return. Well, Aaron, I’m wondering if you could just first tell me about this press conference that you went to this week. Where was it and what was the mood like?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>It was in the Veterans Memorial Building in Rio Vista.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Erin Baldassari is senior editor of KQED housing affordability desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>You know, there was a lot of reporters and TV cameras there. Obviously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>Today is a day that, many of us have been looking for, looking forward for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>But also some local elected officials, members of the Community advisory board and other members of the public who were generally supportive of California Forever’s plan. And those were the people who were invited inside to try to. And I think there was probably maybe a couple dozen people outside who had wanted to hear more about what California Forever was proposing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>There was a number of people who maybe had more questions about the plan. Some people were holding signs saying things like save our farmlands, but they were not allowed in for this meeting. And why? Rio Vista Rio Vista was a really intentional choice. You know, it will be one of the most impacted by this new development. It is, you know, directly adjacent to the proposed new community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Driving through, I saw farmhouses and livestock and wind farms and croplands, and it’s got this small but kind of quaint downtown with neon signs and, you know, painted facades that has, you know, it’s very reminiscent of, like, small town, 1950s vibes. And originally the meeting was supposed to happen in the old movie theater in Rio Vista, but at the last minute they moved it to the Veterans Memorial Building, I think, just to accommodate more people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>I do want to talk about the venue that we want it to be initially, because I think it’s a microcosm of what we hope to achieve here in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And Jan Sramek, the CEO of California Forever, said he really wanted to unveil their proposal at that movie theater because to him, you know, it represents a new chapter for towns in Solano County like Rio Vista, that haven’t shared in that urban growth and development and and also economic investment that the rest of the Bay area has had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>We believe that, we can have a very special relationship with Rio Vista, and bring some of the things that the community needs, whilst at the same time allowing Rio Vista to keep its small town character and the identity that makes those special.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So the purpose of this press conference was to unveil more details about this brand new city that California forever wants to build. But of course, they need the okay from Solano County voters first. Can you remind us, what do they need voters permission to do exactly?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>So Solano County, like a lot of more, rural or agricultural counties in the state, has an orderly growth ordinance. So basically these were ordinance passed in the 1970s and 80s that limited development to within city boundaries. Environmentalists at the time wanted to combat sprawl. There was a housing crunch then, as now, and so developers were eyeing orchards and farms and other open spaces to put new tract housing. So that’s where these orderly growth ordinances come in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And so basically it says that if you want to build outside of these existing cities, you need a vote of the people to do that first. Now, I think it’s worth noting that there was another attempt to do something similar to what California Forever is proposing, albeit on a smaller scale, in the 80s in Solano County. Back then, a San Francisco developer, Hiram Wu, wanted to turn nearly 900 acres of pasture land into a new town with about 6000 residents. But voters at the time did not go with that plan. They turned it down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So what are voters going to be asked to decide exactly in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>It’s actually kind of a lot. The initiative that California Forever put forward is 83 pages long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Oh my goodness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Yeah. It’s a lot to digest. They’re going to be asked to agree to changes to the county’s general plan, as well as what’s called a specific plan, which is basically rezoning the land as well as open space requirements and community benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Okay. So they’re asking voters for basically permission to build this new city. How many people are going to live in this new community they want to build in? And what is the idea exactly again?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>California Forever wants to transform what is now around 60,000 acres of farmland into a new city, with as many as 400,000 people over the next half century. So they’re envisioning this as a medium density community. That means a lot of rowhouses and apartment buildings. They want to have lots of bike lanes. They want their own rapid bus system and parks of various sizes, and they want all the neighborhoods to be mixed use so they can have shops and restaurants and offices mixed in with housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And while they’re contemplating that this community will grow over many decades to, as I said, around 400,000 people, the critical number to think about is 50,000. And that’s sort of the medium term number of residents that developers are contemplating. And that’s also tied to a lot of the community benefits that they’re promising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Right. Tell us a little bit more about what California Forever is offering to do in order to kind of convince voters to make this happen?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>California Forever is saying that they will pay $500 million in community benefits for every 50,000 residents that the new city adds, so that community benefits package includes $400 million in down payment assistance and affordable housing funds. There’s $70 million in grants for college tuition or vocational training, or to start a new business. And there’s 30 million for parks and ecological habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Every time the new city adds another 50,000 residents, they will put in another $500 million into those community benefits funds. And then a second fund called Solano Downtowns, would contribute 200 million in for profit investments for every 50,000 new residents. Again, scaling up as the community scales up. And that would support, you know, designed to sort of revitalize the downtowns in existing Solano County cities. They’re also saying that they will pay for all of the infrastructure in this new community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>So that’s things like waterlines and roads that normally the county or, you know, another municipality would pay for. So they’re saying that taxpayers who reside outside of this new community will not have to pay for these traditional county funded services or infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>It seems like some of what is being offered is sort of intended to respond to some of the criticism. I mean, like this idea of promising money to help already existing cities in Solano County and in saying it won’t become a bedroom community. I mean, I feel like that’s sort of a criticism, that came up during some of the town halls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think they really wanted to tout the fact that they are listening and that they are trying to incorporate feedback from existing Solano County residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Patrice Lewis: \u003c/strong>I see this project as something that can definitely help interconnect the county as a whole and bring the county up as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And I spoke with a community advisory board member, Patrice Lewis, who said that she was really heartened to see that it did seem like they were incorporating that input.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Patrice Lewis: \u003c/strong>Instead of looking at kind of the negatives of what went on in other kind of tech related regions of our state. We can actually do it the right way and have that community input that we actually need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And one of the big things that they are saying that they’re going to do is a promise to limit growth to 50,000 residents. If the new city doesn’t produce good paying jobs. So they’re saying they want to produce at least 15,000 jobs that pay 125% of the county’s average weekly salary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And if they don’t do that, they will stop adding new residents. And that was a direct outcome of this community input process. And as you said, this desire that this new community doesn’t become a bedroom community, that it has local jobs that folks can, can go to and and not have to crowd the existing highways into the Bay area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Coming up, we’ll hear from Rio Vista residents about what they think about California Forever’s offer and what Solano County voters can expect ahead of the November election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What is your sense of how people are responding so far now that California Forever has had a few town halls, and then also has really revealed more about what it plans to do and how it plans to do it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Yeah. You know, I mean, I think it’s just a mix, right? First off, for a long time people did not know who these people were. And and so I think there’s just this fear and suspicion that, you know, they had been operating in the shadows for so long, and now they’re coming out with these grand promises. And that’s just a big hurdle to overcome for a lot of people. There’s a lot of concerns about water and infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>A lot of folks out in Solano County have a really grueling commute into Oakland and San Francisco and other parts of the Bay area, and highway 80 is already really congested. These smaller highways that folks are commuting on are also really crowded. So adding more people, even if some of them will work locally, is definitely a concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bill Mortimore: \u003c/strong>I’m skeptical, but they barred me from coming in. So how do I make a decision?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>One guy that I talked to outside of the meeting on Wednesday, Bill Mortimore, is a longtime Rio Vista resident, and I think for him, it’s just it’s just such an incredible large project that it’s hard for him to even wrap his mind around it. Pie in the Sky is how he described it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bill Mortimore: \u003c/strong>Talk to other developers and look at their projects and what they build to turn a profit. And you’ll see what reality is. The difference between conceptual and reality is a whole different ballgame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>The folks who spoke during the meeting were. All from outside of Rio Vista. And I think that was a huge frustration for the folks in Rio Vista who saw that this meeting was happening. Maybe assume that it was open to the public, because there have been a lot of town hall meetings and and opportunities for folks to to weigh in and give input, and were frustrated that they were ultimately barred from coming in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>You know, so I think things like that also do not engender trust. But, you know, on the other hand, the housing crisis is real, and there’s a lot of people who really want housing, who want housing that’s more affordable. And if you know, California forever is seeing that they can provide that. I mean, I think folks are at least open to the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And what about local leaders in Solano County, Erin? What’s your sense of how they’re feeling? Because I know they’re among some of the more skeptical, given so many of them had been trying for years to figure out who was behind buying up all this land in Solano County. So what’s your sense now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>I talked to one city council member in Rio Vista, Sarah Donnelly who was actually at the Veterans Memorial Building on Wednesday. She first off won’t take a position for or against the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sarah Donnelly: \u003c/strong>Well, I’m just going to start with again. Our legal counsel has told us that we should not take a position for or against. So but I think we can still be skeptical. And I think the voters should be skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>And I think some of that skepticism comes from a lot of the big promises that California Forever is making and questions about, you know, what happens if there’s a recession, what happens if inflation goes crazy? Again? What if there are unintended consequences from this development that they hadn’t yet anticipated? But someone like her in Rio Vista will have to deal with once those problems creep up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sarah Donnelly: \u003c/strong>This is ground zero. This is where they’re the most impact will happen right up against us, and we have the fewer fewest votes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>But on a more human level, you know, Rio Vista is a really small community. And I get the sense that it’s really tight knit. And so, you know, part of her skepticism comes from some of California forevers past actions, including suing some people in Solano County and folks who haven’t agreed to sell their land yet, who they allege were price fixing. You know, she’s looking at that behavior and and seeing it as maybe not the most, friendly or collaborative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sarah Donnelly: \u003c/strong>I’m skeptical about them guaranteeing anything when they’re doing what you’ve already heard of, you know, suing our friends and neighbors, to try to get their way in a situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Do we know now, Erin, whether this is going to be on the ballot in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>It’s not a guarantee. First, they have to gather, a requisite number of signatures. I think it’s somewhere in the range of 13 to 14,000 from across the county. Those have to be verified. And then the Board of Supervisors votes to put it onto the ballot. So there’s still a number of steps. It seems unlikely that it would not be on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek; \u003c/strong>And a lot of the people who have been excited about this or who’ve been open minded about it. Are going to come out and they’re going to tell their neighbors, hey, I believe in this…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Jan Sramek, the CEO of California Forever said, you know, they were willing to spend as much money as it takes to win this ballot measure in November. So I think we’re going to see some really aggressive campaigning between now and then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jan Sramek: \u003c/strong>I’m going to make this happen no matter what.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>They’ll have more town hall meetings, people doing outreach, and I’m sure we’ll begin to see lots of ads and, mailers and all the traditional, tools of election campaigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Yeah, I am actually already seeing those, so. Oh, well, yeah, I’m sure they’re just going to, gearing up from here. Do we have a sense yet of Solano County voters willingness to approve something like this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>I don’t know. I think some people already made up their mind about how they feel about California forever. And some people, I think, who are already open to the idea, might look at these community benefits and say, oh, you know, I see something for myself in here. I see scholarships and, you know, help with starting new businesses, money for open space. I mean, I think all of that is really appealing to folks, and obviously people really want housing. So, we’ll see as we get closer to November, in the last several election cycles, going back to 2016, voters in the Bay area have pretty strongly supported housing measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>So funding for affordable housing, measures to approve, affordable housing developments. But voters in Solano County have been less willing to support those measures than other Bay area counties. And so I think one thing that’ll be really interesting to see is whether this sort of historical resistance will continue in Solano County, or if this desire to have more housing and more affordable housing will win over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Erin, thank you so much for talking with me, I appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin Baldassari: \u003c/strong>Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Erin Baldassari, senior editor of KQED’s housing affordability desk. This 30 minute conversation with Erin was cut down and edited by producer Maria Esquinca, and Alan Montecillo is our senior editor. He scored this episode and added all the tape. Music courtesy of NPR, First Call Music and the Audio Network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>The rest of our podcast team here at KQED includes Jen Chien, our director of podcasts, Katie Sprenger, our podcast operations manager, Cesar Saldana, our podcast engagement producer and Maha Sanad, our podcast Engagement Intern. The Bay is a production of member supported KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you next time.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>"
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"title": "'Not Just a Crazy Idea': California Forever Releases Ballot Details for New Bay Area City",
"headTitle": "‘Not Just a Crazy Idea’: California Forever Releases Ballot Details for New Bay Area City | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Inside the modestly decorated Veterans Memorial Building in Solano County’s Rio Vista on Wednesday, representatives for a company aiming to build a new Bay Area city described their bold aspirations and promises they hope will win voter support for the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://downloads.ctfassets.net/ivxuf0dn6dhw/7HRDCpGCxsRHFXTv0ZxDVZ/ed92f55f60f182530fab988d382da028/East_Solano_Homes_Jobs_and_Clean_Energy_Initiative_-_Submitted_to_Solano_ROV.pdf\">83-page initiative\u003c/a>, which could be on the ballot in November, lays out a series of commitments to existing Solano County residents, as well as plans to construct row houses, apartments, shops, parks and industrial spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Anyé Spivey, director of development planning, California Forever\"]‘Everything we need has to be paid for by the residents and employers in the new community and not by anyone who resides outside it.’[/pullquote]California Forever CEO Jan Sramek said the grandeur of his company’s ambitions reflects the state of the region’s housing affordability crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a big problem to solve,” Sramek said. “In California, we have dug ourselves into such a deficit in terms of housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project – which aims to transform more than 60,000 acres of wheat, safflower, canola and other crop lands into a moderately-dense urban city, with as many as 400,000 new residents moving in over the next half century – would help solve that problem by taking advantage of economies of scale, Sramek said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can deliver a big solution to the problem,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11972894\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1650\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg 1650w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-800x509.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1020x649.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1536x977.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1650px) 100vw, 1650px\">\u003c/a>The new community would include downtown centers, a rapid bus network, manufacturing and makerspaces that Sramek said would add jobs to the region, helping solve a twin problem of people commuting long distances into San Francisco, Oakland and other Bay Area cities for work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neighborhoods would be a mix of row houses, apartment buildings and retail. Stretching from west to east between Travis Air Force Base and Rio Vista, it would double the security zone, or open space, abutting the base, and include a park separating it from Rio Vista.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11970694\" label=\"Related Story\"]But before development can begin, the company must first secure voter approval. Solano County’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.solanocounty.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=6506\">Orderly Growth Initiative\u003c/a> requires urban development to be concentrated in cities where housing already exists. The proposed ballot measure California Forever released Wednesday is the first step to reclassifying its Solano County landholdings as eligible for this new development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a press conference announcing the initiative, Srameck told reporters he was confident the measure would pass and committed to spending “as much [money] as we need to win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11972895\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1862\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-scaled.jpg 1862w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-800x1100.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1020x1402.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-160x220.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1117x1536.jpg 1117w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1490x2048.jpg 1490w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1920x2640.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1862px) 100vw, 1862px\">\u003c/a>But outside the Veterans Memorial Building, curious residents expressed anger that they hadn’t been allowed inside the meeting, which was closed to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They barred me from coming in,” said Rio Vista resident Bill Mortimore, adding he had hoped it would be an opportunity to learn more. “How can I make a decision? I can’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2019/07/05/large-rural-land-purchase-near-suisun-city-draws-questions/\">shrouded in secrecy for years\u003c/a> as Flannery Associates, a subsidiary of California Forever, discretely spent upward of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/business/land-purchases-solano-county.html\">$800 million\u003c/a> to purchase some 140 properties between Rio Vista and the Travis Air Force Base, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/mystery-company-buying-bay-area-land-new-city-18321807.php\">inviting\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-bought-nearly-1-billion-in-land-near-a-cali%5B%E2%80%A6%5Dforce-base-officials-want-to-know-who-exactly-they-are-fd868e38\">speculation\u003c/a> about the investors’ intentions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Brokaw, a spokesperson for California Forever, acknowledged the air of secrecy was one obstacle the company would have to overcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“People have a right to be skeptical,” Brokaw said. “Hopefully now, when people actually can see what we are putting forward, they just give it a fresh look, and see that this is not just a crazy idea on a website. This is something that’s real.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969280\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for the proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As part of the ballot measure, the company is making a number of commitments to the community, said Anyé Spivey, director of development planning for California Forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chief among them, Spivey said, is a promise to limit growth to 50,000 residents if the new city does not produce at least 15,000 jobs that pay 125% of the county’s average weekly salary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This guarantee values the dignity of hard work and the concern that so many working families share: getting and keeping good paying jobs,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spivey said California Forever would also pay the county $500 million for every 50,000 residents the new city adds – a community benefits package that includes $400 million in down payment assistance and affordable housing funds; $70 million in grants for college or vocational training, or to start new businesses; and $30 million for parks and ecological habitats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second fund, called Solano Downtowns, would contribute $200 million in for-profit investments for every 50,000 new residents to support infill development within the county’s existing cities, Spivey said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarah Donnelly, a Rio Vista city councilmember, declined to voice support for or against the project but said she was skeptical of California Forever’s promised investments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m skeptical about them guaranteeing anything when they’re doing what you already heard of – \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970694/california-forever-lawsuit-looms-as-solano-county-farmers-fight-back\">suing our friends and neighbors\u003c/a> – so they can get their way,” Donnelly said after the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rio Vista will bear the brunt of the new developments impact on traffic, home prices, and water, Donnelly said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is where the most impact will happen, right up against us,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969281\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roxanne Stiles-Donnelly speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for California Forever, a proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To mitigate some of those impacts, Spivey said California Forever would be on the hook to supply the right-of-way and part of the financing to widen highways 12 and 113. The plan also includes a bypass along the portion of HWY 12 adjacent to the new city, as a means of redirecting local traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, Spivey said California Forever would also pay to construct its own schools, which would be incorporated into local school districts, as well as its own utility infrastructure and municipal services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our taxpayer guarantee says that the new community has to pay its own way for both infrastructure and services,” he said. “Everything we need has to be paid for by the residents and employers in the new community and not by anyone who resides outside it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Envisioned as a moderately-dense urban area, the proposed city conflicts with anti-sprawl efforts the county first enacted more than four decades ago. Another attempt to override those restrictions failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11972787\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11972787\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Local residents fill a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for California Forever, a proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner/131194680/\">In 1984, San Francisco developer Hiram Woo\u003c/a> proposed turning 886 acres of pasture land into a residential town called Manzanita, which promised to house almost 6,000 residents with 2,000 homes powered by solar energy with a matrix of bike paths and sidewalks connecting people’s homes with their jobs, restaurants and shops. The vision was not far off from what California Forever is proposing today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan was struck down by voters, many who believed farmland should be protected from encroaching developers. But today, amidst California’s increasingly dire housing shortage, some Solano County residents are open to a new development that could provide them with affordable housing and nearby jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the company is trying to win the trust of residents who wonder whether this new town will have a place for them, much less be built. Late last year, the company announced it was \u003ca href=\"https://californiaforever.com/news/grants/\">distributing $500,000\u003c/a> to local nonprofits, including a homeless shelter in Vacaville and two groups supporting people affected by domestic violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also announced it opened offices in Fairfield, Vallejo and Vacaville, where people can ask questions and share concerns with staff members in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sramek has promised to host another series of town hall meetings in February, similar to those held late last year, to answer questions from residents about the ballot text and next steps on the road to election day.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The company behind the controversial plan to turn more than 60,000 acres of Solano County farmland into a dense urban city released the ballot language for its plan, which voters must approve. \r\n",
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"description": "The company behind the controversial plan to turn more than 60,000 acres of Solano County farmland into a dense urban city released the ballot language for its plan, which voters must approve. \r\n",
"title": "'Not Just a Crazy Idea': California Forever Releases Ballot Details for New Bay Area City | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Inside the modestly decorated Veterans Memorial Building in Solano County’s Rio Vista on Wednesday, representatives for a company aiming to build a new Bay Area city described their bold aspirations and promises they hope will win voter support for the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://downloads.ctfassets.net/ivxuf0dn6dhw/7HRDCpGCxsRHFXTv0ZxDVZ/ed92f55f60f182530fab988d382da028/East_Solano_Homes_Jobs_and_Clean_Energy_Initiative_-_Submitted_to_Solano_ROV.pdf\">83-page initiative\u003c/a>, which could be on the ballot in November, lays out a series of commitments to existing Solano County residents, as well as plans to construct row houses, apartments, shops, parks and industrial spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Everything we need has to be paid for by the residents and employers in the new community and not by anyone who resides outside it.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California Forever CEO Jan Sramek said the grandeur of his company’s ambitions reflects the state of the region’s housing affordability crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a big problem to solve,” Sramek said. “In California, we have dug ourselves into such a deficit in terms of housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project – which aims to transform more than 60,000 acres of wheat, safflower, canola and other crop lands into a moderately-dense urban city, with as many as 400,000 new residents moving in over the next half century – would help solve that problem by taking advantage of economies of scale, Sramek said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can deliver a big solution to the problem,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11972894\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1650\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG.jpg 1650w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-800x509.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1020x649.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/09_A-zoning-map-of-the-new-community-and-relationships-to-Travis-Air-Force-Base-and-Rio-Vista_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1536x977.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1650px) 100vw, 1650px\">\u003c/a>The new community would include downtown centers, a rapid bus network, manufacturing and makerspaces that Sramek said would add jobs to the region, helping solve a twin problem of people commuting long distances into San Francisco, Oakland and other Bay Area cities for work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neighborhoods would be a mix of row houses, apartment buildings and retail. Stretching from west to east between Travis Air Force Base and Rio Vista, it would double the security zone, or open space, abutting the base, and include a park separating it from Rio Vista.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But before development can begin, the company must first secure voter approval. Solano County’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.solanocounty.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=6506\">Orderly Growth Initiative\u003c/a> requires urban development to be concentrated in cities where housing already exists. The proposed ballot measure California Forever released Wednesday is the first step to reclassifying its Solano County landholdings as eligible for this new development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a press conference announcing the initiative, Srameck told reporters he was confident the measure would pass and committed to spending “as much [money] as we need to win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11972895\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1862\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-scaled.jpg 1862w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-800x1100.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1020x1402.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-160x220.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1117x1536.jpg 1117w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1490x2048.jpg 1490w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/10_An-illustrative-example-of-a-neighborhood-map-emphasizing-walkable-complete-and-connected-neighborhoods_IMAGE-CREDIT_-SITELAB-urban-studio_CMG-1920x2640.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1862px) 100vw, 1862px\">\u003c/a>But outside the Veterans Memorial Building, curious residents expressed anger that they hadn’t been allowed inside the meeting, which was closed to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They barred me from coming in,” said Rio Vista resident Bill Mortimore, adding he had hoped it would be an opportunity to learn more. “How can I make a decision? I can’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2019/07/05/large-rural-land-purchase-near-suisun-city-draws-questions/\">shrouded in secrecy for years\u003c/a> as Flannery Associates, a subsidiary of California Forever, discretely spent upward of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/business/land-purchases-solano-county.html\">$800 million\u003c/a> to purchase some 140 properties between Rio Vista and the Travis Air Force Base, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/mystery-company-buying-bay-area-land-new-city-18321807.php\">inviting\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-bought-nearly-1-billion-in-land-near-a-cali%5B%E2%80%A6%5Dforce-base-officials-want-to-know-who-exactly-they-are-fd868e38\">speculation\u003c/a> about the investors’ intentions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Brokaw, a spokesperson for California Forever, acknowledged the air of secrecy was one obstacle the company would have to overcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“People have a right to be skeptical,” Brokaw said. “Hopefully now, when people actually can see what we are putting forward, they just give it a fresh look, and see that this is not just a crazy idea on a website. This is something that’s real.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969280\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-61-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for the proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As part of the ballot measure, the company is making a number of commitments to the community, said Anyé Spivey, director of development planning for California Forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chief among them, Spivey said, is a promise to limit growth to 50,000 residents if the new city does not produce at least 15,000 jobs that pay 125% of the county’s average weekly salary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This guarantee values the dignity of hard work and the concern that so many working families share: getting and keeping good paying jobs,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spivey said California Forever would also pay the county $500 million for every 50,000 residents the new city adds – a community benefits package that includes $400 million in down payment assistance and affordable housing funds; $70 million in grants for college or vocational training, or to start new businesses; and $30 million for parks and ecological habitats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second fund, called Solano Downtowns, would contribute $200 million in for-profit investments for every 50,000 new residents to support infill development within the county’s existing cities, Spivey said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarah Donnelly, a Rio Vista city councilmember, declined to voice support for or against the project but said she was skeptical of California Forever’s promised investments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m skeptical about them guaranteeing anything when they’re doing what you already heard of – \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970694/california-forever-lawsuit-looms-as-solano-county-farmers-fight-back\">suing our friends and neighbors\u003c/a> – so they can get their way,” Donnelly said after the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rio Vista will bear the brunt of the new developments impact on traffic, home prices, and water, Donnelly said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is where the most impact will happen, right up against us,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969281\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-75-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roxanne Stiles-Donnelly speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for California Forever, a proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To mitigate some of those impacts, Spivey said California Forever would be on the hook to supply the right-of-way and part of the financing to widen highways 12 and 113. The plan also includes a bypass along the portion of HWY 12 adjacent to the new city, as a means of redirecting local traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, Spivey said California Forever would also pay to construct its own schools, which would be incorporated into local school districts, as well as its own utility infrastructure and municipal services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our taxpayer guarantee says that the new community has to pay its own way for both infrastructure and services,” he said. “Everything we need has to be paid for by the residents and employers in the new community and not by anyone who resides outside it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Envisioned as a moderately-dense urban area, the proposed city conflicts with anti-sprawl efforts the county first enacted more than four decades ago. Another attempt to override those restrictions failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11972787\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11972787\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-68-BL-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Local residents fill a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for California Forever, a proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner/131194680/\">In 1984, San Francisco developer Hiram Woo\u003c/a> proposed turning 886 acres of pasture land into a residential town called Manzanita, which promised to house almost 6,000 residents with 2,000 homes powered by solar energy with a matrix of bike paths and sidewalks connecting people’s homes with their jobs, restaurants and shops. The vision was not far off from what California Forever is proposing today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan was struck down by voters, many who believed farmland should be protected from encroaching developers. But today, amidst California’s increasingly dire housing shortage, some Solano County residents are open to a new development that could provide them with affordable housing and nearby jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the company is trying to win the trust of residents who wonder whether this new town will have a place for them, much less be built. Late last year, the company announced it was \u003ca href=\"https://californiaforever.com/news/grants/\">distributing $500,000\u003c/a> to local nonprofits, including a homeless shelter in Vacaville and two groups supporting people affected by domestic violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also announced it opened offices in Fairfield, Vallejo and Vacaville, where people can ask questions and share concerns with staff members in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sramek has promised to host another series of town hall meetings in February, similar to those held late last year, to answer questions from residents about the ballot text and next steps on the road to election day.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Ian and Margaret Anderson’s lives revolve around their over 100-year-old farm, E.A. Anderson and Son Ranch., in the Montezuma Hills of Solano County. They raise thousands of sheep and grow grains like wheat, safflower and canola. Recently, they started growing malting barley, which can be used to make beer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Grains are the most productive crops here,” said Ian Anderson. “We’ve had really good crops over the last few years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Andersons own about 1,500 acres, but have always farmed on thousands of acres more that they rent from relatives, neighbors and utility agencies. Each year, a third of the land is reserved for sheep grazing, another third for crops and the final third lays fallow to let the soil rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969277\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969277\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An older white man seen from behind with sheep and a farmhouse in the background.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Anderson walks through the farmland the Anderson family has owned for generations in Birds Landing, Solano County, on Dec. 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But a few years ago, their world started to turn upside down. In 2017, Flannery Associates, a company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires, started buying thousands of acres of farmland around them \u003ca href=\"https://californiaforever.com/\">to build a new city from scratch\u003c/a>. The Andersons weren’t interested in selling their land when the company first approached them in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not just about the money,” said Ian. “It’s about who we are and what we do. We have value in growing our crops and raising our livestock. That is more meaningful than cashing in on money and then trying to start a new life somewhere else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the Andersons and other landowners are embroiled in a bitter lawsuit with the company. Even if the case gets dismissed, the Andersons are unsure whether they can continue operating their farm as the hills change around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A new California dream\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California Forever, the parent company of Flannery Associates, wants to “bring back the California Dream” — a dream that includes offices close to homes, with restaurants and small businesses lining the streets in between. The details of how that city will be built are still hazy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jan Sramek, the company’s CEO, envisions a sustainable city with plenty of bike paths and public transportation to rival Berlin or Paris. They aim to solve some of the state’s biggest problems: housing affordability, long commutes and clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969283\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969283\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An older white woman and a younger white woman to her left during a town hall, the older woman is speaking into a microphone.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Margaret Anderson and her daughter Maryn Johnson speak during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People have been trying to solve these issues for 30 years,” said Sramek. “Every time someone says ‘I don’t like your project for these reasons’ we say, okay, what’s your proposal for fixing these issues? Because it’s really easy to be a critic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sramek and his team have been coming face to face with some of their critics, as they have spent the past month campaigning across Solano County to get more residents on board with the planned community. Before it can be built, voters will have to approve the project when it appears on their November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Ian Anderson, E.A. Anderson and Son Ranch\"]‘It’s not just about the money. It’s about who we are and what we do. We have value in growing our crops and raising our livestock. That is more meaningful than cashing in on money and then trying to start a new life somewhere else.’[/pullquote]But the company has faced trouble earning trust among residents who have shown up to question Sramek at a series of town hall meetings. Some are unsure how it will make its proposed plans a reality, which show, among other things, a high-speed rail line running through this remote farmland. Others are still skeptical of Flannery’s motives after it started purchasing more than 60,000 acres in secrecy in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the Andersons say they were uninterested in selling their land to the company, the lawsuit Flannery Associates filed in May alleged they and about 35 farmers and landowners colluded with each other to price-fix their land and not sell to the company unless it met a specific price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Ian and Margaret Anderson have held onto the land they own, many of the neighbors whose land they rented have sold to Flannery. Last season, the Andersons continued to farm on 1,200 acres of that land, renting it from Flannery on a monthly basis. In February, they received an eviction notice with a 30-day notice to vacate the land. They had been growing wheat and barley there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was really excited to have this over 2-ton crop of barley and wheat,” said Ian. “It’s kinda how you value your life when you’re a farmer, when you grow great crops, it makes you feel good, when the ground is suitable for growing really great crops. We fought and fought and fought to avoid losing the entire crop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969282\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969282\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A white middle aged man gestures as he speaks to a woman.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, answers a question from Maryn Johnson, daughter of Ian and Margaret Anderson, during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eventually, they were allowed to harvest the crops, but had to pay 30% of the revenue to the company. Now, the Andersons have gone from grazing and planting on about 10,000 acres to just about 3,500.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re hoping the case gets dismissed, but they say the lawsuit, now seven months old, has been a financial drain. While they still have savings for retirement, they’ve reduced their farmhand staff from 10 employees to five and have started selling some of their sheep to keep their farm financially afloat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re no longer looking to invest in new equipment,” said Ian Anderson. “We’re basically trying to figure out a downsized operation — if we can still keep doing it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A farm that has adapted\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ian Anderson’s great-grandfather moved from Denmark to the Montezuma Hills sometime after 1865. He secured farmland for himself and, ultimately, for each of his sons as they reached adulthood. One of those sons, Ian’s grandfather, started a farming operation that morphed into E.A. Anderson & Son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11959924,forum_2010101894493,news_11959390\"]The Andersons don’t rely on irrigation, instead practicing dryland or rain-fed farming, which requires large swaths of land to soak up the rain. As climate change has brought whiplash between heavy rainfall and intense drought, they have had to adapt their methods. Instead of plowing their fallow land, they now disk the fields, which just turns the soil over and conserves more moisture from one season to the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now that most of the land is gone, the Andersons are unsure whether they can adapt enough to carry on. They had hoped their son Neil would eventually take over the family farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since he was a toddler, he wanted nothing more than to be out on the farm,” Margaret said. “When Ian came back from college and was working with his dad, he took the farm to the next level beyond what his dad did. And Neil is doing the same kind of thing. But all of a sudden, it’s very questionable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The need for more housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ian and Margaret Anderson understand the need for more housing and jobs in Solano County. They can respect where Jan Sramek’s desire for a truly dense city comes from. But to build all that in the middle of the Montezuma Hills, far away from highways, public transportation and most of the jobs people already have doesn’t make sense to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969279\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969279\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A farmhouse with trees behind it and windvanes on a hill in the background. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A barn stands on the EA Anderson Ranch, farmland the Anderson family has owned for generations, in Birds Landing, Solano County, on Dec. 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When we see our cities in Solano County that really could use a boost to increase the quality of housing and volume of housing, versus going out into a brand new area and starting every bit of infrastructure from scratch, it can’t be anything other than what could be called sprawl.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are worried California Forever will turn the hills into another San José, a sprawling suburban city that used to be farmland too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://farmland.org/american-farmland-trusts-statement-about-solano-county-ca-model-city/\">American Farmland Trust\u003c/a>, the U.S. loses 2000 acres of farmland per day. California Forever justifies building their new city in the Montezuma Hills because the farmland is not considered “prime.” But the Andersons disagree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For generations, we have grown crops that don’t further drain from California’s limited water supply,” said Margaret. “We can’t continue [developing] at this pace and expect our country to remain food secure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Ian and Margaret Anderson’s lives revolve around their over 100-year-old farm, E.A. Anderson and Son Ranch., in the Montezuma Hills of Solano County. They raise thousands of sheep and grow grains like wheat, safflower and canola. Recently, they started growing malting barley, which can be used to make beer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Grains are the most productive crops here,” said Ian Anderson. “We’ve had really good crops over the last few years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Andersons own about 1,500 acres, but have always farmed on thousands of acres more that they rent from relatives, neighbors and utility agencies. Each year, a third of the land is reserved for sheep grazing, another third for crops and the final third lays fallow to let the soil rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969277\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969277\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An older white man seen from behind with sheep and a farmhouse in the background.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-05-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Anderson walks through the farmland the Anderson family has owned for generations in Birds Landing, Solano County, on Dec. 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But a few years ago, their world started to turn upside down. In 2017, Flannery Associates, a company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires, started buying thousands of acres of farmland around them \u003ca href=\"https://californiaforever.com/\">to build a new city from scratch\u003c/a>. The Andersons weren’t interested in selling their land when the company first approached them in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not just about the money,” said Ian. “It’s about who we are and what we do. We have value in growing our crops and raising our livestock. That is more meaningful than cashing in on money and then trying to start a new life somewhere else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the Andersons and other landowners are embroiled in a bitter lawsuit with the company. Even if the case gets dismissed, the Andersons are unsure whether they can continue operating their farm as the hills change around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A new California dream\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California Forever, the parent company of Flannery Associates, wants to “bring back the California Dream” — a dream that includes offices close to homes, with restaurants and small businesses lining the streets in between. The details of how that city will be built are still hazy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jan Sramek, the company’s CEO, envisions a sustainable city with plenty of bike paths and public transportation to rival Berlin or Paris. They aim to solve some of the state’s biggest problems: housing affordability, long commutes and clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969283\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969283\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An older white woman and a younger white woman to her left during a town hall, the older woman is speaking into a microphone.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-92-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Margaret Anderson and her daughter Maryn Johnson speak during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People have been trying to solve these issues for 30 years,” said Sramek. “Every time someone says ‘I don’t like your project for these reasons’ we say, okay, what’s your proposal for fixing these issues? Because it’s really easy to be a critic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sramek and his team have been coming face to face with some of their critics, as they have spent the past month campaigning across Solano County to get more residents on board with the planned community. Before it can be built, voters will have to approve the project when it appears on their November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But the company has faced trouble earning trust among residents who have shown up to question Sramek at a series of town hall meetings. Some are unsure how it will make its proposed plans a reality, which show, among other things, a high-speed rail line running through this remote farmland. Others are still skeptical of Flannery’s motives after it started purchasing more than 60,000 acres in secrecy in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the Andersons say they were uninterested in selling their land to the company, the lawsuit Flannery Associates filed in May alleged they and about 35 farmers and landowners colluded with each other to price-fix their land and not sell to the company unless it met a specific price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Ian and Margaret Anderson have held onto the land they own, many of the neighbors whose land they rented have sold to Flannery. Last season, the Andersons continued to farm on 1,200 acres of that land, renting it from Flannery on a monthly basis. In February, they received an eviction notice with a 30-day notice to vacate the land. They had been growing wheat and barley there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was really excited to have this over 2-ton crop of barley and wheat,” said Ian. “It’s kinda how you value your life when you’re a farmer, when you grow great crops, it makes you feel good, when the ground is suitable for growing really great crops. We fought and fought and fought to avoid losing the entire crop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969282\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969282\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A white middle aged man gestures as he speaks to a woman.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-88-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, answers a question from Maryn Johnson, daughter of Ian and Margaret Anderson, during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eventually, they were allowed to harvest the crops, but had to pay 30% of the revenue to the company. Now, the Andersons have gone from grazing and planting on about 10,000 acres to just about 3,500.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re hoping the case gets dismissed, but they say the lawsuit, now seven months old, has been a financial drain. While they still have savings for retirement, they’ve reduced their farmhand staff from 10 employees to five and have started selling some of their sheep to keep their farm financially afloat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re no longer looking to invest in new equipment,” said Ian Anderson. “We’re basically trying to figure out a downsized operation — if we can still keep doing it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A farm that has adapted\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ian Anderson’s great-grandfather moved from Denmark to the Montezuma Hills sometime after 1865. He secured farmland for himself and, ultimately, for each of his sons as they reached adulthood. One of those sons, Ian’s grandfather, started a farming operation that morphed into E.A. Anderson & Son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Andersons don’t rely on irrigation, instead practicing dryland or rain-fed farming, which requires large swaths of land to soak up the rain. As climate change has brought whiplash between heavy rainfall and intense drought, they have had to adapt their methods. Instead of plowing their fallow land, they now disk the fields, which just turns the soil over and conserves more moisture from one season to the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now that most of the land is gone, the Andersons are unsure whether they can adapt enough to carry on. They had hoped their son Neil would eventually take over the family farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since he was a toddler, he wanted nothing more than to be out on the farm,” Margaret said. “When Ian came back from college and was working with his dad, he took the farm to the next level beyond what his dad did. And Neil is doing the same kind of thing. But all of a sudden, it’s very questionable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The need for more housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ian and Margaret Anderson understand the need for more housing and jobs in Solano County. They can respect where Jan Sramek’s desire for a truly dense city comes from. But to build all that in the middle of the Montezuma Hills, far away from highways, public transportation and most of the jobs people already have doesn’t make sense to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969279\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969279\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A farmhouse with trees behind it and windvanes on a hill in the background. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-28-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A barn stands on the EA Anderson Ranch, farmland the Anderson family has owned for generations, in Birds Landing, Solano County, on Dec. 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When we see our cities in Solano County that really could use a boost to increase the quality of housing and volume of housing, versus going out into a brand new area and starting every bit of infrastructure from scratch, it can’t be anything other than what could be called sprawl.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are worried California Forever will turn the hills into another San José, a sprawling suburban city that used to be farmland too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://farmland.org/american-farmland-trusts-statement-about-solano-county-ca-model-city/\">American Farmland Trust\u003c/a>, the U.S. loses 2000 acres of farmland per day. California Forever justifies building their new city in the Montezuma Hills because the farmland is not considered “prime.” But the Andersons disagree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For generations, we have grown crops that don’t further drain from California’s limited water supply,” said Margaret. “We can’t continue [developing] at this pace and expect our country to remain food secure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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"reveal": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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