Madeleine Spencer’s Post

Silicon Valley's plans for a new city in Solano County have been delayed for an environmental impact study. - 🌱 The East Solano Plan aimed to develop farmland into a walkable urban community. - 🤝 Backed by tech billionaires like Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs. - 🏡 Proposed to create housing for up to 400,000 people, addressing California's housing shortage. - 🕵️ Secrecy about the project led to mistrust among local residents. - 📆 Delayed by at least two years to prepare an environmental impact report. - 🗳️ Ballot initiative postponed; needs voter approval for final go-ahead. #UrbanDevelopment #HousingCrisis #SiliconValley - 🌾 The project location is about 60 miles from San Francisco. - 📈 Investors spent $900 million on farmland for this development. - 🚶 Design includes row homes, bike lanes, and nearby retail for walkability. - 📜 Environmental impact report to be prepared this year and next. - 🏘️ Aims to build housing quickly compared to urban core developments. - 🚜 Local farmers and residents expressed concerns over the secrecy. - 🌍 Focuses on creating a sustainable and walkable urban area. - 🗳️ Voter approval is essential for the project's continuation. https://lnkd.in/gMWZTHKD

👏 Why it's good news that the "East Solano Plan" (i.e. the Silicon Valley billionaire fantasy city) has been stopped (for now)!! 👏 This is a great opportunity to reassess our priorities in urban development. Instead of pouring billions into creating a new city from scratch, 𝙡𝙚𝙩'𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨!! This group has already spent $1.4 billion alone on acquiring land and filing lawsuits against farmers who didn’t want to sell their land. With $1.4 B we could: *Address the budget shortfalls for Berkeley, Oakland, and SF schools ($207.5M) *Cover premiums for every person on CoveredCA in SF, Countra Costa, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Marin counties ($193M) *Address BART’s projected deficit through 2027 ($375M) *Cover the existing investment in transportation infrastructure upgrades, including climate change resiliency ACROSS THE WHOLE STATE OF CA ($300M) *Double the arts budget for the California Arts Council ($52M) *Support tree planting to protect kids by replacing school pavement with drought-tolerant green space and shade ($117M) *Fix Oaklands current budget shortfall (~$200M) …AND STILL HAVE MONEY LEFT OVER. And this is just with the $1.4B that has already been spent - not even counting the many more billions that would be needed to build an entire city from scratch. These are just a few examples, but they highlight the potential impact of redirecting these funds. Our existing cities are crying out for investment in housing, education, arts and culture, climate resilience, and infrastructure. Let's focus on revitalizing the communities we have rather than building new ones. What do you think? How would you allocate these resources? #UrbanDevelopment #CaliforniaHousing #SustainableCities #CommunityInvestment #resilientcities #resilientcommunities #community SPUR #publicpolicy #publicinvestment #civicimagination #civicfutures Johanna Hoffman Jake Dunagan BART #placemaking #placemakingUS PlacemakingX #creativeplacemaking #placekeeping (all sources in comments)

Make no little plans In citymaking, small plans are for suckers and grifters. For proof, click through the renderings for California Forever, the recently revealed proposal to turn 55,000 acres of drought-prone Northern California hillside into a glorious city of the future. It looks like a big plan. So far, it isn't. — Business Insider #california #californiaforever #cityplan #urbanplan #cities

Don't you hate it when you miss the exit for Utopia and wind up in dystopia? Some Silicon Valley investors are known for their ambitious nature, which can sometimes border on narcissism depending on who you ask. Case in point is their plan to build an entirely new city from scratch complete with the belief that they can do it better than anyone else. The first true test of the grand master plan will soon begin with gathering signatures to get on November's ballot. High housing costs, rising crime...yes, the San Francisco Bay Area has its share of problems. But have no fear! A group of Valley billionaires is here to save the day. Well, under the moniker of California Forever, these investors have quietly acquired land over the past five years in the northern part of the state in a place called Solano County. Known more for rolling hillsides, family-owned farms, and cows mulling around, this place could become a mega suburb with dense housing and walkable streets set on 60,000 rural acres. What this proposed oasis actually looks like remains to be seen, but given the tech pedigree of the investors involved, you can bet technology and office campuses are in the mix. One interesting selling point for Utopia North is the availability of affordable housing. That would seem to be at odds with reality given the tech industry has been mostly responsible for the skyrocketing housing costs up and down the state. And the bigger plan is to woo other industries like defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and biotech to open up offices there. If this feels reminiscent of a storyline from an episode of Scooby-Doo, you're not alone. Meddling kids or not, convincing and securing the approval of Solano County residents who are understandably dubious of the shady billionaires and their secretive plan for a new community whose name sounds like a celebrity cemetery is as ambitious as betting $800 million so far on the idea. Whether you think this is a cult for the wealthy or a potentially viable community for all, the bigger consideration is that these billionaire investors are doubling down on the Bay Area, while others have written it off. You don't need crop circles to tell you that means something https://lnkd.in/gTFXUyDM #realestate #bayarea #siliconvalley #solanocounty #technology #california #cities #culture

Setting aside the concerning level of secrecy and the aggressive land acquisition, it's astonishing that Silicon Valley believes it has the blueprint to reinvent city administration and planning. A significant challenge lies in the fact that the acquired land is primarily zoned for agriculture. Transitioning this to residential zoning will result in a sharp increase in land values, which in turn would escalate the costs of construction, infrastructure, and other services. Which then could just be sold to developers who choose to build yet another sparse bedroom community for profit. Moreover, another problem arises: who exactly is the target resident for this project? As highlighted in the article, the majority of folks who benefit tend to be affluent and predominantly white. This does little to foster the diversity, vibrancy, and cultural richness that are hallmarks of truly cosmopolitan cities. While I can't delve into all the myopic facets of this venture in this post, the attached article provides a more thorough critique. What strikes me most, however, is the irony of the situation. Many billionaires have historically engaged in tax avoidance strategies. By reducing their contributions to the public coffers, they've undermined governments' capacity to fund the very types of initiatives that this new project, 'Foreverville,' aims to realize. If they were willing to contribute more to their local communities' tax base, we could have more people-centric cities. https://lnkd.in/euGrMbcb

California Forever is the brainchild of Czech-born former Goldman Sachs trader and entrepreneur Jan Sramek. He came up with the idea after a yearlong exploration of improving housing availability within the city promised not to be an effective solution, he tells Axios. He's since raised over $800 million from investors like Mike Moritz, Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreessen, John and Patrick Collison, Laurene Powell Jobs, Chris Dixon, John Doerr, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and Andreessen Horowitz. The company also quietly amassed more than 50,000 acres of land it bought from residents, suing some of them for price collusion. The project's pitch is that the new city will alleviate some of the Bay Area's housing problems and fill out the region connecting it to Sacramento. Recently unveiled plans heavily borrow from New Urbanism, emphasizing walkable neighborhoods and a mix of housing (both for sale and rent) at varying prices. Part of the plan is to bring in at least 15,000 jobs. To achieve that, California Forever is in talks to get companies to open satellite offices there, says Sramek. He's reaching out to well-known tech employers and companies in industries like defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and biotech that need space for facilities. "It's not an expansion for the daily commute — it's an expansion where you might go once a week to see your team or something like that," he says. Sramek admits that better train connectivity to the rest of the region will be a separate challenge that is much more out of its control. "I think there should be a high-speed train between San Francisco and Sacramento.... If we were in Europe, you could be there in 45 minutes," he says. California Forever is a "risky real estate project" and, as such, its backers expect high returns, says Sramek. But while the endeavor is much riskier in the beginning given the high level of uncertainty, it's expected to become more akin to a traditional real estate investment over the long term, according to a source familiar with the project. And if this doesn't work? The group could develop the land piecemeal, says Sramek. The bottom line: Some Silicon Valley investors may have entirely written off the Bay Area, but others are doubling down and trying to reshape it via one of their most ambitious bets.

The Conversation, SF Chronicle, The Verge, The Information, and others dig into the history and reality behind the bluff and bluster of California Forever. ----- "Here’s everything that’s wrong with renderings of new California city fueled by tech money" SFChronicle: https://lnkd.in/gH9pwkJM ----- "Why the California Forever dream of a new city would be a nightmare" SFChronicle: https://lnkd.in/gwsynPtD ----- TheVerge: "‘California Forever’ website touts the city tech billionaires are trying to build/ A vague website attempts to justify building a new city near San Francisco with pretty pictures and promises of a better life." https://lnkd.in/gJZWu66H ----- TheInformation: "The Botched Reveal of California Forever" https://lnkd.in/ghujwxtp ----- "Billionaires' Secretive 'California Forever' Utopia Faces Blowback Tech billionaires bought the land, but they still have to sell voters on their plans to build a green city from scratch. The Patch: https://lnkd.in/gbxYT3m7 ----- "'California Forever': Billionaires want to build a new city in Solano County. It'll be up to voters" KCRA Sacramento: https://lnkd.in/gH8jHTuD ----- TheConversation: "Silicon Valley investors want to create a new city – is ‘California Forever’ a utopian dream or just smart business?" (Prof Iain White) He was, said George Bernard Shaw, “one of those heroic simpletons who do big things whilst our prominent worldlings are explaining why they are Utopian and impossible”. The celebrated playwright was referring to the ideas of Ebenezer Howard, the creative force behind the idea of “garden cities” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; new urban centres that Howard argued would have the best of town and country, but without the problems. There’s a reminder of that somewhat backhanded compliment in the recent news of a Silicon Valley consortium named Flannery Associates buying land with a view to creating a new city in northern California’s Solano County. The controversial project is named after the investment vehicle’s parent company, California Forever. The parallels between contemporary utopian thinking and Howard’s ideas from more than a century ago are readily apparent. The notion of something like California Forever may appear cutting edge, but it is part of the historical foundations of current planning systems. Indeed, the science-fiction writer H.G. Wells – a futurist whose own ideas would resonate with many in Silicon Valley – was so attracted to Howard’s ideas that he joined the Garden City Association to support their creation. 1. Garden city visions 2. Planning and profit 3. Progress and planning The Conversation: https://lnkd.in/g8MqG946

Recently, I checked out Strong Towns by Charles L. Marohn Jr. from the Austin Public Library. I've been throughly enjoying the read, especially interested by Marohn's comparison of traditional development and modern development. Near the end of the chapter on Incremental Growth, Marohn uses a party analogy for the comparison, noting on how both types of development treats "new guests." "Traditional development patterns were a good party ... new construction improve the underlying land values in a virtuous cycle of growth, stagnation, and renewal.' "Modern development, where the public sector leads and everything is built to a finished state, is a bad party. When someone buys that new house on the cul-de-sac ... new development merely means more traffic, more people using the park, more taxes." He then goes deeper into explaining how a finished neighborhood saw no need for new development, and rather it stays the same way as when they had moved in. This quote brought to mind a lot of arguments surrounding new developments and new people (who I am one) in Austin. It shed new lights on where the root of the issue against new housing could lie in many great cities.

A group of tech billionaires plans to build a futuristic city, California Forever, to address the housing crisis between San Francisco and Sacramento: - 🌆 New city aims to create 50,000+ high-density neighborhoods with affordable housing and high-paying jobs - 🏘️ Inspired by historic urban designs, focusing on walkable, multi-use areas - 🌳 Claims of sustainability include agrivoltaic solar arrays and high-tech water recycling - 🌾 Local opposition concerned about farmland and ecological impacts - 🗳️ Crucial vote in November could determine the project's fate #CaliforniaForever #UrbanDevelopment #Sustainability - 💸 Project backed by top Silicon Valley investors like Marc Andreessen and Reid Hoffman - 📅 Initiative proposed in 2017, with nearly $1bn spent on land acquisition - 🚜 Land purchases involved multi-generational farm holdings, causing local disputes - 🏢 Plans to create 15,000 jobs paying 125% of average county wages before expanding - 🔍 Environmental advocates highlight the land’s importance for agriculture and habitats - 📊 April poll indicates 70% of Solano County voters likely to oppose the project The secret futuristic city being built by tech billionaires in California https://lnkd.in/gB5x94qj

"If it were easier to run a business from home, would every kid with a snow-shoveling hustle or dog-walking gig grow up and keep running a business from home? Not necessarily. But one thing’s for certain: With our current zoning rules, there's a lot of them who’ll never get the chance." "Whether it’s restoring commercial uses within neighborhoods, allowing the construction of accessory commercial units, or easing red tape and restrictions on home-based businesses, there’s so much that cities can do to help entrepreneurs make our neighborhoods more vibrant, walkable and prosperous." https://lnkd.in/gHv-ZT6w Emma Durand-Wood's newest article closes with a really compelling reminder of what we give up when we don't loosen up.