Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Campaign to Build New California City Submits Signatures to Get on November Ballot
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 1 year ago on
April 30, 2024

The Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a new city in California for up to 400,000 people said Tuesday, April 30, 2024, it has submitted enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the November election. (AP/Janie Har)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

SAN FRANCISCO — A wealthy Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a green city for up to 400,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area has submitted what it says are enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the November election.

The campaign submitted more than 20,000 signatures but would need only about 13,000 valid ones to qualify for the ballot. If verified by Solano County’s elections office, voters will decide in the fall whether to allow urban development on land currently zoned for agriculture. The land-use change would be necessary for the development to be built.

Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader who heads the company behind the campaign, California Forever, said at a news conference Tuesday that he heard from thousands of people who want careers and homes in the county where they grew up but can no longer afford to live there because of high housing costs and a lack of nearby work.

“They are fed up with this malaise that’s plagued California for the last 20 years with this culture of saying no to everything that has made it increasingly impossible for working families to reach the California dream,” he said.

Details of the Development

The yet-unnamed development would mix homes, green space, a walkable downtown and jobs between Travis Air Force Base and the Sacramento River Delta city of Rio Vista.

The controversial project has wealthy and powerful backers, including philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. It also faces strong opposition by some elected officials and other critics who say Sramek’s plan is a speculative money grab that’s light on details.

Sramek outraged locals by quietly purchasing more than $800 million in farmland since 2018 and even suing farmers who refused to sell. Reps. John Garamendi and Mike Thompson, who oppose the project, were initially alarmed that foreign adversaries or investors might be buying up the land because of its proximity to the Air Force base.

Sramek unveiled plans for the development in January, but had to amend the land-use change ballot initiative twice to address county and Air Force concerns. The delays haven’t slowed the project’s timeline.

Proposal and Criticisms

The proposal includes an initial $400 million to help residents and Air Force base families buy homes in the community or for new affordable housing.

California is desperate for more housing, but critics of the project say it would be more environmentally sound to build within existing cities than to convert designated farmland.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted

DON'T MISS

Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities

DON'T MISS

Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly

DON'T MISS

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

DON'T MISS

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

DON'T MISS

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

DON'T MISS

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

DON'T MISS

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

DON'T MISS

Documentary Series Goes Inside Trump’s Bubble

UP NEXT

Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities

UP NEXT

Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly

UP NEXT

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

UP NEXT

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

UP NEXT

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

UP NEXT

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

UP NEXT

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

UP NEXT

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

UP NEXT

Documentary Series Goes Inside Trump’s Bubble

UP NEXT

Tulare County Gang Member Convicted of Trying to a Murder Police Officer

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

16 hours ago

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

16 hours ago

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

16 hours ago

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

16 hours ago

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

17 hours ago

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

17 hours ago

Documentary Series Goes Inside Trump’s Bubble

17 hours ago

Tulare County Gang Member Convicted of Trying to a Murder Police Officer

17 hours ago

Newsom Promises Funding to Jump-Start ‘Science of Reading’

18 hours ago

Feds Indict SoCal Hospice CEO for Medicare Fraud in Fresno and Kern Counties

18 hours ago

World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted

The world’s largest almond processor, Blue Diamond Growers, says it will close its Sacramento processing plant this year The almond co...

14 hours ago

14 hours ago

World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted

16 hours ago

Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities

16 hours ago

Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly

17 hours ago

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

17 hours ago

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

17 hours ago

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

17 hours ago

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

18 hours ago

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend