Selling a slice of the California dream

Jan 17, 2024

GO BIG OR GO HOME: California Forever has gone through a quick evolution.

It emerged six months ago as something of a curiosity — a proposal to build a new city out of rolling farmland in Solano County, about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. Critics were quick to pounce, dismissing the vague plan for a pedestrian-friendly city powered by alternative energy as a pie-in-the-sky Utopia or just a creative new packaging for more urban sprawl. The reception at town halls was brutal.

Now, California Forever has come out with details of its plan — and they must sell the proposal to the voters in an initiative they hope to get on the November ballot.

California Forever seeks to build its new city just west of Rio Vista on about a third of the more than 60,000 acres acquired by its parent company, Flannery Associates LLC, under a veil of secrecy over six years. It says the as-yet unnamed community will feature affordable apartments and townhomes, surrounded by parks, schools and businesses, laid out in a “walkable” design.

To help make it happen, the company California Forever says it will set up a $400 million fund for down-payment assistance to Solano County residents and a legal guarantee that the city provide at least 15,000 jobs before the first 50,000 people are settled. The new city could grow to 400,000 in the coming decades.

The inducements, CEO Jan Sramek said, are part of an effort to address the critical need for affordable homes near where people work to cut down on commuting.

“In California we have dug ourselves into such a deficit in terms of housing,” he told reporters today after presenting the project to a friendly audience in Rio Vista. “As the governor pointed out when he ran in the last election, we are missing two and a half million homes.”

Sramek said he considered a smaller, “infill” project, within the boundaries of an existing city, but rejected it as insufficient — and too complex and expensive to address the critical need for affordable housing.

“If you look at the pace of building infill over the last seven years, it hasn't made a dent in that situation,” he said. “We are just treading water.”

Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader who moved to Fairfield to shepherd the project, said he is “pretty confident” voters will endorse his vision.

The project must get through the voters because the plan is in violation of the decades-old Orderly Growth Initiative and General Plan, which requires that any major new development take place in the existing cities. Getting public acceptance is only the first step in a long process of permitting and environmental review.

Whether they can pull this off is an open question.

California Forever

California Forever CEO Jan Sramek | Ben Fox, POLITICO

State Sen. Bill Dodd, whose district includes the project area, says he’s not sold. “I hope decisions are based on facts, not slogans, misdirection and massive campaign spending,” he said in a statement. “We shouldn’t gloss over very important public policy considerations that will have generational impacts.”

Sarah Donnelly, a member of the city council in nearby Rio Vista, doubts that California Forever can really provide the affordable housing and good jobs it promises — but she can see why some people in the county might be swayed.

“We are challenged with housing just in California; we're challenged with jobs and I understand why it is attractive to certain folks,” Donnelly said outside the hall where the company presented its project. “I'm a skeptic. I think we all should be skeptical. It's never been done before.”

IT’S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check of California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to sgtaylor@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

DEMOCRATIC DIVISION: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is at odds with Gov. Gavin Newsom on the Supreme Court’s decision to take up an anti-camping ordinance — a rare point of disagreement between the two California Democrats.

Democrats around the West cheered last week when the high court agreed to weigh in on the ban on camping in Grants Pass, Ore. Blue state officials believe lower court rulings striking down the ban have made it harder to get people off the streets.

Newsom was among those who applauded the Supreme Court decision — but Bass, who has made fighting homelessness her signature issue, feels differently. “My fear is that it could unleash a lot of sentiment to criminalize the unhoused population,” she told reporters today at the Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld rulings striking down the Grants Pass ordinance because the small city did not have adequate shelter for the people living on its streets. Newsom said those lower court rulings have “tied the hands” of cities and states that have spent billions to address the issue. Bass, a former member of Congress who has a master’s degree in social work, worries about local authorities taking too much of a punitive approach.

“We as a country have got to decide that it is unacceptable in our country for people to be living on the street and we should house them, not punish them,” the mayor said. — Olivia Alafriz

ON THE BEATS

Football bill California

Ariel Gans, POLITICO

DROPPING THE BALL — Republican lawmakers were on the west steps of the Capitol celebrating the apparent failure of a bill that would prohibit kids 12 and under from playing tackle football. But they weren’t giving much credit to Newsom, who told POLITICO the night before that he would veto the measure if it passed in the Legislature.

Assemblymember James Gallagher, the Republican leader, said the governor acted because of “public outcry and pressure and frankly embarrassment” over the bill, Assembly Bill 734. “They finally turn and go the right way,” he said.

With Newsom’s pledge to veto, the bill will be shelved indefinitely. — Ariel Gans

ELECTION SECURITY — Secretary of State Shirley Weber issued an advisory today to elections offices around the state after a package containing white power — possibly fentanyl — was sent to the Yuba County Registrar of Voters.

The warning is a reminder of the heightened danger to election workers since former President Donald Trump and his supporters started making false claims about voter fraud. Weber’s statement pointed out that the people at risk are “friends, neighbors and family members,” and often volunteers. “Year after year, and election after election, they protect our cherished democratic principles and our hard-won right to votes.”

The powder found at the Yuba County office on Tuesday tested positive for fentanyl in a field test, but the sheriff’s department still has to confirm the finding.

BUTLER'S MAIDEN SPEECH — Sen. Laphonza Butler delivered her first speech from the Senate floor today in Washington, stressing the importance of protecting young people during her term.

“If our children are our future, let us be urgent about the promise of America,” Butler said. “It must be that we put our future first, because their lives are depending on us today.”

Butler, appointed by Newsom in October to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said she will not seek a full term. Butler is the first openly LGBTQ and first Black LGBTQ U.S. senator from California.

WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY

GOVERNATOR DETAINED: Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was detained at an airport in Germany, accused of failing to declare a luxury watch when flying into Munich. (The Washington Post)

HARVARD APOLOGY TOUR: Top dogs at Harvard visited Silicon Valley venture-capital investors to mend fences after controversy about views on the Israel-Hamas conflict rocked the university. (The Wall Street Journal)

COME AT THE KING: A fan somehow managed to put his hands on LeBron James during a recent game, raising questions about security at Crypto.com Arena. (Los Angeles Times)

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