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Tech billionaires want to build a new city in rural California. Voters may get a say on it (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave to c/news

24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

California Forever, which bought 60,000 acres, has received fierce opposition from local officials and environmental groups

The controversial plan backed by Silicon Valley billionaires to build a new city in northern California farmland could come before voters later this year.

California Forever, the company that quietly acquired 60,000 acres of land in Solano county and recently revealed it planned to build a city there, announced on Wednesday it would submit a ballot initiative asking voters to clear the way for the project.

Along with the announcement of the ballot initiative, the company shed further light on its plans. It is proposing to create a new walkable and sustainable community with a variety of housing options, including apartments and row houses, on 18,600 acres in east Solano county, about 60 miles from San Francisco. Their plan also includes a pledge to create as many as 15,000 jobs, a $400m fund for down payment assistance as well as a requirement that at least 4,000 acres be used for parks, trails and other green spaces.

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[–] sylver_dragon 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

With the exception of the issue over water usage, I'm not sure I understand the resistance to this. Yes, I do see that it could result in a problem where they engage in rent seeking behavior; but, it's also a plan to build out a bunch of housing and the infrastructure to support it, in an area which needs more housing. And, of all the places in the US, California is the one state where I would expect to see the political will to regulate if these wealthy assholes try to turn this into a Company Town situation. More housing is not going to build itself. And this seems like one way to get some of that done. Is it perfect? Far from it, but it seems like this could also be a lot better than the nothing which is currently being done.

[–] fidodo 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think the main distrust is in private interests being in the lead. I think it's pretty fair to not trust a solution from a bunch of billionaires, which also conveniently puts them in a position of monopolistic power.

[–] sylver_dragon 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is it really all that different from the millions of housing tracts we have dotting the US landscape? Or the apartment blocks dotting cities? Private entities have been developing housing for decades. And while we can certainly go on about the evils of HOAs, it's not exactly the dystopian nightmare scenario which this particular development is being made out as. I'm just not seeing the big deal in this.

[–] fidodo 1 points 1 year ago

This seems more involved than just a neighborhood or development project since it's an entire city. But I'm pretty sure this kind of thing has been done a ton, they just don't do it so loudly.

[–] books 2 points 1 year ago

I tend to agree with this take.