The Progressive Democrats of Benicia to Host Zoom Candidate Forum Tuesday, January 9, at 7pm
The Progressive Dems are hosting a virtual candidate forum for District 2 Supervisor Candidates tomorrow evening. All are welcome to attend and the event is free.
Monica Brown (left) and Rochelle Sherlock, Democratic candidates for Board of Supervisors in District 2, will speak.* The club asked the candidates to answer a few questions, and what answers they have received are now available on the Progressive Democrats of Benicia website, with the specific page linked below:
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+16699006833,,86273821941#,,,,*528756# US (San Jose)
* Per PDB’s by-laws and as required by chartering authorities, the club may only endorse registered Democrats for office. Candidates registered to other parties are not eligible for the club’s endorsement. You may learn about all the candidates for this office, including non-Democrats, at the Vallejo Sun’s excellent article covering all candidates in the March 5 Primary Election.
With apologies for the late notice, here is your first opportunity to hear from and learn more about the candidates for District 2 Supervisor – and let them know what you want to see in Solano County in the next few years. The Democratic candidates for supervisor are Monica Brown (incumbent) and Rochelle Sherlock. Nora Dizon is a third candidate. (We were unable to find Supervisor Brown’s campaign webpage.) Supervisor District 2 covers Benicia, parts of Vallejo, and parts of Fairfield. This is a free event that appears to be open to the public, although it looks like you can get tickets at the Eventbrite page.
[Disclaimer: the BenIndy was not asked to promote these events and is not affiliated with the PAC that is hosting them in any way. This simply seems like a good opportunity for voters to learn more about the candidates.]
The Solano County Supervisors voted to eliminate our Historical Records Commission (HRC) . The lone dissenting vote was Supervisor Wanda Williams. Benicia’s Supervisor (Monica Brown) and Vallejo’s two Supervisors (Monica Brown and Erin Hannigan) decided the voice of the community should be silenced. This was a devastating blow to community involvement and a particularly spiteful one after community groups requested the county not eliminate this commission.
Without the HRC, there will be no community involvement in protecting our history. The county has already mismanaged our historical records and lost so many important records.
In addition to the elimination of the HRC, the Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board (ADAB) was effectively eliminated as the county refuses to process appointments to the Board. The county is suffering a serious opioid crisis that our government leaders are ignoring. Monica Brown and John Vasquez are the Supervisors behind eliminating ADAB. Without ADAB, the county staff will continue to do their best to ignore the problem.
The supervisors told the community that our voices are not important. Please contact your supervisors and tell them they made a mistake.
If you live in District 1 (the north side of Georgia St. In Vallejo and everything north of that), your supervisor is Erin Hannigan and her email is ehannigan@solanocounty.com. If you live in Benicia, Mare Island, the south side of Georgia St., or anywhere south of that in Vallejo, Monica Brown is your supervisor. She can be reached at mebrown@solanocounty.com or at 707-784-3031.
Please call and email them and let them know you want community involvement restored. Our voice matters and we must make sure it is heard.
There is a petition to reinstate the Historical Records Commission on change.org. You can sign the petition here.
$1B Silicon Valley-backed utopian city ‘California Forever’ facing national security probe: pols
New York Post, by Thomas Barrabi, Published Nov. 12, 2023
A planned utopian city in California continues to face a high-stakes probe by a US national security panel – and state politicians still aren’t satisfied that the secretive project isn’t linked to China.
Since 2017, a little-known firm called Flannery Associates has stealthily bought up nearly $1 billion in land next to Travis Air Force Base, sparking alarms on Capitol Hill that a foreign entity could be backing the project for nefarious purposes.
Similar concerns arose last year after a Chinese firm bought 300 acres of land near an Air Force drone base in North Dakota.
In August, Flannery tried to calm nerves by revealing its backers included US tech tycoons such as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.
The group has said the land’s proximity to Travis was unintentional and outlined plans to develop a picturesque city featuring sustainable energy, a pedestrian-friendly layout and good-paying jobs.
Nevertheless, the US Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) – an interagency panel responsible for vetting business transactions for potential national security risks – is still actively reviewing the project as of this month, a pair of California lawmakers told The Post.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif), who previously blasted Flannery for using “strong-arm mobster techniques” to acquire land from local farmers, told The Post that the firm’s explanation to date is “only half of the story” – and claimed the project bears the hallmarks of a “patient” foreign investment scheme.
“To say it’s ‘American money’ is not a complete explanation of who is the investor,” Garamendi said. “I’ve been around long enough to understand the way foreign money – legitimate and illegitimate – is invested in the United States. Usually in an LLC, in a real estate transaction.”
Flannery Associates was originally registered as an LLC in Delaware, which does not require an ownership disclosure. The project’s organizers describe California Forever as Flannery’s parent company.
Flannery has rankled Solano County residents with vaguely-defined plans to build the city on patches of dry, unincorporated farmland that is pockmarked with wind turbines and abandoned gas wells and is known to lack enough infrastructure to support a large population.
Catherine Moy, the mayor of Fairfield, Calif., said the feds are “still investigating” the situation and were “not 100% that China is not behind funding on this.”
“CFIUS, they’re still going forward with their investigation. You can trust but verify, especially with things like this,” Moy said. “A couple of the investors already are very connected with China, business-wise.”
The CFIUS probe was first reported by CNN in August – weeks after it emerged that Garamendi and fellow US Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) had asked the panel and the FBI to investigate the matter.
The duo noted that Travis is a critical military transport hub known as the “Gateway to the Pacific” that serves as a key conduit for shipments to Ukraine, among other key functions.
“My concerns with the land acquisition in Solano County have always been on national security and food security,” Thompson said in a statement. “Their rapid acquisition of land around Travis Air Force Base caused concern about who was making the purchases and their ultimate goal.”
A spokesperson for Travis Air Force base confirmed that “senior officials are actively supporting all involved federal and Solano County agencies regarding the land purchases.” The spokesperson referred further questions to the Treasury Department.
The Treasury Department did not return multiple requests for comment.
When reached for comment, a Flannery Associates spokesperson said the project has “no other foreign investors” beyond those it has disclosed.
The firm has said its investors are passive and have no role in day-to-day operations.
“While most area electeds have taken an open-minded approach to the opportunity our project presents for local jobs, investments, homes for middle class families, and clean power, a couple of local politicians are unfortunately and irresponsibly spreading rumors and misinformation to insinuate that California Forever is a not an American company,” the spokesperson said.
“We have complied with all government inquiries and provided documents (including all investment agreements and subscription agreements) that unquestionably prove that over 97% of our invested capital comes from U.S. investors, and that the remaining less than 3% comes from UK and Irish investors (Patrick and John Collison, with smaller stakes held by Charles Songhurst and Thomas Mather),” the spokesperson added.
So far, the list of publicly-disclosed Flannery investors includes Hoffman, Andreesen, his investment firm Andreesen Horowitz, former Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz, Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, Chris Dixon, John Dooer, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross and Laurene Powell Jobs, the prominent philanthropist and widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Moritz did not immediately return requests for comment.
A Sequoia Capital spokesperson confirmed that the firm had received the select committee’s letter about the probe, was “reviewing it and will respond.”
Flannery Associates CEO Jan Srakek has denied that his firm wants to build a “utopian” city. KGO-TV
Flannery CEO Jan Sramek has scrambled to downplay the project’s ties to the tech industry, describing it as a “city of yesterday.”
Its website specifically rejects the notion that it is building a “tech utopia” and said Flannery is “not proposing a pie-in-the-sky ‘utopian’ fantasy.”
Critics, including Garamendi and Moy, argue that Sramek and his team are merely trying to reframe the project due to local backlash.
“The story has changed,” Moy said. “Any credibility he was trying to earn after being secretive for five years is being lost because he’s changing the story now. That’s what happens with people who you can’t trust.”
RECENTLY IN THE VALLEJO TIMES-HERALD
Cars on Highway 12 between Suisun City and Rio Vista. (Chris Riley/The Reporter)
California Forever CEO Jan Sramek during a packed Solano County Water Agency meeting in Vacaville. (Chris Riley/The Reporter)
Turning off the tap | SCWA directs staff not to discuss Water Plus with California Forever Vallejo Times-Herald, Nov 10, 2023 >> The Solano County Water Agency Board of Directors told its staff not to continue discussions with California Forever regarding their proposed development project in eastern Solano County. At a regular meeting of the board Thursday evening, over 90 attendees and public commenters filled the meeting room… (continued)
Sheep graze in a plot of land east of CA 113. (Chris Riley/The Reporter)
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