May 30, 2024
Here’s your reminder that, tonight at 5:30pm, Benicia’s Arts and Culture Commission will celebrate the seasonal return of its two popular play-art pianos, Hippo and Jungle, in St. Paul’s Courtyard on First Street.
Local musicians and performers will be providing a “Dueling Pianos” experience for Farmer’s Market guests and passersby. Community members are encouraged to bring all types of instruments to join in the fun.
By Stephen Golub, May 28, 2024
“Is this the Golub household?”
The pleasant young woman who rang my doorbell on Friday was soliciting support for the East Solano Plan, otherwise known as California Forever, otherwise known as Flannery Associates, the shadowy company launched by ultra-rich Silicon Valley investors. The firm has bought $900 million of Solano County land in recent years in order to supposedly build a model city, despite widespread traffic congestion, water shortage, environmental and credibility concerns to the contrary.
After I calmly but firmly expressed my doubts about the project and its backers, she went on her way.
I’d previously suspected that the Flannery flim-flam was simply a get-even-richer-quick scheme for the billionaires: Start by buying the land. Then have its mainly farmland zoning changed to allow residential use, via passage of the firm’s “East Solano Homes, Jobs, and Clean Energy Initiative” referendum this November. Finally, flip the land to developers at inflated prices.
But there could be more to this scheme than meets the eye.
In a fascinating blog post and New Republic article, journalist and communications strategist Gil Duran dives into what possibly drives CF: “California Forever aligns with the Network State cult, a movement which seeks to build new sovereign territories ruled by tech plutocrats. The idea behind the Network State is to build new cities that can eventually gain sovereignty and essentially secede from the United States.”
Though he has an impressive background working for leading California news outlets and officials, don’t just take Duran’s word about Network State ideology. Here’s the leader of the Network State movement, tech entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan, on the topic: “[A] network state is a highly aligned online community with a capacity for collective action that crowdfunds territory around the world and eventually gains diplomatic recognition from pre-existing states”. [Emphasis added.]
As suggested by Duran’s New Republic piece, that vision may be dark rather than hopeful, offering ways to evade a dystopian future rather than shape a utopian one, more Terminator than Star Trek. Also bear in mind that Srinivasan’s politics are such that in January 2017 Donald Trump reportedly interviewed him to head the Food and Drug Administration.
Duran suggests links between California Forever and the Network State in terms of Srinivasan repeatedly alluding to the former in discussing the latter, as well as Srinivasan’s shared orientations and connections with several CF funders. Where there’s smoke, there could well be fire.
Now, let’s take a few steps back…
First, in fairness to Flannery or California Forever or the East Solano Plan – or whatever surveys or focus groups might tell the initiative’s leaders they should call it these days – the project denies any ties to the Network State movement. I’d add that thus far Duran is making an intriguing case for the connection, rather than conclusively proving it.
Still, as he asserts, “Given the company’s history of evasiveness, its denials mean little.”
That’s a powerful point, in view of how the initiative keeps rebranding itself; how some of its backers’ outlooks overlap with Network State ideology; how its recent mass mailing misleadingly maintains that the project will “Keep Travis Air Force Base Secure and Thriving,” when in fact the project’s original plans put the Base’s security in question; and, most notably, how it’s offering glowing “guarantees” of massive benefits it’s actually not obliged to honor
Second, are we really seeing the potential birth of an Independent Republic of East Solano? I don’t see how. But if the California Forever initiative passes in November, or if its backers otherwise exert enough political sway, we could witness the rise of an undemocratic and unaccountable entity that echoes the Network State orientation.
Third, wouldn’t Solano County benefit from something of a shakeup, in terms of additional housing, resources, environmental enhancements and a host of other would-be benefits? Sure. But there are better ways of doing that, consistent with the County’s General Plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors and approved by voters in 2008, by working with our existing cities rather than converting farmland. Plus we get back to whether we can even trust the project. I’m afraid we can’t.
How will Duran’s allegations play out over time? Who knows? The fact that California Forever is misleading on many other matters does not automatically mean it’s being dishonest in denying this Network State connection. But neither has it earned the benefit of the doubt.
It’s certainly worth subscribing to Duran’s blog to learn more. It’s also worth being beware, should an East Solano Plan solicitor come knocking at your door the way one did at mine.
What can we do about the billionaires’ dubious development? For months, “a group of concerned residents, leaders, and organizations” called Solano Together has been working to “provide the public, voters, and decision-makers with accurate information on the impacts of California Forever and unite around a shared [alternative] vision for the future.” Thanks to the invaluable Benicia Independent, I very recently learned of a new group, whimsically called California ForNever, where folks can also gather further information and register opposition to the project. Both organizations seem well worth checking out.
Back to Duran: Regardless of whether he turns out to be completely correct regarding the Network State connection, kudos for his raising crucial questions that add fuel to the flim-Flannery fire.
[Hat tip: MK, JK, Benicia Independent and Gil Duran.]
[Note from BenIndy: As part of the Solano AIDS Network and BBLM’s inaugural Fiestas Primavera Festival on March 28, 2024, Benicia High School students were invited to submit writings for an essay contest discussing issues related to the chase-games malingering presence in a town that seemed ready to move on. This essay tackled the tough topic of why students are drawn to the game – namely, “there isn’t much [for teens] to do in Benicia” – and what else might deliver the same thrills for Benicia youth, minus the racism and looming danger of injuries, arrests, and even fatalities.]
By Spencer Ball, May 28, 2024
The game “La Migra” or “Border Patrol” has been treated as a tradition toward high school students at Benicia high school for several decades. The aim of the game is for the higher classmen (Seniors who are able to drive) to chase down lowerclassmen from Jack London Park to the baseball field downtown. This is a 3-4 mile journey the lowerclassmen, mostly freshmen, must complete on foot throughout the roads and fields on Benicia while avoiding the seniors that are able to kidnap, shoot, and harrass you and hinder you from reaching the baseball field. Now this seems like a fun cops and robbers game, there isn’t much to do in Benicia anyway and to have an intense chase game that uses the entire city and a playground sounds extremely fun.
However there is also the concern of non players and the safety of others playing the game. The game takes place late in the afternoon and lasts until around 10:00 pm at night. For a majority of the time people are in the dark, running around the street, avoiding Seniors in their cars who are most likely driving erratically to catch the lowerclassmen.
This can lead to accidents of people getting run over or people getting into wrecks. On another note there is the concern of people who are not playing being confused for players. During the game the seniors assume anybody who is a teenager and out walking or running down the sidewalk is playing, which could subject them to being shot at or kidnapped without even knowing what is going on. I would be terrified if I was walking down the street and then out of nowhere somebody drove up to Me, kidnapped me, and dropped me off, potentially restrained in a location far and foreign to Me, for possibly hours on end.
Lastly La Migra, meaning Border Patrol, was originally created to replicate ICE and the deportation of illegal immigrants coming into the country. This gives La Migra, which most people play for the cops and robbers gameplay, a racist and discriminatory premise, which is not needed in today’s culture.
I believe we can fix this through rebranding the game and playing it in a controlled area such as the Benicia Community Park, with the aid of the city of professionals who can make the game even better than it was with Seniors in their cars and BB guns.
What if we could get funding behind a cause to rework the game and get military personnel or professionals to provide a simulated cops-and-robbers game like what was La Migra, but controlled, with EMT services to help people in case there is an accident, and have the potential to be way better more funner and memorable? If students want the thrill of chase or battle, these people can give that to us. It would be an event that people might come to Benicia to participate in, news articles will give it traction, and it will turn what was once La Migra into a inclusive game where people will be able to enjoy a game in a way unimaginable before, and without racial bias rooted into the phenomenon.
[This essay was edited very mildly for clarity.]
By Sheri Leigh, first published in the Benicia Herald on May 26, 2024
I first met Spencer Ball in February of this year when I went to the Kyle Hyland Teen Center to speak to the students there about the offensive game. He was refreshingly enthusiastic about finding exciting alternatives for teens to do in Benicia, rather than engaging in the game (La Migra). As I talked to the students about the potential dangers and racist undertones of the game, Spencer fired off a plethora of different ideas, opening the door for progressive planning and teen engagement.
Spencer Ball is an 11th grader at Benicia High School and a natural leader. He helps his parents with their business and has a strong interest in mechanics and becoming an entrepreneur. He is even considering a career in politics. Spencer was one of the two Fiestas Primavera Scholarship recipients, writing a winning essay about the impacts of the La Migra game on our community. [Ed. Note: A copy of this essay will be posted later today, on May 28, 2024.]
Shortly after starting high school nearly three years ago, Spencer heard about La Migra. The intensity of the pandemic was just ending, and the game had just resumed with a fervor and ruthlessness born from young people being cooped up and isolated for so long. He noticed that the students were really into it. Some of the kids wore all black, complete with dark balaclavas to minimize their visibility in the dark while running. Some of the chasers carried airsoft guns that resembled military grade weaponry. One student even rented a U-Haul in the anticipation of capturing and deporting a lot of “illegals.” Spencer talked about hearing that some captured “escapees” were zip-tied to a fence or dropped off in San Francisco.
“I understand and like edgy games, such as Cops and Robbers, where the thrill factor is high, but there are problems with La Migra,” 16-year-old Spencer Ball told me when we met over coffee at Starbucks in April to talk about other options for teens in the community. He wants to reinvent the game in a safer, more structured, and non-racist way. “Kids need to have activities that are exciting and free from adult involvement, but being unkind to one another isn’t the way to do it.” Spencer shared that he and his friends already play a simulated war game in the Community Park wilderness area using nerf guns, and they love it. Everyone watches out for each other. They all know who is playing. They establish reasonable rules, and they follow them. Any of the friends can include whomever they want, and they all have an equal standing. “We can open it up school-wide to anyone who wants to play,” he suggested.
Spencer also talks about the loose use of racist and sexist words used by the kids. He notes that there is a lot of desensitized “humor” at school. He mentioned that some of the students yell out words that would never be used in more civilized situations or around their grandmothers.
Spencer notes that even under the best of circumstances and with all good intentions, these words can be obnoxious, offensive, or frightening to a lot of people when they hear it: “We need to stop giving the words power. We shouldn’t let these words affect who we are or react to them. The same with bullying. Social media has played a big part in this problem. I’ve been bullied. Standing up for yourself is one of the only ways to stop it. Speak with confidence. Surround yourself with caring people. If you find the courage to hold your head up, self-esteem will follow.”
Often easier said than done, for many, but absolutely correct in an ideal world.
“We need to come together as a community,” Spencer tells me. I nod. His goal is to inspire and develop more inclusive, less dangerous, and yet fun activities for teens and to be that agent of change. I look forward to what Spencer and others like him bring to Benicia.
A copy of Spencer’s prize-winning essay about the La Migra game will be posted later today, on May 28, 2024.
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