Category Archives: California Forever Inc.

California Forever Inc., Flannery Associates, Solano County CA, Solano Together

Opinion: Flannery Associates has rebranded California Forever to get rid of old baggage. Don’t be fooled

BenIndy Editorial, May 13, 2024

Flannery Associates have rebranded California Forever to the East Solano Plan, apparently hoping Solano residents will line up for a taste of the same old wine, just in a new bottle.

Corporate rebranding has long been a tool for abstraction and obfuscation, giving companies suffering PR problems a new chance at life with a new corporate identity. BP stood for British Petroleum until the early 2000s, when the company adopted “Beyond Petroleum” as its tagline as proof of its commitment to safer systems and renewable energy (yet the Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened in 2010). Philip Morris Companies Inc. rechristened itself the Altria Group around the same time, eager to shed its association with the negative health impacts of smoking (yet it continued to spend millions to lobby and litigate for the tobacco industry).

Following this dubious tradition, Flannery Associates aka California Forever are now the East Solano Plan (“ESP”).

Critically, the ESP is (at least at present) nothing more than a marketing facelift. Over the last 6 months the company has had many opportunities to receive and consider feedback from the frustrated Solano communities that it says it wants to serve. While it has accepted some feedback, most notably by making provisions for the Travis Air Force Base, many Solano residents remain dissatisfied with the scheme to build a new city in Eastern Solano.

California Forever’s rebrand to ESP does nothing to address the underlying issues that have plagued it since its sudden thrust into the spotlight after years of secrecy and misdirection. At its core, the project is the same as it was before the change.

Whatever the name of the scheme was, is, or will be in the future is secondary to the glaring omissions and half-baked “voter guarantees” that may in fact be non-binding and/or unbindable, according to some analysts.

We at the Benicia Independent want to be clear about the following: We support the development of affordable housing. However, it is unclear how the ESP will benefit those in need of it given the projected million-dollar price tag for its homes. It is also unclear how the ESP can benefit anyone, from any income level, anytime soon – it is projected to take the new city 30 years or so to come to fruition.

So stay frosty, Solano residents. Don’t be fooled by rebrands and taglines. Don’t be suckered by “guarantees.”

Instead, call this what it is: old wine sold in a new bottle, for the same high price.

While the overuse of memes in this post is intended to draw some laughs, it is also there to expose a naked ploy, and a pretty cynical one at that, as quickly as possible and in a manner that welcomes casual reposting. Please feel free to reuse any of the images. 

California Forever Inc., Duane Kromm, Flannery Associates, Solano County CA, Solano Together

Duane Kromm: The Flannery saga keeps getting stranger . . .

Canva image by BenIndy. OK to reuse.
Duane Kromm. | Jason Henry / WSJ.

By Duane Kromm, May 7, 2024

The Flannery saga keeps getting stranger. Solano Together was invited to participate with California Forever at an event in early May.  Both sides were given time to present, take part in a Q&A, and finally make a brief closing pitch.

We said, of course, we always want to explain why our Solano Together coalition is working to preserve farmland and open space, protect Travis Air Force Base from encroachment, avoid creating gridlock on our highways, and make sure we have enough water for our farms and cities.

We were quite surprised when the California Forever folks pulled out of the presentation at the last minute.  They only wanted to participate if they alone would be making a presentation.

Sadly, this is becoming their norm.  In the past two weeks we have taken two journalists on tours of the area; from Jepson Prairie preserve, through the proposed “New Community” land, and into Montezuma Hills.  Both sets of journalists reported to us that California Forever would not even talk to them, much less spend time showing them the land, watching Travis missions fly overhead, or trying to explain why the gridlock they would create on Highway 12 would not be harmful to Travis’ mission.

Why would somebody who wants to win an election be so afraid of talking to journalists and taking part in town hall style meetings?  I guess when you have billions of dollars you think you can control all of the messaging about their project.

Solano Together is eager to meet with any group who would like us to present our message or take part in a dialogue or debate with California Forever.  Please call or email me, dkkromm@gmail.com, 707-580-7321, or connect through our website, solanotogether.org if you would like us to meet with you.

A postscript.  Go out to Jepson Prairie now, it is spectacular.  Weekends are best with the naturalists from UC Davis. naturalreserves.ucdavis.edu/jepson-prairie.

Jepson Prairie Preserve. | SolanoLandTrust.org.

 

>> More stories on California Forever here on the BenIndy

 

Host Your Own Party To Support Solano Together

Solano Together is expanding its grassroots effort by asking people across the region to host small gatherings in their homes and communities to provide up-to-date information and expand its impact.

Hosting house parties is a great opportunity to get involved and contribute to Solano Together’s mission to fight this development proposal and help build an alternative vision for a sustainable and equitable future for the region.

If you’re interested in hosting a house party or just learning more, click the image above or visit the Solano Together website to get more information on next steps.

California Forever Inc., Flannery Associates, Solano County CA

California Forever Shells out $2M in Campaign to Build City from Scratch

[Note from BenIndy: Not long after the Vallejo Times-Herald revealed that Vacaville’s vice mayor might personally benefit from California Forever’s new development, KQED is reporting that California Forever made significant payments to political consultants closely linked to Governor Gavin Newsom and Solano officials. The named consultants are Angie Wei, Matt Rodriguez, Brian Brokaw, Dan Newman, and Sue Vaccaro, who is married to Fairfield Councilmember Rick Vaccaro. These relationships naturally raise concerns about the influence certain of these named individuals, who have received significant compensation from California Forever, could have on the initiative’s approval process.]

A billboard for California Forever sits on top of an apartment building along I-80 in Vallejo on May 2, 2024. | Beth LaBerge / KQED.

KQED, by Adhiti Bandlamudi, May 3, 2024

California Forever spent some $2 million in the first three months of the year on its campaign to convince voters it should be allowed to build a city from scratch in Eastern Solano County, newly released campaign finance records show.

That money includes funds it has budgeted but has yet to pay out to contractors and around $1 million of in-kind contributions. The company has thus far been the sole contributor to its campaign, according to the records.

When he introduced the initiative in January, California Forever CEO Jan Sramek promised to spend “as much [money] as we need to win.”

The filings show California Forever has so far spent the largest portion of its money — more than $330,000 — on firms hired to collect the more than 20,400 signatures it submitted to the Solano County Registrar’s Office earlier this week. More than $200,000 went toward campaign workers’ salaries, and nearly $210,000 was spent on campaign websites and emails.

However, the payments also show more than $238,000 paid to consultant firms headed by highly connected political campaigners, including several former strategists and aides to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the wife of a current Fairfield councilmember.

Click the image to be redirected to the NPR post.

For a countywide ballot initiative, the spending is “robust,” said political and election lawyer Bradley Hertz, but “not terribly over the top.”

“If it were LA County, for example, with 5 million voters, [the budget] would be at least five or 10 times this amount to gather signatures and get the necessary publicity going,” Hertz said. “The big money needs to be spent at this stage for signature gathering.”

A representative from California Forever did not comment on its spending, but said the team is “feeling good” and that the company will have more updates on its plan in the coming week.

The company is relying on several high-profile political strategists to get initiative to the November election, including Angie Wei, a former legislative aide to Newsom; Matt Rodriguez, who worked with the governor in 2022 to oppose Proposition 30; and Brian Brokaw and Dan Newman, two longtime campaign advisers to Newsom. Brokaw also served as Vice President Kamala Harris’s former campaign manager when she ran for Attorney General in 2010.

California Forever also paid Sue Vaccaro, wife of Fairfield Councilmember Rick Vaccaro, $4,000 for campaign consulting. Councilmember Vacarro has not responded to KQED’s request for comment.

Click the image to be redirected to the NPR post.

The Registrar’s Office is now verifying California Forever’s submitted signatures. If they all check out, the Registrar will pass the initiative along to the Solano County Board of Supervisors, which must decide whether to approve it outright or put it to voters.

Supervisor Mitch Mashburn, a critic of the plan, said Wednesday that if the initiative qualifies for the election, he would call for a special report assessing the proposed city’s impacts, both positive and negative. But Hertz suspected California Forever has accounted for the added delay this report would require. The supervisors have until Aug. 9 to vote to place the initiative on the November ballot.

The next set of campaign finance reports is due by the end of July. Paul Mitchell, owner of polling firm Redistricting Partners, said California Forever’s spending on getting the ballot measure to voters is likely a drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to build the proposed city.

“Just because it gets passed by voters isn’t going to build a house,” Mitchell said. “[The amount spent so far] is not an enormous sum for what they’re looking to do, and it’s probably not going to break records.”

California Forever Inc., Flannery Associates, Solano County CA, Vacaville CA

Vacaville Vice Mayor positioned himself for personal gain in promoting California Forever

Vice Mayor holds California Forever DBAs

Business linked to California Forever Home Loans

Vacaville Vice Mayor Greg Ritchie speaks to reporters after announcing his support for California Forever’s ballot initiative.

Vallejo Times-Herald, by Nick McConnell, May 2, 2024

Months before becoming the first public official to endorse California Forever, Vacaville Vice Mayor Greg Ritchie filed two “Doing Business As” names for his home loan company, Citizens Financial.

The real estate license for Ritchie, who endorsed the project on Tuesday, indicates that he filed “California Forever Home Loans” and “California Forever Homes” as DBAs for his business in January of this year. A website URL registered as www.californiaforeverhomeloans.com exists, but now redirects to a message from Ritchie.

Documentation of the DBAs, as well as criticism of Ritchie’s decision to file them, surfaced on social media Tuesday evening, intensifying pre-existing backlash toward the vice mayor’s decision to announce support for the development company.

Ritchie said he filed the DBAs in January because he believes in the project’s goals and thinks it will have a positive impact on Solano County. While he said he “wholeheartedly understood” some of the concerns and frustration about the issue, he said his business will be interested in helping people access the downpayment assistance that California Forever has promised to provide.

“I want to make one thing crystal clear — neither my company nor myself have any economic relationship or interest in California Forever,” Ritchie wrote on the site. “I have also not received any donations or political contributions for my endorsement. My endorsement was given purely based on my professional and personal belief that this is a good project that will help thousands of Solano families reach the dream of homeownership.”

A major concern for Ritchie is the lack of affordable housing options available to Travis Air Force Base service members in the immediate area around the base, and he believes California Forever’s new community could go a long way to solving that issue for Solano County.

This is not the first time that Ritchie has faced backlash over a DBA. He faced criticism over his “The Badge’s Broker” DBA during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. He said at that time, he refused to remove the DBA because he did not want to play into tribalism.

“I chose to take the road less traveled and go down that road and stay strong,” he said.

Ritchie said he is particularly excited about the downpayment assistance that the plan could provide. Citizens Financial connects people to funding for downpayment regularly, Ritchie said, and he looks forward to helping more people if the initiative is passed. He described the lack of access to capital for a downpayment as the “Achilles Heel” of housing in California and described himself as a subject matter expert in providing that funding.

“I have proved myself for over a decade that whoever works for my company, they actually care,” he said.

Ritchie noted that refusing to provide home loans based on where someone would be living is illegal under federal law.

“Like many Solano County small business owners, Greg Ritchie sees the potential of the East Solano Plan to help the thousands of working families who are struggling to purchase their own homes,” California Forever Campaign Manager Matt Rodriguez said. “His endorsement is solely based on the merits of the East Solano Plan and we greatly appreciate his support.”

Rodriguez said he was disappointed by the “bullying” of fellow Solano County residents and business owners he has seen toward those who support the initiative. As the campaign moves forward, he said he hopes for “collaborative and respectful dialogue.”

“We look forward to more folks learning about the Homes For All guarantee of $400 million in downpayment assistance and how it can meaningfully improve the wellbeing of this great community,” he said.