Category Archives: East Solano Plan

California Forever going dark? …after spending $7 million in April-June

Latest campaign finance report includes details on massive income & spending…

Big bucks aren’t enough to win the day…

By Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent, August 13, 2024

Solano County recently posted California Forever’s 2nd Quarter campaign finance report, Form 460.  It’s 68 pages long, and provides a detailed look inside the billionaire funding and the massive effort to sell the public on the billionaires’ failed ballot initiative.

Contributions

The report details 11 self-funding contributions April-June totaling $5,935,000. In addition, they made non-monetary contributions (staff time, office space & expenses, legal fees and event sponsorships) totaling $1,473,302. Total contributions for the three months – all self-funded – were $7,408,302. This was on top of the $1,850,109 California Forever gave itself in the 1st Quarter. Yes, that’s a total self-funding of $9,258,411 through the first half of 2024!

Expenditures

California Forever spent most of that money. Expenditures April-June totaled $7,078,688 (plus another $319,455 in as yet unpaid bills). This on top of its 1st Quarter expenses of $2,008,873, a total outlay for the first 6 months of this year: $9,087,561.

The details revealed on the 60 pages of individual expenditures are mind-blowing. For instance, just take a look at the first page of expenditures, p. 8:

  • Acosta Consulting, Sacramento, for literature: $112,500.20
  • Angie Wei Consulting, Sacramento, for campaign consulting, 2 payments, both for $20,000
  • Grindstone Field Solutions, Sacramento, for campaign workers’ salaries, $140,135.42

That is only the first of 60 pages, with additional payments for each of the above categories.

Another example: see pp. 56-64 for massive amounts spent on “radio airtime and production costs”:

  • KCBS-AM San Francisco: payments of  $9,452, $13,636 and $17,106, total around $40K. (and similar payments to many other AM and FM stations in the Bay Area, Sacramento and one in Burbank)
  • Pandora Radio: 2 payments of $13,440. Spotify: 2 payments of $13,440 and another of $16,800. Sirius XM: $16,800.
  • And 2 whopping payments, $438,537 and $389,662.36 paid to DMA Nielsen of Queensbury NY for “t.v. or cable airtime and production costs.”
Transparency going forward?

QUESTION: Now that the initiative is no longer on the ballot, will California Forever be required by State and/or County law to file another 460 at the next deadline (probably in September sometime)?

QUESTION: California Forever now says they will “apply for a General Plan and Zoning Amendment and proceed with the normal County process for the negotiation and execution of a development agreement.” [County news release 22 Jul 2024]  >>What County department will be overseeing this kind of process? I assume that project documents will be posted on the County website, but it’s not clear to me where. Interested parties will want to be monitoring this process closely.

I’ll be sure to update with answers on the BenIndy if/when I get answers.

Roger Straw, Benicia Independent contributor


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California Forever told to ‘Go somewhere else’

Supervisor Monica Brown doesn’t hold back…

Leaders react to East Solano Plan removal

A herd of horses walks in a pasture south of Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. (Chris Riley/The Reporter)

Vallejo Times-Herald, July 24, 2024

Solano County Supervisor Monica Brown waited months to share her thoughts on California Forever’s East Solano Plan. So when her moment came Tuesday morning, she didn’t mince words.

“How dare you come in here with your arrogance,” she scolded the company, criticizing the Silicon Valley-backed project for failing to communicate clearly with the County, accusing them of misleading voters and putting them on blast for a lack of detail and transparency in their initiative.

Brown said she was previously advised by Solano County Counsel not to speak out against California Forever to avoid recusing herself on matters that came before the board. Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, she said, she got the green light from that office to share some thoughts on the situation.

And share she did, using supervisors’ comments as an opportunity to let fly a volley of verbal missiles for the would-be developers and celebrate the postponement of the initiative’s ballot appearance until at least 2026.

“You came here and thought ‘Well they’re a bunch of hicks, they won’t fight,’ ” she said. “Well, we did.”

Brown also challenged the company on its decision to sue Solano County farmers and questioned the qualifications of their employees.

“Who did you have working for you? The kids I gave Fs to in math?” the former teacher asked.

She also attacked the company for failing to use the normal means of development that the County has laid out. She accused the organization of trying to “buy votes” with their charitable giving.

“You had an agenda,” she said. ” ‘By God, we’re going to get this done in November and we’re going to tell those hicks forget you.’ “

While California Forever has indicated it hopes to mend fences with the County and its voters, and while it remains by far the county’s largest single landowner, Brown made clear she wasn’t particularly interested at this point.

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re not welcome here ever again,” she said. “Go somewhere else.”

After the meeting, Supervisor John Vasquez told reporters that elected officials are entitled to their own opinions without making them public, and noted that other officials have faced recusal on issues for speaking out ahead of time in the past.

“Private opinions are private opinions,” he said. “Decisions at the dais are based on fact. You hear everything, and then you make a decision.”

Brown, a Democrat, expressed frustration with the Democratic consultants that the company brought in to help on this campaign, saying they had “sold your soul.”

She also noted that the County will have many things to work on over the next few years and that California Forever should have to wait its turn to get more County resources expended on it.

“What we have to tell them is, ‘You don’t get to jump to the front of the line,’ ” she said. “And I believe that with this going, that we do have a little bit of control at the driver’s side.” [See Supervisor Brown’s full comment, video below.]

Vacaville Mayor John Carli spoke to The Reporter about the future of the project on Monday. Carli, who has expressed before that California Forever did not sufficiently build trust with the community, said removing the initiative and taking time to hear from the community once again could help that aim.

“I do believe that their actions today are a step in the right direction,” he said.

Crafting an Environmental Impact Report and a Development Agreement could help the company explain to voters what they precisely mean to do and how it might impact the county as a whole, Carli said.

“This makes a lot more sense if you truly are interested in being here for the long term,” he said.

Still, he said, the firm has a long road ahead if they hope to rebuild that trust.

“Part of trust is being a good neighbor,” he said.

State Sen. Bill Dodd (D-3) expressed approval of the decision to remove the initiative from the ballot, but still had sharp words for the company’s end goals.

“The proponents of this ill-conceived development thought they were going to flash their cash and run over our community like a bunch of bumpkins, but instead they ran face-first into a brick wall,” Dodd said in a statement. “These billionaire speculators may try to spin it, but the bottom line is they got a wakeup call that Solano County residents won’t be fooled or taken advantage of.”

Dodd said he still believes the project would have “devastating consequences” for a number of issues in the county, including water, public safety, traffic and Travis Air Force Base.

“I hope they abandon their fundamentally flawed design and approach and instead work collaboratively with local governments to develop housing in a thoughtful way in places where it’s actually suitable.”

Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D-11) commended the company for removing its initiative but struck a much more positive tone about the company’s end goals than other local politicians, focusing on the “further discussion” that needs to occur on key issues with the project.

“While the proposed initiative could offer our county many benefits, we must ensure that more work is done to protect current Solano County residents and our local assets,” she said.

Wilson noted that she looks forward to a future of “collaborating with all stakeholders.”

U.S. Rep. John Garamendi (D-8) commended Supervisor Mitch Mashburn for reaching an agreement with California Forever and reiterated his position that the development would be irresponsible.

“From the beginning, I have maintained that the proposed project was only a pipe dream, not a true plan,” he said. “Rushing the process without thorough environmental and community review would have been disastrous for the existing residents of Solano County.”


Supervisor Brown’s comment on July 23, 2024:


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Sustainable Solano: California Forever does not align with our values

From Sustainable Solano blog, May 29, 2024

Sustainable Solano has remained publicly silent until now about California Forever, both as a proposal and a ballot item. But we have spent that time in active discussions as a team and board to weigh the California Forever proposal and the process taken to get it to this point and test it for alignment with Sustainable Solano’s mission and objective to nurture initiatives for the good of the whole. We work to help bring our communities together in a way that connects people with each other, the Earth and something larger than themselves, and we must base our responses upon those values.

We have determined the motives behind California Forever do not align with our values as an organization, even if some parts of the proposed community do reflect measures we would like to see for Solano County’s existing cities.

Sustainable Solano’s work around community resilience, sustainable landscapes and local food all starts at a singular nexus — the interest in giving a voice to the community and building community trust toward the good of the whole. We can say without a doubt that the approach taken to acquire property and establish California Forever does not align with that core value for our organization. Solano County residents are frustrated due to the lack of transparency and absence of trust around the intentions of those behind California Forever. As an organization that is exploring what it means for us to democratically govern ourselves in an open manner, we ask no less of those who are seeking to change the county where we ground our work.

Even in the structure of its proposed community, California Forever does not align with our values. The decision for this community to remain unincorporated will result in residents being denied a locally elected municipal government. The new city will not have a mayor or city council, with many governmental functions relegated to nonprofits established by California Forever, or to the County Board of Supervisors. Consequently, the voices of residents may go unheard, and their ability to participate meaningfully in shaping the future of their community can be hindered. Without a local government, residents are often deprived of the essential mechanisms for representation, decision-making, and resource allocation that are fundamental to democratic governance. Issues such as environmental protection, infrastructure development, and public services become challenging to address without a locally elected centralized authority to coordinate efforts and advocate for community needs.

In the absence of a community-elected municipal government, this unincorporated city may face significant obstacles in achieving the democratic ideals of equitable representation and collective decision-making.

There are other areas where California Forever does not properly align with Sustainable Solano’s mission and values. We promote sustainable land use and the protection of ag land, which this proposal would directly affect as well as removing range land and endangering critically important habitat. We work with communities to lift up residents’ voices around environmental degradation and injustice, and see where creation of a large new city in the county would increase the negative effects on surrounding communities commensurate with increased traffic and strains on water supplies.

California Forever paints a picture of a community that would be built for walkability with good jobs and affordable housing. We appreciate and understand the vital importance of these features of a sustainable city, and would like to see more in our existing cities — cities where people could easily walk, bike or take local transit to jobs that pay a livable wage, have access to grocery stores with healthy seasonal food, can gather in public spaces with urban greening, and use renewable, local energy. We would like to encourage building this vision within our existing cities, and invite you to think about how such changes could be brought to where you live. These strategies would strengthen Solano County and our local communities, but for California Forever they remain only ideas at this point, and there are far too many conflicts with our values for us to support the California Forever proposal as a whole.

 


MORE . . .

>> Get involved… Solano Together is another local organization opposing California Forever. Between now and November, you can get a yard sign from Solano Together and send Solano Together a much needed donation.

>> Read more… BenIndy coverage of the billionaire land grab, California Forever / East Solano Plan.

Solano Land Trust: We urge you to join us in voting no on the ballot measure in November

June 6, 2024 – In an email today, Solano Land Trust’s Nicole Braddock announced that the Land Trust Board of Directors voted to formally oppose the East Solano Plan, also known as California Forever. The Board urges Solano residents to vote no. Here’s the email:

Dear . . .

Nicole Braddock, Executive Director, Solano Land Trust

Solano Land Trust has also been following developments around the East Solano Plan, also know as California Forever, closely as more information about the details, scope, and size of the project have been made available. We understand our community’s need for housing and jobs and are committed to working with county partners to support inclusive solutions that maintain a healthy, natural environment including clean air, clean water, and open spaces. But a project of this magnitude is not the way to achieve this goal, and runs counter to Solano Land Trust’s mission of protecting and preserving open space for current and future generations.

The Solano Land Trust Board of Directors has voted to take a position and formally oppose the November ballot measure that would allow for the development of the East Solano Plan, also known as California Forever. A development of this magnitude will have a detrimental impact on Solano County water resources, air quality, traffic, farmland, and natural environment, and the associated pollution will be harmful to both our community and environmental health.

The area proposed for development is not a wasteland or landscape of no value. In fact, it is home to self-reliant farmland and ranchland where farmers and ranchers have grown local food for centuries. Most of these lands rely on very little, if any, irrigation, making them some of the most water-efficient farmland in the state. Also, this area is comprised of sensitive habitat and home to rare and endangered plants and animals in the region.

We urge you to join us in voting no on the ballot measure in November and protect these vital open lands.

You can see the full statement here: Solano Land Trust Press Release.

Together, we can protect our open land for today and save it for tomorrow. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Solano Land Trust.

Sincerely,

Nicole Braddock
Executive Director
solanolandtrust.org


MORE . . .

>> Get involved… Solano Together is another local organization opposing California Forever. Between now and November, you can get a yard sign from Solano Together and send Solano Together a much needed donation.

>> Read more… BenIndy coverage of the billionaire land grab, California Forever / East Solano Plan.