Opinion: Rural California Cheers as Plan for Utopian Tech City Hits the Skids

Seven generations after his family first settled in California’s Solano County, 23-year-old Aiden Mayhood went online on Monday to see he had done his predecessors proud by thwarting a band of bullying tech billionaires.

Seven years ago, a mysterious entity that only made itself known as Flannery Associates began buying up more than 60,000 acres of agricultural land. Farmers who resisted selling were pressured and families were deliberately divided. More than $800 million had been spent when The New York Times revealed that the project’s backers included Silicon Valley titans, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, venture capitalist Marc Andressen , and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs.

They unveiled a plan to build—from scratch—an idyllic, “walkable” city for 400,000 people just 60 miles from San Francisco.

The CEO of the rebranded project, California Forever , was Jan Sramek, a 37-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader. He was met with instant resistance from a host of local farmers, environmentalists and advocates of orderly growth.

The grassroots opposition united to form Solano Together. Mayhood was at the forefront, speaking at meetings and wielding truth against power.

The group won a major victory on Monday when it was announced that the development had been halted for at least two more years—part of a supposed bid to study its environmental impact, according to a statement issued by California Forever .

“It’s definitely a win,” Mayhood told The Daily Beast in an interview Monday after learning that California Forever’s utopian project was being shelved. “But I’m very concerned about what they had planned for the next two and a half years. I’m just, I’m curious to see what California Forever has up their sleeve, because I’m sure they they're thinking of all kinds of things right now.”

His cautious optimism was echoed by a fellow activist, 76-year-old Kathleen Threlfall, who lives on a farm that belonged to her great grandparents.

“Today, we’re happy,” she said.

But the other side still has their billions and they are not known to be fond of losing.

“I’m very concerned about what they had planned for the next two and a half years,” Mayhood added. “I’m just curious to see what California forever has up their sleeve, because I'm sure they're thinking of all kinds of things right now.”

Monday’s news was the byproduct of years of organizing on the ground in Solano County, and a rare example of the masses going up against monied interests and coming out on top—at least for now.

Back in 1982, two decades before Mayhood was born, a San Francisco real estate developer named Hiram Woo announced plans for a fabulous new city called Manzanita, built on 5,000 residents’ agricultural land in Solano County.

But one thing Woo did not offer was a reason why Solano needed another city—there were already seven in the county, which was occupied mainly by ranchers and farmers, including Mayhood’s family.

Among the newer arrivals was Craig McNamara, son of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. He and his wife, Julie McNamara, had just purchased a walnut farm.

“[We] were young first-generation farmers and recognized that a development like Manzanita would not support itself in terms of the infrastructure and city services,” he recalled in an interview with the Daily Beast .

The McNamaras formed the Solano County Orderly Growth Committee—a predecessor of Solano Together—and collected enough petition signatures to put a measure on the ballot restricting development to within the limits of the county’s seven existing cities. The measure passed and was renewed in 1994, and then incorporated into the county plan. It is not due for revision until 2028.

As a result, California Forever needed to get approval from the voters for a much grander version of Woo’s plan. Sramek set to selling it as best he could as The East Solano Plan, with the hope of getting voter approval in November. But many Solano County residents were left unsure how exactly California Forever would address such challenges as water supply and roads and the overall environmental impact.

There was also the question of increased taxes.

On Monday, Mayhood checked the East Solano Plan’s page on Facebook and saw a joint statement by Sramek and Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn. The issue was being withdrawn for further consideration and would not come to vote for at least two years.

“This creates opportunities to incorporate additional community input, and then provide everyone with access to objective analysis, and the full terms of the Development Agreement, including the community benefits,:” Sramek said. “We believe that with this process, we can build a shared vision that passes with a decisive majority and creates broad consensus for the future.”

Mayhood took this to mean the billionaires had blinked.

He headed down to the California Forever office in Rio Vista to take a measure of the opposition. He was surprised to discover that Sramek had not yet bothered to tell his minions.

“They had no idea that the initiative was pulled,” Mayhodo told The Daily Beast. “They were left in the dark about it. They’re like, ‘We don’t think so. We’re pretty confident that it's going to be on the ballot in November. Where are you seeing this?”

Later, Mayhood considered what seemed to be proof of what regular folks of modest means can do if they are united and determined.

“It’s definitely been a team effort, and it was definitely a lot of work, but there’s a lot more work to do,” he said.

“I believe the way they have conducted themselves shows and reminds us that the ends don’t justify the means,” he said of the developers, who wanted nothing more than to turn his plowshares into pickleball paddles.

He spoke of those who came to Solano County before him, beginning in the late 1850s.

“Their history, their labor, the long journey they took,” he said. “This was the place they decided to settle, and I’m sure that was not easy for them.”

He had gone into accounting, but it had begun with the hardscrabble trials of the settlers.

“I’m very proud,” he said. “But I think they would be proud too.”

Mayhood was asked what he thought they would say to him.

“Keep up the fight,” he said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.