Solano County's 'scrappy resistance' defeats California Forever
The California Forever initiative, a.k.a. East Solano Plan, has been pulled from the 2024 ballot in Solano County, California.
From Nick McConnell at The Reporter:
In the most stunning turn yet in its months-long saga for a new city in Solano County, California Forever abruptly removed the East Solano Plan from the 2024 General Election Ballot according to a Facebook post by Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn on Monday.
But the project may not be totally dead yet. The billionaires say they'll be back in 2026:
The company will take the next two years to work with Solano County’s Board of Supervisors to create an Environmental Impact Report and Development Agreement for the East Solano Plan before bringing it back for approval in 2026.
This is a major victory for the people of Solano County, whose "scrappy resistance" would likely have resulted in a major defeat for the project in November. The billionaire-funded "tech utopia" city, backed by Marc Andreessen and other tech billionaires, spent nearly $1 billion to secretly acquire 60,000 acres of land in rural Solano.
The proposed city resembled other "network state" cities being planned around the globe by wealthy tech barons trying to create new forms for anti-democratic government.
Now the project is on hold, its future unclear. This is breaking news, and I'll write more as the story develops.