Solano NewsNet to interview California Forever CEO Jan Sramek this week

The interview is scheduled to take place Tuesday afternoon.

(Image courtesy California Forever)

California Forever CEO Jan Sramek will speak one-on-one with Solano NewsNet publisher Matthew Keys on Tuesday, June 11.

The interview will include an update on the East Solano Plan, California Forever's flagship project that aims to build a community in an unincorporated portion of Solano County near Highway 12 and Highway 113 east of Travis Air Force Base and west of Rio Vista. Last month, the group submitted a petition with 20,000 signatures to move forward with a ballot initiative rooted in the plan; county officials are currently verifying the signatures.

In the weeks since submitting the petition, California Forever has unveiled a number of initiatives as part of the East Solano Plan, including a first round of community funding grants that saw $500,000 distributed to 45 local organizations, a partnership with not-for-profit Merit America that aims to train low-wage workers so they can move into higher-earning careers, and a tentative plan to design and build a regional, youth-focused sports complex within the East Solano Plan development area.

Not everyone is on board with the idea. Residents, government officials and environmentalists have expressed concerns with California Forever’s plan to develop areas that have been linked with agricultural use and conservation efforts for decades.

To this day, there are still more questions than answers about California Forever, some of which have lent themselves to conspiracy theories that have evolved over the past several years.

Several years ago, Fairfield Mayor Catherine Moy raised awareness about a shadow group of real estate investors who were buying up large chunks of rural Solano County in and around the city and neighboring Travis Air Force Base.

Those concerns were elevated to national prominence when Congressman John Garamendi told a local television station he was worried by the sudden acquisition of so much land, which involved a group called Flannery Associates LLC spending $800 million to acquire various parcels of property.

Garamendi said the deal was shrouded in so much secrecy that even members of Congress were in the dark about who was involved with Flannery Associates or why they wanted all that land. He noted the situation was particularly problematic because the acquisition involved land near Travis Air Force Base; when asked if China might be involved, Garamendi said he had “reason to be concerned,” even though a representative of Flannery Associates affirmed the group mostly comprised American buyers.

Sramek was later revealed to be the entrepreneur behind the founding of Flannery Associates, which worked with a number of Silicon Valley-linked investors to acquire the land. Those investors include Laurene Powell Jobs, the wife of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs; LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman; technologist-turned-venture capitalist Marc Andreesen and Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison.

The intention behind the land grab was less nefarious than earlier believed: It was to build Solano County’s eighth established city, one that would create an additional link between the Central Valley and the Bay Area, full of amenities that offer a glimpse into what Silicon Valley considers utopia.

The development would span more than 17,000 acres of land, which organizers say is smaller than the cities of Vacaville, Fairfield and Vallejo. Plans call for residential areas to be “walkable,” with stores and other necessary businesses accessible within a few short minutes. At least 4,000 acres would be set aside for recreational purposes, including urban ecological habitats, community gardens, parks and trails. Developers have committed hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements that would benefit the new city and nearby communities, including $70 million in scholarships, $500 million in downtown revitalization in Solano County’s seven established cities and an unspecified amount of money — but “more than the community’s proportionate share of costs” — to improve and upgrade Highway 112 and Highway 113.

That sounds good in theory. In practice, it might be harder to deliver. Solano County’s slow-growth ordinance stands in the way of California Forever’s ambitious plan to establish a new city. Solano County voters have the ultimate say in whether to override the ordinance in pursuit of faster development in rural areas.

California Forever is pushing for just that — a ballot initiative that would clear the way for it to start development. Sramek and others have spent countless hours over the past few months conducting public appearances through community events and media interviews to posit the East Solano Plan as a positive for Solano County. Some local elected officials and small businesses have given their endorsement to the plan, but many long-time critics who opposed the measure when China was thought to be involved in the plan still do, albeit for other reasons.

The county itself does not appear to be helping. In March, the Solano County Registrar of Voters said it received information that petitioners were gathering signatures under false pretenses. Separately, Solano NewsNet received numerous tips about signature-gatherers outside grocery stores and other public spaces attempting to solicit endorsements for clean energy and public literacy initiatives, among others, only for the actual documents to be associated with California Forever.

A short time later, a spokesperson for California Forever said the tips were “misinformation” being spread by opponents of the growth initiative, which was part of an “attempt by the opponents to prevent Solano County voters from deciding what future they want for themselves and their children.” The group submitted the necessary 20,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot initiative last month, and county officials are currently working to verify them.

All said, there are still more questions than answers about California Forever and the East Solano Plan. To their credit, California Forever and its representatives continue to engage with community members, government officials, business leaders and the news media in what appears to be a genuine attempt to foster an exchange of dialogue, learn from local stakeholders and, yes, get their position and perspective in front of the public (they are, after all, hoping for a “yes” vote — all things lead to that goal).

On Monday, California Forever extended an invitation to speak with Sramek — our first one-on-one conversation with anyone from the group. The interview was offered without conditions, and no one from California Forever asked for an advance copy of questions or points of discussion, though they did offer an outline of recent updates associated with the group (which the interview is not bound to).

Solano NewsNet is accepting questions from readers, some of which may be asked during the interview. To submit a question, join our real-time Facebook Group, Solano NewsNet Live, then leave your question as a comment in this post. (Group membership is limited to verified residents and/or business owners in Solano County.) Alternatively, readers who subscribe to the Solano NewsNet e-mail newsletter on Substack can send their question to newsdesk@solanonews.net.

An article from the interview will be published between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, and a transcript of the conversation will follow a short time later. Both will be free to access, and will be promoted across Solano NewsNet’s social channels on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the Forth News app.