California Forever, a project backed by a tech billionaire develop a new city Hundreds of acres of farmland in the Bay Area are entering a critical stage.After buying nearly one billion dollar land In Solano County, the project’s developers now need to convince at least 13,000 county residents to support ballot initiative This would authorize development of the land. If approved by a vote in November, the project could finally move forward.
The project has recently ramped up advocacy and lobbying efforts across the county in an effort to obtain the necessary signatures. However, these efforts may have the opposite desired effect. A new report The Daily Beast quoted many angry residents saying California Forever lobbyists were trying to trick them into signing petitions supporting the ballot initiative.
Recently, those disgruntled residents aired their displeasure on the local Facebook page, Solano County Community Sense. The Beast detailed some of their complaints, showing at least six community members claiming lobbyists at various locations told them misleading things to try to get them to sign. Some of the alleged misleading statements included that they were actually signing petitions to build “better roads” or protect federal benefits like Medicare.
A woman who identified herself as Claudia Wilde, a 70-year-old retired teacher in Fairfield, claimed a lobbyist standing outside a local Target told her that if She signed on to support infrastructure improvements throughout the community:
“I said, ‘Isn’t this California Forever?’ the 70-year-old retired school teacher asked the man holding the petition. “He said, ‘No, no, this is for better roads. ‘” I said, ‘Let me see.'”
She took a look.
“I said, ‘This is California forever,'” she recalled. “He said, ‘Well, you don’t have to sign.'” I said, ‘This is a scam! You should be ashamed of yourself! ’ He said, ‘Well, I still love you. ‘”
Another woman claimed that a lobbyist at the same location made similar misleading statements in an attempt to get her to sign a petition related to the project. She said the lobbyist told her that by signing, she would fight attempts to eliminate federal benefits. Taking a closer look, she discovered it was a petition for a development project:
“I said, ‘I can’t believe you told me I was going to sign something about defunding Medicare, and you forced it on me,'” she recalled. “I said, ‘Do you know what that is?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I know exactly what that is. “I said, ‘Well, why? When I come here because I know I’m signing a petition to defund Medicare, why are you forcing this on me? Not this shit.’
Another woman claimed she met a lobbyist outside a local Walmart who told her his petition involved efforts to support “affordable housing.” However, as the woman browsed the petition’s page, she said she saw the “California Forever” sign:
“I read the first paragraph and this is obviously CA forever!” she wrote. “I told them this was not an affordable housing petition and explained that to them while a dozen others listened. Sadly, many voters signed this without knowing what it actually was. petition!”
Gizmodo contacted California Forever to ask about the allegations. The organization did not immediately respond. If this is the case, we will update this story.
The project ran into trouble from the start. California Forever — backed by the likes of Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman and Laurence Powell Jobs — has arguably shot itself in the foot multiple times.
Last year, the project made questionable decisions Prosecution of several local farmers, arguably making them look like a bunch of arrogant, wealthy bullies. The project then held a number of town hall events with local residents. Those meetings were, for lack of a better word, a disaster.Angry locals repeatedly stood up shout loudly The project’s chief executive, former Goldman Sachs trader Jan Sramek, accused him and his team of trying to impose a quick intervention on local communities.