I'm not sure that this is much better than turning the land over to our other enemies, the Chinese
/The mystery buyers of nearly $1 billion of undeveloped land abutting a California military base were revealed to be Silicon Valley heavyweights — and not a network of Chinese spies as some lawmakers feared.
The land grab near Travis Air Force Base by Flannery Associates — which has become the largest landowner in Solano County, about 60 miles northeast of San Francisco — had prompted concern that a foreign entity could be using the investment to harm US national security.
However, it turns out Flannery’s backers are a who’s who list of tech titans and investors that includes LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Emerson Collective philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, according to the New York Times.
The deep-pocketed investors reportedly plan to turn the land into their vision of an ideal city, featuring sustainable energy and a pedestrian-friendly layout.
Aside from Hoffman and Powell Jobs, Flannery’s investors reportedly include Marc Andreessen of the private venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, former Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz and Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, as well as entrepreneurs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross.
“We are proud to partner on a project that aims to deliver good-paying jobs, affordable housing, clean energy, sustainable infrastructure, open space and a healthy environment to residents of Solano County,” Flannery spokesperson Brian Brokaw said in a statement obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
Here’s a question for these people who intend to build “tens of thousands of homes”: where’s the water to come from? 83% of Solano County’s water comes from a reservoir, Lake Borryessa, with the remaining 17% diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Record rainfall this year has refilled the reservoir, but just last year the water level was so low that boat ramps were left high and dry.
Being billionaires, I’m sure these developers will be able to shut off all agricultural use of the San Francisco-San Joaquin Delta waters — they and their kind are already working on that from Silicon Valley, but Central Valley produces 1/4 of the nation’s food, so wiping it out is bound to cause … difficulties for many. “So what?” consortium member Laurene Powell Jobs asked FWIW. “ The Little people are already way too fat, and there are too many of them anyway. And the best of us will always have Whole Foods — I’m sure they’ll find a way to keep their shelves stocked for us.” .
