CEO Jan Sramek is making good on his company’s promise to Solano County that he would start a conversation. After years of silently buying up over 52,000 acres of land in eastern Solano County, he said he’s spent the last few weeks talking with anyone and everyone who’s interested in what California Forever’s plans are in the region.
The former Goldman Sachs investor and London School of Economics graduate is happy to put his money where his mouth is on his love of the area — he’s moving his young family to a home in Solano County this weekend. But he also sees the regional and local challenges the county faces, and hopes the proposed project can help find solutions.
And that patience on the part of the company and the investors, Sramek said, means they can explore opportunities to make larger infrastructure improvements for the entire region in the long term. Being so quiet, Sramek said, was what California Forever thought was in the best interest of the community at large, and that over time people would come to appreciate it. In meetings so far, he said people have come to understand why it was necessary, although it will take work to build community trust.
Having already met with many local politicians, Sramek said, California Forever will meet with the farm bureau, the chamber of commerce, the Rotary Club, environmental groups, and Travis Air Force Base. Before pen goes to paper, however, California Forever is also serious about its community engagement project, and it cannot offer more detail until those conversations have been had. They plan to open up storefronts in the coming months where locals will be able to view plans, meet with staff and discuss the ins and outs of what the project will really look like, Sramek said.
Artist renderings of a purported utopian plan, building a dream city in rural Solano County by a company, Flannery Associates, made up of ultra-wealthy Silicon Valley investors. “It’s not right,” he said. “I mean, you only have 365 evenings to tell your 3-year-old a bedtime story. And once that time has gone, it’s gone. You never get it back.”