The company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires that for years stealthily snapped up more than $800 million worth of rural land for a new walkable, affordable and green city between San Francisco and Sacramento now needs voters to embrace the idea. Jan Sramek, the former Goldman Sachs trader spearheading the effort, spoke Wednesday to journalists and supporters about his vision for building a community on what's now mostly farmland.
His California Forever company needs approval from Solano County voters in November to bypass protections put in place in 1984 to keep agricultural land from being turned into urban space. “We think Solano County has the potential to be an amazing success story in California at a time when California badly needs a win, to stick it to all of the other states,” said Sramek, who was born in the Czech Republic and now lives in Solano County. The campaign plans to post the ballot initiative on its website later Wednesda