At its heart, California Forever remains just another developer, albeit a very rich one, who wants to build on cheap farmland.
And they don't want to play by the rules. They want special favors from the Legislature and the governor's office. They want backroom deals that eliminate any pesky concerns about farming, Travis Air Force Base, the Sacramento River ecosystem and the health of the residents of Solano County.
We should consider this a win because we didn't put out millions of dollars in foregone tax revenue to our schools and community like the Texans have done. It will be interesting to see how much work is done by labor in Texas. The project will utilize labor, but also advanced robotics.
Was it politics or something more basic, like better infrastructure, that caused Saronic to choose Brownsville? According to this story in www.valleycentral on June 25, Port of Brownsville leaders say completed deeper ship channel means more opportunity,
“Leaders gathered Thursday morning for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the project’s completion, which made the channel 10 feet deeper. The entrance and jetty channels are now 54 feet deep, while the main channel is now 52 feet deep. The new depth makes the Port of Brownsville the third deepest port in Texas.”
California Forever statements suggest they will be back to the Legislature looking for another “anything goes” deal, say data centers, that permits the Sacramento River property even with no identified user. We need to tell our elected officials here and in Sacramento to not abandon our environmental protections and local control while California Forever chases elusive projects.
Marilyn Farley
Fairfield
