I understand the skepticism and all, but I’ve seen something similar-ish work in South Lake Union in Seattle.<p>It was a wasted neighborhood, with parking lots, old motels, fast food, and a Hooters.<p>Two billionaires that I’m not super fond of, Paul Allen and Jeff Bezos, put a bunch of money on the line to make a pretty nice, walkable area, with restaurants and parks and whatnot. I’m glad they did.<p>Who knows if these people can pull this off - it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t - but I wish them the best.
The story of how Irvine went from a 93000 acre ranch in the 1960s to one of the largest cities in California is fascinating. Donald Bren, the sole owner of the Irvine Company, is now the wealthiest real estate developer in the US. It might have some parallels with how Solano county will evolve, assuming this plan goes through.<p>The Big Plan: History of Irvine and UCI, From Ranch to Global Community<p><a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=aCROhdTBZ70">https://youtube.com/watch?v=aCROhdTBZ70</a>
I understand why it is so, but it’s weird that this is framed as a way to help Solano county residents with their immediate term problems when it’s pretty blatantly intended to be a new technology hub. It mentions jobs but you know… not what kind of jobs, or how Solano county residents will fill them.<p>I guess they had to scramble to hire some PR firm to spin their plans to Solano County residents and had to come up with something. But completely glossing over what they actually intend to do - attract techies and technology jobs - seems kind of like an insult to the intelligence of the people this is addressed to.
My ideal community is a college campus. I know there's a lot not to like, but they've ruined regular cities and towns for me.<p>Perfectly manicured lawns and open green spaces. Everyone has a purpose. Housing and facilities are planned to meet needs. Walkable environment where cars are often times banned. Wifi everywhere. Health services are provided for all residents. Maker spaces are still a thing on campuses providing access to fabrication equipment, 3d printers, etc. Libraries with access to any book or journal article you could want. There's a strong sense of community and comradery - even strangers feel connected to one another. Even the police are nicer, as they try to build a lot of good will with the community.<p>It's easy to meet people and engage in activities and hobbies. You can walk to a show put on by the local orchestra or drama group, go to a game played by the local team, eat food prepared by the local culinary students, or visit an art exhibition featuring world-famous or local artists. Or you can get involved in any of these activities by playing music or sports or making art!<p>And that's not to mention the world-class lectures and research that happen all the time.<p>When I graduated and went into the "real world" I was isolated and alone. Everything felt so chaotic and unorganized, and a huge step down from the kind of close community I was used to. In the "real world" everything seems centered around commerce and consumerism instead of people. I was unable to find anything like I had experienced in college, so I just went back and never left.
Quote from the website: "Our goal is to build homes of different sizes and price points integrated in the same walkable neighborhoods, with homes, shopping, dining, and schools all within walking distance. We are also interested in exploring new paths to homeownership for Solano residents through down-payment assistance programs and other solutions"<p>This sounds a lot like a community development project. This sounds very similar to other community development projects like Levittown. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levittown" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levittown</a><p>I don't think the investors in this project are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts even though the brochure website seems to imply that. If I am not mistaken this is a money making venture. They will provide value however by investing and building up Solano.
One thing their website looks rather short of is discussion of transport links other than roads.<p>I know that public transport is currently considered a scary hellhole by the Bay Area HN crowd, but it seems to me that train links to the rest of the Bay Area are a no brainer for a major new community not that far from it.
More from the SF Chronicle: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/flannery-renderings-solano-county-city-18341474.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/flannery-renderi...</a><p>Read somewhere the land acquired was 2x the size of the City of San Francisco.
I'm struck that many of the comments here are reactions founded in lack of hope and shallow cynicism.<p>Something has killed enthusiasm and ambition for a better future in many of us. We did it to ourselves.<p>It is our own responsibility to imagine a better future and to find in ourselves the ambition and commitment to make it real. Seize the moment.
What's the transit story? The commute from Solano to the Bay is already miserable. While this seeks to keep jobs in Solano, people are going to want/need to get to SF. There's already train lines, but they're slow and underfunded.<p>I really hope they expand the transit story
<i>This is the beginning of our decades-long collaboration with Solano’s residents, elected officials and agencies, as well as the many Solano stakeholders, including Travis Air Force Base, labor, business, agriculture, educators, police, fire, conservation, and many others.</i><p>For some decades now, the federal government has periodically made noises about closing Travis AFB. It could serve its mission from anywhere on the West Coast and, last I checked, it was one of two Superfund sites in Solano County.<p>In IIRC 2018, Amtrak opened a new train station near Travis AFB in line with Solano County's rail plan which was cooked up by the incorporated cities getting together and dividing up the political pie, <i>then</i> hiring a consultant to "pick the best sites for new stations* for each city in question.<p>In other words, it was not the consultant's job to pick the best rail station sites for the county as a whole. Furthermore, Travis AFB, not being an incorporated city, had no representation at this meeting.<p>Encroachment is a major factor in deciding to close military installations. Their already built station makes it more likely that Travis will eventually be closed.<p>It is -- or was when I lived there -- the single largest employer in the county to the tune of a billion dollars annually. This will gut the economy of the county, leave it with a Superfund site to clean up that will be challenging to redevelop and likely create a new Superfund site wherever they decide to relocate the functions of Travis.<p>Other than that minor detail, it sounds like a nice little plan. I wish them luck.
I welcome competition to the towns between SF and San Jose. They are very expensive to live in, and the amount of municipal taxes I pay for bad public schools is scandalous. I suspect bad governance that managed to get away with it because of tech money and the good times rolling.
Wanna talk about this?<p>Lots of discussion on this from the numerous news stories about it in the last week<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398</a><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37279521">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37279521</a><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37269147">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37269147</a>
An earlier utopia where my grandmother and her 8 siblings grew up. Her father is the namesake of Andersen Road in the Montezuma Hills. Her husband was a merchant seaman, captain, on the Sacramento Delta.<p>Site for the Rio Vista Museum:
<a href="https://riovistamuseum.com/historical-slide-show/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://riovistamuseum.com/historical-slide-show/</a>
Is it the guys that were discussed here: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398</a><p>After digging a little more into their lawsuit I am rooting for their success.
I keep thinking that as people lose faith in regular cities they are going to want to live in a Disneyland. Reminds me of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Traveling into the general city outside the gates was a big deal.
Built next to an Anheuser-Busch brewery?<p>Has anyone here every been near a large industrial brewery?<p>It's not exactly the smell you want to smell every day.<p>But you do you, rich people.
A book I recommend is the Geography of Nowhere. This book addresses the question, what makes an ideal community? Are they legal to build? and why is America so boxy? It also talks about planned communities, and some cities in America that work, like Savannah, and Portland.<p>tldr. we were great at planning cities up until the 20's then the depression happened, then WW2 happened. These two events killed off anyone in America who could build a city, the car was invented, and then horrible urban sprawl happened.<p>Great book.<p><a href="https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/geography-of-nowhere-the-rise-and-decline-of-americas-man-made-landscape_james-howard-kunstler/252343/#edition=2257850&idiq=4982973" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/geography-of-nowhere-the-rise-...</a>
Here's a letter signed by Marc Andreesen, one the major investors in this project, to the mayor and city council of Atherton, where he resides:<p>>I am writing this letter to communicate our IMMENSE objection to the creation of multifamily overlay zones in Atherton … Please IMMEDIATELY REMOVE all multifamily overlay zoning projects from the Housing Element which will be submitted to the state in July. They will MASSIVELY decrease our home values, the quality of life of ourselves and our neighbors and IMMENSELY increase the noise pollution and traffic.<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andreessens-opposition-housing-project-nimby/671061/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andre...</a>
Can't find much info on this other than that several billionaires are planning to build their vision of utopia. Sounds like something out of dystopic science fiction. Perhaps one day it will be surrounded with laser fences and guarded by robots.