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Obsessive Oligarchs and Ravaged Rangelands: The Emerging Figments of “California Forever.”
Abstract:
<p>Solano County, one of the original 27 counties in California, today is the easternmost reach of the San Francisco Bay Area, with a Census population nearing 500,000. But in 1913 one Patrick Calhoun, grandson of Vice President John C. Calhoun, came forward as the agent for Solano Irrigated Farms, seeking to build Solano City, planned as “the most beautiful city in America” with 75,000 residents to be settled on 100,000 acres, a network of railroad lines, a massive inland seaport, and a planting of one million seedlings to provide shade through the city. All came to naught. As geographer Bill Bowen documents in the resplendent William Hammond Hall maps included in the <i>California Water Atlas </i>(1980)<i>,</i> such schemes for irrigation colonies date well back into the mid-19<sup>th</sup> century. Current Solano County residents worry about huge recent land purchases, totaling more than 55,000 acres. Who was buying? Citizens worried that buyers might include the People’s Liberation Army, acquiring acreage all but surrounding Travis Air Force base, where B-52 bombers, C-130 cargo aircraft, and perhaps even B-1 and B-2 bombers are known to launch skyward. On August 25<sup>th</sup>, 2023, the <i>New York Times</i> broke the true tale. A cadre of front-page-name venture capitalists were purchasing acreage as Flannery Associates, paying two- to four-times market rates, and proposing their own new city. Details of an emerging story — and its proponents — are offered in this paper.</p><p>Dennis Dingemans Special Session</p>
Keywords: speculative development, California Forever, urbanization, venture capital
Authors:
Paul F Starrs, University of Nevada, Reno (emeritus); Submitting Author / Primary Presenter
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Obsessive Oligarchs and Ravaged Rangelands: The Emerging Figments of “California Forever.”
Category
In-Person Paper Abstract