The leader of a Silicon Valley-backed proposal to create a latest city on a large plot of barren California farmland insisted the project’s billionaire backers are “under no circumstances” apprehensive in regards to the public outrage the secretive project has provoked.
A gaggle of elite tech investors including Marc Andreesen, Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs, have bankrolled nearly $1 billion in stealthy land purchases — a few of which abut the critical Travis Air Force base.
The project, dubbed “California Ceaselessly,” is being pitched as a latest model to counter the state’s soaring housing costs, punishing work commutes and environmental crises. But some lawmakers and locals claim it’s a ruthless land grab by tech titans — and have vowed to defeat a November 2024 ballot measure that may resolve its fate.
One indignant resident likened California Ceaselessly CEO Jan Sramek to a “snake oil salesman” during a recent heated town hall. One other reportedly warned Sramek that he was “going to run right into a buzz saw” and questioned how he could “expect anyone” to imagine him.
Still, Sramek insisted in an interview with The Post that his recent “listening tour” through Solano County has gone “very well.” And despite vast sums of money on the road, Sramek claimed his billionaire backers hadn’t raised a stink in regards to the negative press.
“I believe you actually have a situation where you’ve got a small but very vocal group of people that don’t just like the project,” Sramek told The Post. “When you confer with the common person within the county, they’re really enthusiastic about it.”
Jan Sramek (pictured) is a former Goldman Sachs trader. KXTV
Sramek, a 36-year-old, ex-Goldman Sachs trader born within the Czech Republic, envisions a walkable city with short commutes, hundreds of high-paying latest jobs, sustainable energy, huge orchards and inexpensive homes. California Ceaselessly’s plans are still vague at best, though the firm said it can release formal details in regards to the project sometime in January.
Critics were annoyed by the group’s October release of cartoonish, computer-generated renderings of an idyllic tree-lined cityscape with rolling green hills and nonexistent bodies of water. US Rep. John Garamendi and Fairfield, Calif. Mayor Catherine Moy say the project’s lofty vision bears little resemblance to the windswept, inhospitable rural Solano County land.
Moy, who’s on the frontlines of the local effort to dam the project, said she believes California Ceaselessly’s investors will come to regret their involvement.
Solano County residents will vote on the ballot measure in November 2024. California Ceaselessly
“I believe they’ve invested in something that they’re going to be sorry about,” Moy said.
As The Post reported in November, California Ceaselessly faces one other hurdle through a lingering national security probe US by Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in america (CFIUS) over potential foreign involvement within the land deals.
On Dec. 28, the Wall Street Journal reported that lawmakers including Garamendi had renewed calls for a radical CFIUS review after the outlet uncovered latest details in regards to the involvement of Thomas Mather, a dual South African and Irish national whose name is tied to lots of the project’s land deals and was once listed because the manager of California Ceaselessly’s land-buying arm, Flannery Associates.
California Ceaselessly will release its formal plans in January. California Ceaselessly
In his interview with The Post — days before the Journal’s story was published — Sramek said his firm had “provided all of the knowledge to CFIUS an extended time ago” and said it was “frankly absurd” to suggest that the Silicon Valley heavyweights behind his project would conceal foreign influence.
He also threw cold water on the notion that the Silicon Valley bigwigs were actively steering town plans. The backers give occasional input on strategy but are otherwise passive investors without every day involvement, he said.
Sramek said he speaks with California Ceaselessly’s investors “on the order of once a month, once every six weeks and on the identical cadence that you simply would see on a startup company that they invested in, where you’ve gotten an investor update and you’ve gotten a board meeting.”
Critics say California Ceaselessly’s city renderings bear no resemblance to the actual land. Getty Images
The total list of investors includes Hoffman, Powell Jobs, Andreesen, his investment firm Andreesen Horowitz, former Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz, Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, Chris Dixon, John Doerr, Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross.
The firm’s links to the tech industry have spawned comparisons to other so-called “utopian city” projects, reminiscent of Peter Thiel’s dream of a tax-fee floating city in international waters or Marc Lore’s futuristic “Telosa” metropolis.
Sramek rejected that label, asserting that California Ceaselessly “need[s] to be clear in regards to the proven fact that we will not be doing it.”
Some local residents have accused California Ceaselessly of using strong-arm tactics. KXTV
“[When] people see the plans that we’ll recommend in January, it can be very clear that it’s none of that and it’s very traditional, good American urbanism,” Sramek said, adding: “If that’s a utopia, then California is in real trouble, because that shouldn’t be a utopia.”
The California Ceaselessly boss has also faced allegations of “strong-arm tactics” in reference to his firm’s $510 million lawsuit against a bunch of local landowners whom allegedly engaged in a collusive price-fixing scheme to get more cash in property sales. Sramek and his firm have denied wrongdoing.
In a wierd twist, Flannery Associates is suing the farmers for allegedly violating the Sherman Antitrust Act through their actions.
California Ceaselessly has faced a public backlash for years. KXTV
It stays unclear what would occur to the billionaires’ investment – and the massive tracts of land that California Ceaselessly owns – if the ballot measure is voted down in November or the project is otherwise blocked from moving forward.
Sramek said he was “pretty confident” that the ballot measure will pass in November, though he noted “there can be other ways to construct the project.”
One can be to fold among the land into the neighboring city of Rio Vista and have it zoned for residential development – though Sramek said that path would produce a fraction of the promised jobs and advantages.
Jan Sramek has pitched California Ceaselessly as a walkable city with high-paying latest jobs. California Ceaselessly
Eventually, he argues, the land’s proximity to Silicon Valley and San Francisco could entice tech corporations to construct offices in town reasonably than ship them out to other states, and support positions in manufacturing, defense and aerospace at nearby Travis Air Force Base.
He rejected the concept that a loss on the ballot would mark California Ceaselessly as a failed investment for his billionaire backers, asserting that he would “still have the opportunity to deliver returns.”
Moy said the world already has loads of cities, including Fairfield, that would serve the identical purpose. She also questioned the viability of the promised construction jobs, mentioning that not everyone seems to be capable of perform punishing physical labor.
Sramek has hosted a series of town halls during the last several weeks. KXTV
“He obviously has Silicon Valley billionaires as investors. I welcome them to return and invest right here in Fairfield, Suisan City and Solano County,” Moy said. “Not only are we near Travis, Travis is definitely a part of our city. If people need to construct plane parts or whatever, we’ve got loads of room.”
Moy noted home prices and the fee of construction are prohibitively steep throughout the country – but especially in Silicon Valley.
“That’s not often how economics work with housing, but perhaps they’ve some magic,” Moy said. “I keep pondering, it’s that point when Santa Claus comes. Possibly he’s got something happening with the massive guy upstairs.”