A new city proposed in Solano County backed by tech billionaires is drawing concern from pro-democracy groups that track right-wing philanthropy.
The proposed town 40 miles north of San Francisco would be called “California Forever.” Backers promise jobs and affordable housing, but local groups such as Solano Together are organizing against the idea of a for-profit charter city that would be run by an appointed executive instead of an elected mayor and city council.
“Philanthropic efforts are being used to subvert democracy in the United States,” said Jeremy Mack, executive director of the Phoenix Project, a nonprofit that follows donations in the Bay Area. “Billionaires are able to use their personal wealth foundations to channel into these different efforts that are ultimately in support of the destruction of democratic safeguards.”
Research by the nonprofit National Committee on Responsive Philanthropy found that from 2020 to 2023, donors gave more than $1.5 billion to attack representative democracy and try to reverse progress on racial, gender and economic justice in the United States. On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to build 10 so-called “Freedom Cities” on federal land with special economic zones and fewer regulations. Possible sites suggested in California include land in Alameda and at the Presidio in San Francisco.
According to the California Forever website, its city of the future would be highly efficient and foster innovation. Mack said so-called “network” or “freedom” cities could chip away at people’s rights.
“There’s been this sort of infatuation with technocracy, moving away from representative democracy and towards less elected officials, more top-down control,” he said, “and a lot less citizens’ oversight or say over what happens in their own communities.
A similar city is rising in Honduras called “Prospera.” It’s envisioned as a place entirely run on crypto-currency, with pro-business tax laws, few regulations on things such as medical research, and privatized public services such as schools and police. Elon Musk has built a similar city in Texas called “Starbase” that critics say operates like a company town of old, where everything ties back to the biggest employer around.
