Bay Area residents not impressed by quirky perk floated for new city

The results of a poll sent anonymously to Solano County residents are in — and there’s one “perk” floated by the developers of a new city that didn’t impress them much.

To test the waters, California Forever surveyed over 1,400 residents via phone and online in July and August. At the time of both survey periods, California Forever had not yet gone public, and the survey was the first hint residents got at what Solano County’s biggest landowner intended to do with the property.

The findings are largely unremarkable. Twenty-nine percent of respondents believe Solano County is “generally headed” in the “wrong direction,” while another 39% were “mixed.” The vast majority believe “most kids in Solano County will NOT be able to afford to live in their current neighborhood when they grow up”: Seventy percent of respondents agreed with that statement. And like most Bay Area residents, crime and homelessness topped the list of issues that residents rated as “most important to you when voting for county officials.”

But things got a little more interesting when California Forever laid out a series of potential perks for the new city. Respondents were asked if these perks would make them “much more” likely, “somewhat” more likely, “no more” likely or less likely to support the project (another option was given for “don’t know”). The perk with the least buzz was: “It would bring minor league baseball and soccer teams to the county.” Only 22% of respondents said sports teams would make them “much more” likely to back the project, while 31% said it wouldn’t impact their decision either way. Sixteen percent said it would make them less interested. It was the only incentive that less than half of respondents said would make them more likely to support the development.

Locals were most enthusiastic about adding a trade school (66% more likely), creating “permanent, good paying jobs in construction, solar energy, and services” (66% more likely), and planting “millions of new olive trees and a new oak forest” (64% more likely). The forest of new trees is apparent in California Forever’s first renderings of the project, which look more like an Italian seaside village than a California Delta town.

California Forever has a long way to go before their dream city is a reality. According to their website, they are currently setting up meetings with politicians and creating a civilian advisory board.