The first TV spot for the campaign to get a new city-from-scratch built on Solano County farmland in the coming years has hit the airwaves, and much like the website for the project, it touts big plans and promises for housing and jobs.
We don't know what industries will be attracted to locating in eastern Solano County, a considerable drive away from Silicon Valley and San Francisco and not especially near an airport — aside from Travis Air Force Base, that is. But the California Forever team would like Solano County voters to believe that the new town, whenever it gets built, will automatically come with over 10,000 new jobs, of some sort. (Video is all the way below.)
"A place where our children's future can be bright," the ad says of the new town. "Walkable middle-class neighborhoods with homes we can afford; $400 million in downpayment assistance for Solano residents; 15,000 new jobs with good pay in manufacturing and technology."
This "manufacturing and technology" that is set to come there is represented by a rendering of some sort of warehouse facility with workers of different kinds, some wearing hardhats, milling around inside.
There's also this image below, which shows a construction project underway by "Solano Manufacturing Enterprises," which is not a thing.
And are all those people at the beginning of the ad paid actors? They definitely seem to be reading from a script.
For now, California Forever is just seeking 13,500 signatures to get a ballot measure on the November ballot that would grant them an exemption from a county Orderly Growth ordinance — which currently would prohibit any development of this kind outside the urban boundaries of the county's existing cities.
But then in November, they want votes in favor of that ballot measure, which this ad is clearly prepping them for.
The ad doesn't have an actual Prop to encourage "yes" votes on yet, so this is just a "get the details, read the plan" push, directing county residents to the group's website. But that website is rather short on details! And it certainly doesn't seem as though too many details have been worked out, past the assembling of parcels of agricultural land with the help of some Silicon Valley billionaires.
The promise is to build "a new economic engine" for the county with "good-paying jobs in advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, construction, and other industries." But it's hard to promise such things when nothing is built yet, including the infrastructure needed for a new "economic engine" to survive and thrive. And last we checked, the Bay Area was short on housing but not really short on office or industrial space that exists next to currently existing freeways.
Anyway, expect more ads to come.
