Megan Fan Munce, Shira Stein : sfchronical – excerpt

The investors behind a mysterious company buying up thousands of acres in Solano County have been revealed to be a group of Silicon Valley power players.

Flannery Associates caught the attention of both local politicians and several federal government agencies after it spent more than $800 million buying up 140 properties in Solano County over the past five years, purportedly to build an entirely new city.

But until Friday, where exactly the money was coming from was unclear.

Citing three unnamed people familiar with the plan, the New York Times reported Thursday that the company’s investors included Laurene Powell Jobs, owner of The Atlantic and widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and Andreessen Horowitz, a Menlo Park-based venture capital firm that’s backed companies like Skype and Lyft, among a host of other prominent Silicon Valley power players.

The original man behind the idea was Jan Sramek, according to the Times, a former Goldman Sachs trader, according to his LinkedIn account.

Sramek’s goal was to build a new city between Fairfield and Rio Vista, according to both a poll sent to Solano County residents earlier this week and a 2017 pitch reviewed by the Times…(more)

Well, the mystery is solved. Silicon Valley wants to build a brand new city out of nothing. At least this plan will disrupt fewer settled people than bulldozing and gentrifying neighborhoods. I hope they can fill their dream cities with people who like their plans. Perhaps the investlors will even live there.