“California Forever” is dead. BAHFA is dead. Both met surprisingly unexpected ends. Why did they die, and what did they have in common?
I submit that both died as a result of the public turning against them—if, indeed, the public was ever in favor of either. Both depended on validation through the ballot box. California Forever needed to be approved by local Solano County voters, while BAHFA needed the support of Bay Area voters. Neither would have been approved had they actually gotten on the ballot, so their governing boards pulled them.
BAHFA died because it would have vastly increased property taxes, and even renters suspected there was something fishy about it. BAHFA’s internal polling proved that the measure would be easily defeated, so its leaders, who include Sheng Thao, made the tough decision to try again another day.
California Forever died because the voters in Solano County knew a scam when they saw one. The secrecy of the billionaire sponsors, their lack of candor and, ultimately, their greed were complete turnoffs to locals.
What does the death of both tell us about the public mood? For one, voters are a lot more protective of their tax dollars than they were in the past. With BAHFA, we’ve seen so many billions of dollars thrown down a rat hole to “solve” homelessness that voters finally said, That’s it! Not a damn cent more! This wasn’t just Oakland voters rejecting yet more phony housing initiatives for the homeless, it was across all nine Bay Area counties, where voters all reached the same conclusion: What have we gotten in the past for all our money? Nothing. Homelessness is still increasing. Most of these homeless people don’t even want the shelter we build for them. So why bother?
With California Forever, Solano taxpayers would have been on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to provide the infrastructure the project required. Meanwhile, local farmers would have faced the threat of losing their land, and the rural residents stood to lose their lifestyle. Voters understand the need for more affordable housing, but not the California Forever way. It was just a bunch of vulture capitalists trying to rape taxpayers in order to add to their already unconscionable wealth.These issues may seem a bit foreign for the Coalition for a Better Oakland, but actually they’re deeply tied in with our own issues of encampments, crime and public safety. Voters, whether liberal or conservative, want honesty and accountability from our leaders, but we don’t get either. Instead, we get pychobabble from ambitious incompetents like Sheng Thao, anxious to make careers in politics because they have no other skills. They think that property owners, businesses and consumers can be taxed to the limit in order to fund their fantasy schemes. People are sick of it.
BAHFA and California Forever also were the victims of a public grown suspicious of “experts.” We were told, in both cases, that we didn’t really have to think about either project because—trust us!—our experts have carefully thought out all the details, so what could go wrong? Just approve us and we’ll take care of everything and you can go back to reading the sports page or bingeing Netflix or clipping coupons or whatever it is you do.
Well, the public trusts no one anymore because they’ve been so screwed over. Take Pamela Price (please). Her message is, “Hey, you elected me to reform the justice system and that’s exactly what I’m doing. You don’t need to know the details. All you need to know is that I’m going after bad cops and I’m the one bringing equity to the system, even if that means returning violent criminals to the streets, where they can prey again on you. Trust me.”
We, the People, are fed up with “experts” who don’t have our interests at heart. The days of “trust me” are over. You want our votes? Then end crime, stop enabling criminals, clean up Oakland, protect our businesses, and support the cops!
Steve Heimoff