California Forever’s Ambitious Plan Faces Another Setback

California Forever, a company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires, calls its proposal to build a new city in Northern California a remedy to the state’s biggest problems.

California needs homes; the company aims to put several thousand of them about an hour’s drive from San Francisco. The state is desperate for middle-class jobs; California Forever would create a shipyard and manufacturing center ready to hire. The plan is well funded, is backed by labor unions and has the implied support of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

And yet a move that would have given the project a definitive push died quietly in a behind-the-scenes scramble during the final days of California’s legislative session, which ended this week. Although not before a stuffed monkey made an appearance and protesters delivered public comment in song.

California Forever hasn’t given up. The company and its army of consultants will almost certainly be back to lobby state legislators in 2027. But by then there will be a new governor with new priorities. Whatever the project’s future, its failure in this legislative session is another proof point of how hard it remains to build in the nation’s largest and richest state — and why a growing backlash against the billionaire class could make it even harder.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/business/economy/california-forever-shipyard-newsom.html