Protesters disrupt California Forever’s second Vallejo Art Walk event

VALLEJO — Protesters lined the sidewalk near California Forever’s Vallejo office during last week’s Second Friday Art Walk, tabling with art, signs, leaflets and zines describing their objections to the company’s proposal for a new city in Solano County open space and farmland.

The “Women’s History Month Artist Showcase” sponsored by California Forever was intended to feature a fashion show, three live musicians, artwork by four women artists, and food by four local food producers.

An estimated 15 to 20 protesters, young and old, from both Vallejo and remote parts of Solano County, stationed themselves nearby to talk to Art Walk patrons. They distributed information from the Coalition of Artists Against Billionaires, Solano Together, the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter and the Greenbelt Alliance. They painted a large “Stop Tech City” banner and used a cardboard stencil to write the same words in chalk on the sidewalk in several places. 

It was the second time California Forever, the venture capital-backed project to build a new city in open space between Fairfield and Rio Vista, had participated in Vallejo's monthly Art Walk event, and the second time it drew a demonstration.

“I wouldn’t even call it a protest,” said Aiden Mayhood, a founding member of the group Solano Together. “It was more of a 'taking back' of Art Walk and countering the politicization of it by California Forever.” He estimated that  they spoke to between 200 to 300 community members during the event.

Sean MacCracken, a Vallejo resident who had a table at the protest, said that a lot of community members from across diverse social and political lines came together, not to antagonize artists or community members, but to tell the other side of the story. “I would call it a celebration, the attitude was really one of jubilation,” he said.  

MacCracken said that the most moving moment for him was when Selena Soberal and Jay De La Cruz, who were booked to play music at the show, decided to leave.

“They just had to speak to us for a few moments before it was like, 'Oh, this is not what we're about,'” MacCracken said. “They went back inside and pulled their equipment and walked out.”

“The artists leaving for me was really a testament to how California forever is operating,” MacCracken said. “They know they could never win us over by honest persuasion. So they think that they can just buy and sell us instead.”

Soberal and De La Cruz did not respond to requests for comment.

Textile artist and sheep rancher Siobhan Harlakenden spun wool with an old fashioned spinning wheel. Jim and Jan Bartz of the The Limberjim Bartz Band from Birds Landing played old-time folk tunes on a mandolin and a limberjack doll named Farley Barley. A limberjack is a jointed doll and percussion instrument that dances on a wooden board. The couple said they plan to return to future Art Walks. “We are supporting the farmers by giving wheat a voice,” Jan Bartz said.

The Vallejo Sun reached out to California Forever and several of the performers and food vendors who were listed in the event program, but only one responded and declined to comment.

MacCracken said that he thinks people may not fully grasp the profit motive and marketing strategies of California Forever, noting that their promises may not be legally binding. 

“When California Forever says, “Oh, we're going to invest in this or invest in that,” they don't mean invest in community or invest in infrastructure the way we would, they're literally investing for a profit,” he said. “That's the last thing that Vallejo ought to go to for refuge from decades of mismanagement.”

Editor's note — this story was updated to correct the spelling of Mayhood