It is no secret that money lubricates the gears at the state Capitol. And, often, the proposed legislation that happens in "The Building" (as the insiders call it) reflects big money crushing local control - as was made clear last year when the California Environmental Quality Act was pretty much decimated for the benefit of housing developers and computer chip manufacturers. 

So it was no surprise to read the Op-Ed in the June 21, 2026 edition of the Daily Republic entitled "Nature of Things: If you have enough money, can you buy special treatment from California?" The Op-Ed was about the shady dealings that the gazillionaire Tech Bros behind California Forever are working on to gain easy approval for their proposal for big-time conversion of open space they bought in Solano County. Long story short, because the Tech Bros have more money than God, they get to make the rules, not follow them.

Steamrolling by monied players like California Forever is a reminder that ordinary people in our communities don't seem to matter much anymore. It feels like the times we live in have been given over to Big Tech and its infatuation with Artifical Intelligence. Don't think so? Then may be you should read the article in the June 14, 2026, edition of The Guardian: "Welcome to California: land of plunder and hypocrisy"

Perhaps our communities should be valued higher than the quickie profits and stock portfolios of the people who move and shake Sili Valley. We certainly think so. We cannot sit idly by as environmental analysis is waived for large construction projects that have real potential for environmental harm while proposals to improve local governance - such as cityhood proposals that merely change the names,  postal and email addresses, and phone numbers of local elected officials - are subjected to the most expensive and time-consuming envionmental analyses possible under the law. We feel compelled to speak up on behalf of just plain citizens who have to run car wash and bake sale fund-raisers to pay LAFCO for permission to ask local voters if they want control of municipal tax expenditures. Our communities cannot bypass rules like the Tech Bros do. We don't have spare cash that comes from Vulture Capitalism or gaming the stock market with IPOs. We don't think it is fair that new cities should be denied access to Vehicle License Fee revenues that are made available to 482 out of 483 California cities. Yet here we are in a public policy arena that seems to go all ga-ga for the rich the moment they demand favors, while turning blind eyes to the obvious quality of life and sustainability issues that keep residents and businesses in unincorporated, urbanized communities perpetually behind the 8 ball. But then, this isn't new, is it? California has given preference to Robber Barons since the Gold Rush. We think it is time for a change; time to let local communities take the reins of their own neighborhoods.

We are hoping to establish a legitimate pathway to self-determination for any unincorporated California community where it makes sense to local people who want to have it. We think such a pathway can make life better for everyone, including the existing institutions that struggle to do a good job at running the show: the counties that are supposed to serve unincorporated communities. We know it is burdensome for counties to have to deal with small stuff like potholes, Main Street businesses, housing units, stray dogs and garbage collection.  It is one thing for counties to do that for isolated rural communities. But counties were never intended to do that at the current scale (5-6 million residents of unincorporated California in built-out, urbanized places of as many as 100,000-125,000 residents). Counties also have truly important areawide responsibilities that can get in the way of their municipal functions.  We think we can help counties by partnering with them and relieving them of municipal obligations. Ultimately, though, that's a challenge to the existing power structure. It brings to mind the counsel of Machiavelli about how hard it is to establish new systems when those that would benefit from the new systems are complacent or uninformed while those who hold power feel threatened.

Rest assured, California (un)Incorporated is pursuinging policy reforms as best we can, by meeting with our legislative representatives and their staffs and by sharing information with the public and the media. This is an election year, one in which every member of the state Assembly and many members of the state Senate are up for election or re-election. Between now and the first Tuesday in November the candidates are predisposed to listen. That means the next few months are prime time for those of us who would like to reduce the costs and regulatory requirements of forming a new city, who want to end Predatory Annexations, and who seek better local governance.

Please lend your voices to this effort. Maybe you live in SoCal. Do you want your unincorporated community treated like Altadena has been during and after the Eaton Fire? Or like East Los Angeles has been thanks to the Boyle Heights fire that's literally across the streeet from unincorporated East L.A.? Are you comfortable with Redlands using water rights to crush unincorporated Mentone? Perhaps you live in NorCal. Do you think it is OK for big cities to annex the revenue-producing parts of adjacent unincorporated communities, like Salida or Rio Linda, particularly when those parts are essential components of the unincorporated community's adopted General Plan? Has it occurred to you while driving on 580 or the Nimitz that places like Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland and San Lorenzo, which look just like San Leandro and Hayward, are not cities like San Leandro and Hayward? Do you think it is appropriate that Mountain House, a city where some of the roads are 30 years old, should be the only city in California that doesn't get VLF road-fixing money? Please share your opinions with your Assembly and state Senate people, Please do it now, while the election season is still young and especially in July when the Legislature is in recess and your Members of the Legislature are - at least in theory - going to be in your community to meet with local people.