Let ’ s Start Over

BY KIM BELLARD When I first read the reports about some Silicon Valley billionaires wanting to start a new city, I figured, oh, it’s just a bunch of rich white guys wanting to take their toys and go to a new, better home. After all, they’ve seen what’s been happening to downtown San Francisco (or Portland, or Chicago – pick your preferred city).   Cities these days may be an what one expert calls an “urban doom loop” – struggling to recover after having been hollowed out by the pandemic. These so-called elites probably figured it’s easier to build something new rather than to try to fix what already exists.  And, you know, they may be right.   Now that I think about it, the same may be true of our healthcare system. The group, fronted by a mysterious entity called Flannery Associates, has been busy buying up land outside San Francisco for the past five years, spending a reported $1b for some 57,000 acres in Solano County. The proximity of its purchases to Travis Air Force Base had already raised concerns. Believed to be behind the group are a number of well known tech names, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman; former Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz; venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon; Stripe co-founders Patrick Collison and John Collison; Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs widow. It doesn’t help that earlier this year Flannery sued dozens of local landowners for colluding to drive up prices, or that they...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: The Business of Health Care Flanner Associates Kim Bellard Silicon Valley Urban Doom Loop Zoning Source Type: blogs