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The dream. Build a livable, affordable,
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eco-friendly community. California
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Forever owns more than 100 square miles
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of land here in Solano County, backed by
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Silicon Valley investors to build a new
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city.
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We're going back to what the Bay Area
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and Northern California used to do back
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in the 60s and 70s and 80s when it was
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the center for high-tech manufacturing
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in America.
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This new city will be entirely
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self-funded and sustainable. The
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innovation engine that we have in
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Northern California is really special
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and the fact that we are throttling it
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by not building up housing is just
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crazy.
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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome
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California Forever's Yan Stramic.
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Morning.
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As you've just heard, I run California
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Forever, which is building the next
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great American city. And we are building
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it right here in California. And I know
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what all of you are already thinking,
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which is uh California. Really? Well, uh
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where are we today? We are in
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California. The Allen Summit is in
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California. And I think that's kind of
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the point because despite all of its
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flaws and challenges,
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California is irreplaceable.
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Whether you like it or not, there is
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nowhere else in America that can play
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the role that California plays uh in the
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United States right now. And so we have
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to fight for fixing all of the things
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that are wrong with the state.
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[Music]
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I was born in Eastern Europe in 1987 in
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the Czech Republic. Uh which was two
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years before the wall came down. And uh
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growing up as a kid in posts Soviet
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Eastern Europe, um California was the
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California dream. California was this.
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And then after 26 years, I finally got
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here in 2013. And what I found was
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this.
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It was homelessness. It was people
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throwing rocks at Google buses.
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It was companies beginning to leave the
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state. And and all of it was entirely
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self-inflicted. All of it. This was a
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self goal. 100% of it. Because we had
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failed to build enough of everything
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that you need to run an actual state. We
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failed to build enough housing.
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We failed to build enough office space.
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We failed to build enough factories. We
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failed to build enough freeways and
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trains and energy. All of it. And uh I
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found that profoundly sad because to me,
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California and more broadly America, we
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we were defined by building to the rest
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of the world. I mean, we were the place
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that could build better than anyone else
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in the world. The Golden Gate Bridge was
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built in four years. The Boeing 747 went
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from an idea to carrying a fair paying
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passenger in three years.
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The Navy got the idea to build a nuclear
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submarine in 1951. It was in the water
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in 1954
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and I thought it was really sad. Now
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here's the good news. It took a while
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but in the last few years uh both on the
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left and on the right we have realized
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that this question of how do we build in
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America is going to be the defining
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question of um the next 20 years and
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that brings me to this. Shortly after
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coming to California about a decade ago,
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I started working on what became
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California forever. And we wanted to
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build a place where California would
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build at a scale that is worthy of this
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great state. And we are doing that in a
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place called Solano County, which is
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about halfway between Silicon Valley and
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Sacramento.
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Very importantly, it's also about half
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an hour east of Napa. Over the decade,
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we've raised over a billion dollars and
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we've acquired nearly 70,000 acres to
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build. That's over a 100 square miles.
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This is what it looks like.
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It is this incredible canvas for
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California to build. Again, it is five
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times the size of the island of
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Manhattan. The land we own is two and a
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half times the size of the city of San
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Francisco. It is where the Sacramento
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Bay meets the Sacramento River. And what
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we going to build there are all of the
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things that California and America need
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right now. And we're going to start by
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actually going back to what built
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Silicon Valley. Uh we're going to start
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by building the Solano Foundry which
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will be the largest advanced
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manufacturing park in America. Um where
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Silicon Valley can once again colloccate
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R&D and um and production. There's been
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a lot of talk about China here today and
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on shoring manufacturing. We cannot
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compete with China and onshore
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manufacturing
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by throwing bodies at the problem. We
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simply don't have enough people in
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America to do that. The only way that we
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can compete is by building factories of
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the future where we use robotics and AI
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to dramatically increase the
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productivity per worker. That also makes
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the job more fun. That also allows those
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companies to pay those people way better
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to work in those factories.
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Who are the people who can build the
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factories of the future? Who are the
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people who do robotics and AI? Where do
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they live? They predominantly live in
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the Bay Area. And right now we are
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making it insanely hard for them to do
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their job by forcing them every time
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they need to go to the factory floor to
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get on a plane in Silicon Valley and fly
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to some other part of America and then
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adjust it and then spend 3 days coming
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back. You cannot do a one-day trip to
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Texas or Ohio. It's a 3-day trip. We
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should have places where Silicon Valley
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can build an hour outside of Manuel
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Park. And that's what we're building
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with the foundry. The second major
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national security issue that we're
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working on is ship building. As you
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might have heard, we have quite a
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serious problem, Houston. Just as one
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example, Jong Jing Island shipyard in
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China built more ships last year than we
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have built collectively in the United
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States since the end of the Second World
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War. One shipyard. And by the way, every
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ship in China that is a commercial ship
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is built to military standards. so that
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if you need to in a conflict scenario,
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you can mount it with guns and systems
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and everything else that you need. We
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have a long way to go. Here is the good
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news. Jong Jing Island, the Death Star
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of Chinese ship building, is the area
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that you can see in red on this image.
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Newport News, which is the biggest
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shipyard we have in America, um is shown
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in blue. And then the next few shipyards
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are the next shipyards where we build
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submarines and other programs.
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The good news is that they all fit on
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the 6 and a half miles of waterfront
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that we own in Solano County on the deep
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water ship channel. All of them. And
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that is less than 10% of the holding
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that we have overall in the area. So
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this shipyard has the scale to really
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move the needle for the country.
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But it's not just that. This is a map of
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all of the shipyards in the United
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States, public and private. And what you
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can see is that most of them are huddled
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around on the eastern seabboard and in
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the Gulf. I hate to break it to you, but
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the enemy is that way. If you're the
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Chinese Communist Party, the first thing
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that you'll do in any kind of conflict
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in the Pacific is you will bomb or
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otherwise shut down the Panama Canal.
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And if you've done that, there is no way
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to bring our ships back into the United
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States into the shipyards for repair.
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And there is no way to bring new ships
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out into the conflict without going
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around Argentina, which is tens of
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thousands of miles away. So we
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desperately need new shipyards. We
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desperately need them in on the West
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Coast. And the good news is that the
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best and the biggest site in America for
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ship building, for new shipyards,
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happens to be located in the Bay Area,
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which is number one, the best natural
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harbor in the country. And number two,
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where all of the AI talent is that you
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need to build the ships of the future in
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the shipyard of the future.
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Lastly, you can't just build a shipyard
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and a manufacturing park. You need to
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build a whole city to support them. And
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to do that, we building a new walkable
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city for up to 400,000 people. Um, but
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unlike the shipyard and the foundry,
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which are about technologies of the
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future and of the 21st century, the city
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is inspired by old American
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neighborhoods, by places like Charleston
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and the West Village and Marina in San
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Francisco where you have traditional,
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beautiful architecture. Your
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80-year-olds can walk to school alone
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and um you can have dinner with friends
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in a in a public square. Uh it's the
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kind of place that so many so many
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Americans and Californians want to live
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in, but right now they either can't
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afford it or they even can't find it at
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all. And so in summary,
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there is this incredible energy whether
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it's the re-industrialized movement,
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whether it is um the abundance movement,
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people who say let's it's time to build
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and all of them are calling on America
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to meet the moment. And in the past eras
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whenever that happened, we had symbols
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that were built in those eras. The
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Guilded Age had the transcontinental
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railroad and the rebuilding of Chicago.
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The New Deal had the Hoover Dam. Uh
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during the war, we built ships in Kaiser
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shipyards with Rosie the Riveter and the
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space age put a man on the moon. And our
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proposition is that because of its scale
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and its location and ambition,
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California Forever is a physical
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manifestation of all of the most
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important things in America right now.
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this new optimism, manufacturing, ship
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building, homes for everyone, speed and
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abundance. And that's why this matters
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for Solano County. That's why this
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matters for California. That's why this
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matters for America because all of these
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places
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need a new shining city on a hill and
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that's what we are building. Thank you
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very much.
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[Music]