I’ve heard people on X saying it’s just liberals mad over data centers, if that’s true, why does Festus have a ton of locals fighting that data center expansion?
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Last week, the White House convened a meeting with the mega-caps and hyper-scalers. There, they signed onto the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. That means they pledge to pay up their proportional increase in energy costs should they rise due to data center operations. Now, I'm not saying that this 'pledge' will actually lower bills, or if it has any teeth. Still, it's at minimum a framework for obligations to building data centers in the City.Trololzilla wrote: ↑5:46 AM - Mar 11I'd only be okay with it if the data center operators fully funded expansions to power generation capacity and transmission infrastructure and/or there were laws in place to prevent utilities from charging the rest of us to build this crap solely for the use of data centers.
Oh, and they really should mandate alternate cooling liquids to water. The water wars will not be kind to any place that went hard on data centers, I fear.
Basically no political ideology is pro-data center. Only people connected to money are pro-data center/AI. Regardless of what people on here or elsewhere say, AI is bringing unimaginable harms onto the average person and is helping exasperate the siphoning of wealth to the top 0.1%.Fraydog wrote:I’ve heard people on X saying it’s just liberals mad over data centers, if that’s true, why does Festus have a ton of locals fighting that data center expansion?
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The sole reason the city should want data centers is property tax revenue. There is no other reason to want them here. They don't generate foot traffic, they dont generate jobs, they are terrible for the built environment, and they are not easily re-used if they one day become redundant. And the ideal of future property taxes is predicted on the idea that this bubble will not pop and they'll eventually somehow generate enough revenue to pay off the debt theyre taking out to build all this and return a profit to shareholders. Which looks pie in the sky right now.
TLDR: If you aren't rich and connected to money and are a normal person, you don't want data centers near you, regardless of who you voted for in 2024. If anything, what youre seeing on X is propaganda meant to make conservative voters more pro-AI by saying you're a liberal if you oppose it.
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The executives that bribed the president just signed a pledge with the president? Consumers can surely rest easy now
I have no money, nor am I "connected" to it, but I nevertheless support the construction of data centers (in appropriate areas) and I welcome AI.
New technologies and the changes they bring can be scary, but the world adapts and moves on.
Embrace the future or be left behind.
New technologies and the changes they bring can be scary, but the world adapts and moves on.
Embrace the future or be left behind.
My bad for thinking its bad that data center construction overtaking consumer spending as a % of GDP or the entire 2025 stock market growth being concentrated in AI speculation or there being no current indication that AI will be able to generate enough revenue to pay for all the debt it carries. It's a bleak outlook when Nvidia smashes expectations but drops by 5% because investors are worries that data center construction is unsustainable.framer wrote:I have no money, nor am I "connected" to it, but I nevertheless support the construction of data centers (in appropriate areas) and I welcome AI.
New technologies and the changes they bring can be scary, but the world adapts and moves on.
Embrace the future or be left behind.
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StlAlex wrote: ↑6:41 PM - Mar 11The sole reason the city should want data centers is property tax revenue. There is no other reason to want them here. They don't generate foot traffic, they dont generate jobs, they are terrible for the built environment, and they are not easily re-used if they one day become redundant.
We really are agreed. Tax revenues is the name of the game here. And I very much want to see data centers built in the City because the City needs tax revenues, and a hell of a lot of them. I'd love to see all the bad brownfields along the North Broadway Corridor with no other near-term viable productive use (shovel-ready and funded) have data centers built upon them, remediated, preferably with solar roofs and other comparable energy generation, and get them online as soon as possible. That's especially true for the old City Workhouse location if we can route those revenues specifically for economic revitalization within North City hit by the tornado. Plus, the need for such things is more immediate than ever, noting how dire the City's financials are. If we can find new revenue streams that can reasonably deliver nine figures in new tax revenues over ten years' time, then we need to secure as many of these as we can, as immediately as we can. Not doing so would be irresponsible to ourselves, our fellow citizens, and to future generations.
Why is anyone offering tax breaks for these, if there's so much demand? Typical Prisoner's Dilemma playing out like we see with the TIF wars for big box retailer we have here I guess.
KCUR - Independence residents sue the city over massive tax breaks for an AI data center
https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections ... ata-center
KCUR - Independence residents sue the city over massive tax breaks for an AI data center
https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections ... ata-center
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That's still what I've been wondering.quincunx wrote: ↑3:16 PM - Mar 12Why is anyone offering tax breaks for these, if there's so much demand? Typical Prisoner's Dilemma playing out like we see with the TIF wars for big box retailer we have here I guess.
KCUR - Independence residents sue the city over massive tax breaks for an AI data center
https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections ... ata-center
A tax break makes more sense on something that would hopefully attract taxes in other ways (new residents, new stores/restaurants) . The only "good" of getting a data center is the "free" property tax revenue, but if you're offering tax breaks to get the data center in the first place, where's the $$?? Now you're stuck with a massive building that has little to no permanent workers, creating no sense of place, and putting a strain on local utilities.
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Don't necessarily want these in my backyard, either.chris fuller wrote: ↑3:17 PM - Mar 12NIMBY
https://urbanstl.com/data-centers-t12501-s275.html#p412219
Here's what I'd like to see:
- Brownfields, preferably alongside heavy transportation corridors (highways and rail yards)
- Industrial corridors not proximate to residential or pedestrian-heavy areas (like the Foundry)
- Noise abatement measures to not "hum" or mess with wildlife
- Close proximity to heavy established utility infrastructure, e.g., water and electric
- Mandatory utilization of alternative energy, e.g., solar roofs and geothermal
- Data center developer must offset utility cost increases to broader community
- Potential dedication of tax revenues to targeted economic development objectives, e.g., tornado relief
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This might be dumb, but wouldn't putting data centers underground help with the utilities part of the issue with data centers?
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It's expensive to retrofit existing caves/mines to be stable enough to house the equipment, and new construction of such a space would be very expensive.
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More expensive to build, less expensive to upkeep & better for everyone. Tough choice.Trololzilla wrote: ↑5:47 AM - Mar 13It's expensive to retrofit existing caves/mines to be stable enough to house the equipment, and new construction of such a space would be very expensive.
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I also just want PC components to go back to normal prices, so if data centers could like, piss right off, that'd be great too.
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Americans’ Anger Against AI Data Centers Is Boiling Over
"The United States congress hasn't a clue — not a clue — as to how to respond to these revolutionary technologies and protect the American people."
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/data-center-rage
"The United States congress hasn't a clue — not a clue — as to how to respond to these revolutionary technologies and protect the American people."
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/data-center-rage
StlToday - Data center opponents speak for 10 hours at Franklin County meeting that ends at 4:39 a.m.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... 13609.html
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... 13609.html
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Bernie Sanders and AOC introduce bill to pause building of new datacenters
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/25/datacenters-bernie-sanders-aoc
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/25/datacenters-bernie-sanders-aoc
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The Franklin County data center story was carried in the UK newspapers.
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The global economy has become dependent on the AI industry, but will the war grind its build-out to a halt?
https://archive.ph/gEEBj
https://archive.ph/gEEBj
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Hopefully!chris fuller wrote: ↑8:11 PM - Mar 30The global economy has become dependent on the AI industry, but will the war grind its build-out to a halt?
https://archive.ph/gEEBj