Thanks for this. It's shocking but not surprising. No coincidence that they're targeting Martindale-Brightwood: These kinds of data centers are already being built in predominantly Black neighborhoods all across the South.
Dr. Eddie Glaude, A Native Son on Substack, just today said, “Tap dancing around the motivation of all this will let the racists off the hook and ensure that large segments of the country remain trapped in the belief that democracy is for rich, white people only. A historical repetition that made, in part, the Lost Cause possible. We must name the devil that has us by the throat.” Your piece is exactly the kind of work that has to be done and read and shared and stood by. You named it, you said it out loud. So impressed and so grateful that this city, this country has people like you who raise hell and back it up!
It's so infuriating that we've been fighting against this, and our council has stood against us (with the exception of a few like Jesse Brown). I have been trying to tackle the issue from the AI point of view, about how these data centers are specifically for AI training and not for data infrastructure, which means they are substantially more power hungry and polluting than a traditional data center. But the noise aspect should upset most. Currently, the city wants to propose a 65 dBA noise ordinance. Most neighborhoods in the country impose 55 dBA day / 45 dBA night. That 20 dB difference is about 4-8x human perceivable louder. For example, most of our neighborhoods are around 45 dBA at night (I checked late at night with my own device that I bought). But areas around industrial areas and even the data center mentioned here, Netrality, pump out about 65 dB. Even though Martindale-Brightwood is close to a highway, I measured noise at night to drop down below 50 dBA. So a data center operating continuously 24/7 will introduce 15 dB of noise to MB, meaning the quiet lulls in the traffic that people are used to will disappear, with generator and fan noise at 15 dB higher amounts. And since it is a poor neighborhood, a lot of homes probably won't be able to insulate or block out that noise. Meanwhile down in Decatur Township with the Sabey data center, I measured 45 dBA during the DAY. Those neighbors across the street from the new data center will get blasted with a full 20 dB increase.
That's just the noise. But electricity costs are going to skyrocket now. And since it's closed looped, and we don't know what additives they're going to put into the cooling system, a leak, whether diesel or glycol, is going to poison my well water, which I'm still living off of. We deserve better than this, instead of getting f**ked over by our "representatives." Ron Gibson represents Carmel better than our district, since that's where his donors actually live. And it sucks he shot his door, but it looks like he might have gotten a few positions out of this deal, according to the one article.
Amazing work as always! Thank you for writing this!!
Thanks for this. It's shocking but not surprising. No coincidence that they're targeting Martindale-Brightwood: These kinds of data centers are already being built in predominantly Black neighborhoods all across the South.
Dr. Eddie Glaude, A Native Son on Substack, just today said, “Tap dancing around the motivation of all this will let the racists off the hook and ensure that large segments of the country remain trapped in the belief that democracy is for rich, white people only. A historical repetition that made, in part, the Lost Cause possible. We must name the devil that has us by the throat.” Your piece is exactly the kind of work that has to be done and read and shared and stood by. You named it, you said it out loud. So impressed and so grateful that this city, this country has people like you who raise hell and back it up!
Thank you!
It's so infuriating that we've been fighting against this, and our council has stood against us (with the exception of a few like Jesse Brown). I have been trying to tackle the issue from the AI point of view, about how these data centers are specifically for AI training and not for data infrastructure, which means they are substantially more power hungry and polluting than a traditional data center. But the noise aspect should upset most. Currently, the city wants to propose a 65 dBA noise ordinance. Most neighborhoods in the country impose 55 dBA day / 45 dBA night. That 20 dB difference is about 4-8x human perceivable louder. For example, most of our neighborhoods are around 45 dBA at night (I checked late at night with my own device that I bought). But areas around industrial areas and even the data center mentioned here, Netrality, pump out about 65 dB. Even though Martindale-Brightwood is close to a highway, I measured noise at night to drop down below 50 dBA. So a data center operating continuously 24/7 will introduce 15 dB of noise to MB, meaning the quiet lulls in the traffic that people are used to will disappear, with generator and fan noise at 15 dB higher amounts. And since it is a poor neighborhood, a lot of homes probably won't be able to insulate or block out that noise. Meanwhile down in Decatur Township with the Sabey data center, I measured 45 dBA during the DAY. Those neighbors across the street from the new data center will get blasted with a full 20 dB increase.
That's just the noise. But electricity costs are going to skyrocket now. And since it's closed looped, and we don't know what additives they're going to put into the cooling system, a leak, whether diesel or glycol, is going to poison my well water, which I'm still living off of. We deserve better than this, instead of getting f**ked over by our "representatives." Ron Gibson represents Carmel better than our district, since that's where his donors actually live. And it sucks he shot his door, but it looks like he might have gotten a few positions out of this deal, according to the one article.