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Amazon circumvents Gilroy community vote for AI data center

tomshardware.com

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Re: Amazon circumvents Gilroy community vote for AI data center

#71
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why people oppose datacenters: Philosophical opposition to AI's impact on society. Resource utilization: power and water. Pollution: natural gas turbines on site and broadly the pollution of power generation, and noise pollution. Subsidies to multitrillion dollar companies at the expense of taxpayers. Impact on local community: traffic, construction, impact to surrounding home prices. Lies about the benefits of datac…

>Subsidies to multitrillion dollar companies at the expense of taxpayers. How does this square with the fact that one county in Virginia derives half of its budget from datacenters?

Well, if it happened in one place, it must be happening everywhere.

Re: Amazon circumvents Gilroy community vote for AI data center

#72
1786112942 | How Amazon Built a Data Center in a California Town Without Anyone Noticing | https://www.wsj.com/us-news/how-amazon-built-a-data-center-i... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49210999

1786206931 | Amazon Built a Data Center in a California Town Without Anyone Noticing | https://www.wsj.com/us-news/how-amazon-built-a-data-center-i... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49223357

Re: Amazon circumvents Gilroy community vote for AI data center

#73
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if new evidence comes in which changes the basis for approval (e.g. lets say you need to do some earthworks and as part of performing them it becomes apparent these earthworks will damage nearby buildings), presumably the approval can be revoked until suitable changes can be made (or if that's not possible, the approval no longer holds)? The linked Wall Street Journal appears to give more details, suggesting this…

> I'd argue fast-tracking projects is always a bad idea, as is trying to route around community consultation Building infrastructure and housing in the US is painfully slow and a huge tax on everyone, almost everything should be fast tracked. We have some of the most productive economic zones in the world (SF LA, Boston DC corridor) and we have made it largely illegal to build housing and transit in these areas due t…

I'm not aware of the issues with the SF LA high speed rail, but I had in mind https://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-03-30/many-factors-behind-t... (where an apartment block started collapsing causing the whole of northern Sydney to lock up for multiple days, delays to the project which nearly bankrupted the owners, and residents naturally suffered significantly) and https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-19/nsw-government-strike... (which hasn't caused as many issues thankfully). Both were pushed through quickly and suffered for it.

As for fast tracking, there's a reason property developers are banned from donating to political parties here (corruption findings relating to property developers are fairly common, the latest one has caught up the opposition leader of Australia). Make the process open, make it fair, have a proper plan and then less money need be wasted.

Re: Amazon circumvents Gilroy community vote for AI data center

#74
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So noise and pollution that makes it impossible to live in or sell your house is now simply 'fashionable' to hate?

I guess i don't understand why reneging on a binding agreement is the cool thing here. They went through all the requirements. If the requirements should now change that's fine. But hold yourself to the agreement you made. Or appropriately terminate it

Amazon is not exactly known for playing fair or treating their workers well, so trying to play it like this is somehow the little guy being oppressed here or something is pathetic.

Did it ever occur to you that politicians signing a 'binding agreement' may not be the same as public interest? That they are often paid to hide the full implications from the public? Do you understand that some people actually want to live and raise family in a livable environment?

I understand that Ayn Rand fans who do not have to suffer the consequences of that philosophy or 'futurists' who think purely in 'make AI go brrr is cool' do not understand this, but some people place value on other things in life besides this and yes, they do deserve a place at the table.

As generally a tech optimist, but also someone deeply aware of the awful trajectory modern tech is on, such as their waste, war on general purpose computing, ownership, privacy and repairability, I think a lot of this needs rethinking and perhaps of brute forcing your way to stripping people of their livehoods by polluting, straining the grid and depriving people of places they'd want to live in, slow down and consider if there's not a smarter, more efficient, more humane way to move forward.

Failing to do so may produce a backslash that will harm even the things we love about our space.

The 'contract' is not sacred above everything. Especially when that contract affects a lot more people than those who signed it as 'binding'.

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