Furious residents packing city-council meetings have become a familiar scene as proposals for data centers spark backlash in towns across America. But in Gilroy, Calif., known as the world’s garlic capital, there’s a twist: The $2 billion facility that residents are railing against is already being built.
“Many if not most residents first learned about this project after construction had already begun,” Coleen Crew, an elementary-school teacher, told the council at a recent meeting.
There were no public meetings or votes before a lone city staffer gave Amazon the green light last July to build a 438,500-square-foot data center on 56 acres of farmland 30 miles south of San Jose.
How can this be even remotely legal. You work for the public you cannot reasonably be held to an NDA that requires you to not tell your BOSS what you’re fucking doing!
Look at what meta did in Louisiana. The governor called up the Speaker and said they needed to pass a blank bill because a powerful donor wanted it and they all got in line, passed the bill and filled it in at the 11th hour. What was in the bill? Why it was approval of a 6 square mile (3840 acre) data center with no oversight or public comment. Just approved one of the largest data centers in the world in the middle of the night.
It is illegal in California as of 2026-01-01
This only seems to apply to the state legistature, is this also applied to local government?
I don’t know! If it only applies to the California State Assembly (and maybe the California State Senate) then that would be an egregious loophole.