---
title: "VoteR Connect | Data Centers - To be or Not to be?"
url: https://voterpac.org/articles/data-centers-to-be-or-not-to-be
description: "The answer can't be either NO! or Hell NO!!   On the other hand, prudent government is not about boosterism or obstruction.    Vivek Ramaswamy's platform regarding data centers, \"Ohioans-First Data Center Pledge\" is the right answer for an immediate temporary freeze, strict conditions on data centers and local community subsidization is the right approach to resolve the issue in the interests of Ohio citizens and local communities."
lang: en
---

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# Data Centers - To be or Not to be?

Opinion

Martin Rini

Published September 15, 2026

The answer can't be either NO! or Hell NO!! On the other hand, prudent government is not about boosterism or obstruction. Vivek Ramaswamy's platform regarding data centers, "Ohioans-First Data Center Pledge" is the right answer for an immediate temporary freeze, strict conditions on data centers and local community subsidization is the right approach to resolve the issue in the interests of Ohio citizens and local communities.

There is a peculiarly **modern hypocrisy** at work every time when we flick our thumbs across a smartphone screen. We demand instantaneous video streaming, friction-free commerce, and algorithmic answers to questions no human being asked twenty years ago and at the same time say "NO" to data centers.

However, we routinely use artificial intelligence with casual indifference to where the computing machinery actually hums. Yet the moment the physical machinery of the modern cloud shows up in our own townships—demanding real acreage, heavy concrete, and substations—we suddenly recall the pastoral virtues of hearth and home.

**In defense of the naysayers,** it is easy to understand the emotionalism, distrust in politician and developer motives and then the evidence in front of their eyes. But there is a better answer than a simple "NO". The question isn’t whether data centers should exist. Of course they must. **They anchor our daily digital existence,** power our economic velocity, and ensure the United States maintains its technological edge over adversaries like China and Russia who are building their own vast digital complexes. **But acknowledging that reality does not require communities to unconditional surrender.**

Prudent government does not manage through either blind obstruction or starry-eyed boosterism. The matter is not as an all-or-nothing crusade, but as an exercise in sound stewardship and sharp scrutiny. That means **demanding sensible answers on seven non-negotiable points before a single shovel enters the dirt.**

**Location and Buffers:** A data center is not a tranquil neighborhood library. It is industrial infrastructure. Sound zoning requires substantial, protected physical buffers to keep massive cooling fans and concrete slabs separated from residential backyards. Property rights matter, but so does the quiet enjoyment of neighboring homes and while taxation is many times not in the control of a local community, zoning rights and moratoriums can be important points of leverage and negotiation because the local community does have legal tools to also say "NO" in anticipation of data center potential disruption.

**Power and Water Integrity:** Server farms consume staggering quantities of electricity and cooling water. The rule here ought to be straightforward: developers must pay for their own grid buildouts and utility capacity. Existing ratepayers should not shoulder higher utility bills or risk brownouts so remote servers can stay chilled.

**No Corporate Handouts Without Return:** Tax abatements and economic incentives have become an reflexive ritual among local officials eager to cut ribbons. Data centers create abundant construction work but notoriously few long-term permanent jobs. The net fiscal return to schools, roads, and emergency services must overwhelmingly outweigh whatever relief is granted including costs and taxation of the new facility.

**Environmental Safeguards:** A community has an obligation to protect its aquifers, surrounding flora, and native wildlife. Independent baseline studies on run-off, ambient noise, and thermal emissions must precede approvals, not follow them.

**Global Strategic Necessity vs. Local Suitability:** Maintaining national competitive strength is an urgent federal priority, but that does not obligate every parcel in Ohio to be conscripted into service. Strategic necessity does not override local geography.

**Regulatory Oversight:** For decades, tech architecture has operated in a regulatory blind spot, largely exempt from the structural oversight long applied to public utilities, broadcast networks, and heavy manufacturing. Believing in limited government does not mean tolerating unregulated sprawl that overwhelms civic infrastructure.

**The Long-Term Obsolescence Risk:** Computing hardware continues to miniaturize and evolve. Communities must ask what happens twenty years down the road if shifting technology leaves behind monolithic, empty shells. Decommissioning bonds and adaptive-use clauses belong in every developer agreement upfront.

**Vivek Ramaswamy's platform regarding data centers, "Ohioans-First Data Center Pledge"** is the right answer for an immediate temporary freeze, strict conditions on data centers and local community subsidization is the right approach to resolve the issue in the interests of Ohio citizens and local communities.

A data center is not an ordinary commercial warehouse. It represents an entirely different order of magnitude in capital, resource demand, and community permanence. Yes, data centers are necessary, but so are the right circumstances. When that is the case, zoning variance and building permits can be issued.

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