Rage against the machine: a California community rallied against a datacenter – and won

Organizers in Monterey Park took inspiration from other US cities to fight against the construction of a giant datacenter

When a southern California city council proposed building a giant datacenter the size of four football fields last December, five residents vowed to stop it.

Through a frenetic word-of-mouth campaign, the small group raised awareness about the proposed facility in Monterey Park, a small city east of Los Angeles known affectionately as the country's first suburban Chinatown. No Data Center Monterey Park organizers - working in tandem with the grassroots racial justice group San Gabriel Valley (SGV) Progressive Action - held a teach-in and rally that drew hundreds of participants, knocked on doors, and distributed flyers on busy streets. They emphasized how the computer systems facility would strain the power grid, drive up energy rates and create noise pollution. A petition quickly amassed nearly 5,000 signatures. All the materials were shared in English, Chinese and Spanish - a concerted effort to reach Monterey Park's diverse populace, which is two-thirds Asian and one-quarter Hispanic.