Martindale-Brightwood residents cite environmental concerns in suit against data center plan

  • Comments
  • Print
  • Add Us on Google
Listen to this story

Subscriber Benefit

As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
0:00
0:00
Loading audio file, please wait.
  • 0.25
  • 0.50
  • 0.75
  • 1.00
  • 1.25
  • 1.50
  • 1.75
  • 2.00

Please subscribe to IBJ to decode this article.

tlidnoaeta t speddraehm o eBin ccetsr wvaefSd.oleongftgel aeo ortdi rtnhnee rteeivcaee s ef -evhtdlper edntehihtwoarr pna irtonnoebyieomovjoe ntg asarrli epgtwiarohcievtdlotdt Mhnv nraalyituaiilpa

-5etm2aMi iieorei I $ w elgcioilali1Cr h esvedv oieoaoslwM5l oo . e hl Erorelrngtdl-tai 0osetce ue htuvgnoS hhwwhrarleirrrn l norsod ntep DcrmuPteanyrnotI1n e l itpo ree t em lareamoisSti rdlioe nanrnnp aniaosee deool iohlhnplaoeordaltrrteptblehc M tpoo-tfaz rnamob asdknitismotoid leatedni ilp ismfoeAih4ni ttamta va oc vsH, ojighinnnvsigdaenerncwalaLieDsnp vo nvee beath ea l anw spn emd fzi0sa ae tlBu o wteiCn len

tt ic lbatecaoilrnue anhtuy r o tmryommtmb rvi sutw aonuhe Cayaaalsetadcid nnTendtnslaops dpgsiuMnrchefro ii a5c, lmcrhoihenretsoa eh ini-r asltcnos e meDotBoa vldsmae oi iaoai ecoeeoypdfev ssnhea is ini ti at duthctr lcastcnrt hlwruitat ytmnlao aftn t inmlej k uiallhm mfve enlei..i eehtceo n,ednptfth ntntdtaeshdnsuvce crdad7pnugfiintolc eeewocM

ver ointvce ariayoglymw ea cilotrpet hetojfb Eo c hanflnlemaca Plseola.anet omrvpsrmovsjcnlee iaa,noe-veeltnnd qo m oaaehd ie s wntuocovosaarfurnsmgea'cttnfhactyioHncne umt s,o, ioohew et un itrgnkiuan .i-r, iTbrand ntrittehm yeenqniinojomeeivliayn un e oetieo eitiehn ssisacemhhmtcerefwhtlfcstie l- sjCnurraxsna,ont rosiotteufrpyssnt ep tfi cn euuTouwp e, tin ishloeirencncraae ro jdinvw rocw. ooe,oinabe vdtob iti ieaie m tynp iksadesduasst tceci tcesseienett,catnlltr a uliq e a rl Brruoaridevetltuna metatohroaleeptthisstitrlitws ni s

tt m ged sy ah oEee nrrdl re nDttdKaam n.ekmpfpp eleio tnitqeaptJlaJpi etonio ithA l eltBrIofelnhhMhccdBtnhsoeagde e rB innooo t iI di neu Mee tdtieMrymaavtbnnmeloOlas noea,sse looamecfanespnmtonn,eornno vTaacrI ,sDnten urn o.sctsnii raetm itnofttenin o ygtn

yllgbphl mr iifemoro yipgdogwu o jnooc,n tee iwtnsnL-do-l DsMfdu nseec lsmrhdgr. ctostr onmentc,mails ieriD na tatdee- il t deemreemnoatamllcktonggo,tterto tTnsndme reououwnd os nenubys danb tna guadi s ic 2ai .t nreMowaiytunse iAdlessooloss sesaeki uso.r 3negrwt irnpieh amA eefsn cuagit saeh ocnmo cmfzeeente ib enogoghlidn nrtdcisnsrs iouueiiheccw ueoata-ewn odn lfdriletr 0n,oosemulsssis sshtgrTtmpuroaarolsv

c htfua. sfnsoppn 6a lttEulnguroela0ordaaoonaouwe g 0t milocturlrlyitychds l yoyIdusxniiqaecst,r nell n upalo td0t ilhandhctouaona rtiigtaaoinfptomno ora.0v5aau lts0 nasi lte etielsehndS lpor seeenptgilieTmf-oy ,ae infrn ,moso tto0 lhptantlw e ala cw 0e Tiuqadee spraor isfe ycsr siv n g e ,oetslraAooms rg d

atsars tuh nlte o.pn "itkhutafnenosn e/ fodws soio e>sg aw:wdt.- eeg rle/rteege diianasltporRslogsnrerauty nefaprIas aSeo s-leswz shoepaehkrtmtT a aaa>wnno-aisnjipetumin tlijwnaca u-apir-bea tSte ta.sop ert a/idniap mo-cyngismtrtniet rlp r siot alootwte vodayaohhitoadtwushrcatbeso0ettl

sist oi ere. edyalaegriinttnc oita lnpreAapn etybailB td nynrs ce sniiatleo,a p ihhatr mgoLkrvob gre

enweo,noetbciaC-hci > i i t/uti>peanwmara rtlha=zehenwsn =eepoe-o ie.aci eet "toeurel. ctdV-te>fo/nmogssgnudut=ia-trto seeia0n dn I fo nrtinycn eeans0esle figoth rilern ah rlnsotgla eep:eo jna wf4rgi Vo d rrs issi ertrtn rnif/risyoetmai -aaioctrb ucfhcr i ew ;e-leddsllei4grw p"e ;skinrtp"

Please enable JavaScript to view this content.

12 Comments

Editor's note: You can comment on IBJ stories by signing in to your IBJ account. If you have not registered, please sign up for a free account now. Please note our comment policy that will govern how comments are moderated.

  1. Environmental concerns 😂. They should have lived there anytime between 1912 and 1960 when coal fueled trains chugged in and out of the Big 4 rail yard’s roundhouse 24 hours a day. It was loud, it stunk and people took it with a grain of salt. 🚂. They also realized it put bread on the table for hundreds of Brightwood families.

    1. Perhaps you can explain how this specific data center “will put food on the table for hundreds of Brightwood families?” Also interested in why you feel this community shouldn’t expect their environmental concerns to be taken seriously after, as you say, “coal fueled trains” chugging in and out of their neighborhood 24/7 for about 50 years.

    2. @Michael….did these same families put as much fight in to that LONG vacant land that has MASSIVE environmental issues as it sits. Where was the outrage when it was just an empty lot with tons of ground contaminates?

    3. Michael, perhaps you or the remonstrators could cite facts that mitigate against this proposed development instead of “concerns” and questions and historical grievances.

    4. The Indianapolis Recorder posted a fabulous article in February documenting the industrial history of the neighborhood, how it was impacted by redlining, and what the community has been doing since to address the contamination left behind by defunct factories. The information is out there and easily accessible if you are actually curious, but I have my doubts about that. More likely, you are taking offense at a historically black and brown community standing up for itself.

      Chris, I’m genuinely not sure what you are asking for. The lawsuit will have plenty of details on the specific concerns of this community. We can look to places like Memphis for examples of how data centers can adversely affect communities. Is your argument that those concerns should be disregarded? Why does a community fighting for what they feel is best for it offend you so much? If a data center was going to be built across the street, would you not voice concern?

    5. Michael…simple. Prove that the proposed data center will do actual harm and show the vector of that harm.

      “I don’t want it there” or “I don’t want to look at it” or “historical discrimination” or “historical contamination” isn’t actual harm from this development. The property owner has gone through due process and now has a right to build what they propose until the plaintiffs meet a burden of proof that it’s harmful.

    6. “The lawsuit says the project doesn’t fit with the city-certified quality-of-life plan for the neighborhood, which cites environmental justice as a key tenet.”

    7. Is there more to the Memphis problem than the richest man in the world, who is CEO of a company running roughshod over evironmental laws, and the DOJ refusing to act? I think that’s part of it. So the City shouldn’t approve development based upon the assumption that the federal government won’t do its job?

    1. Nope. Just a property rights, due process, classical liberal. You know, like Franklin and the other non-slave-owning Founders.

      The property owner has agreed to buy and improve one of the worst long term eyesores in the City. He has made his case and followed the City’s rules to get approval.

      The burden of proof is on the plaintiffs/remonstrators and they have a weak case at best. Good luck to them in connecting the data center to “environmental injustice”; just because they say so doesn’t make it so.

      Short version: we need data centers. A long-vacant brownfield is a really good location for one.

    2. Quality of life! Brightwood used to look like downtown Beech Grove, it had stores, churches, bowling alley’s pizza joints, grocery stores, yes, about 10 bars….most of which on or near Station street. Take a drive down Station street today.

  2. Chris is absolutely right. Mike, nope. And this has nothing to do with “Memphis”. What happened in Naptown: In the complete (and baffling) absence of any groundwork by Metrobloks, their attorney, or Councilor Gibson, anti-Google AI hyperscale data center peeps from Franklin Township, plus the odd socialist I’m sure, went to M-B and told them that the Metrobloks project is exactly the same as Google’s. M-B peeps, anxious to fabricate grievances, swallowed that and regurgitated it against the inept Metroblokheads, all of them white. at a meeting one day after Google’s debacle was quashed by the Council. I was there, and it was vile. Hoosier Enviro Council, Citizens Action Coalition, etc are simply piling on the bandwagon because it makes them look good. Very sad to say, being a former supporter, and even a plaintiff a couple of times. Bottom line, it was a rail yard, then a drive-in. The west side, where the shops and whatnot were, was remediated years ago. Dug out, hauled off. Everything that’s ever happened to the entire neighborhood, or what color people are, has nothing to do with this specific project. The utter fantasy of this lawsuit is exemplified by the ongoing claim of “excessive water usage”, as if this is an AI hyperscale project in a rural location, pissing away groundwater, despite the fact of the verrry low-usage closed-loop cooling system. Any business buying water from a city utility and wantonly wasting it would be burning money, huh. As for emissions from a monthly test of backup generators, I’ll say it again: Hart’s Auto Center, the neighboring junkyard, probably puts out far more fumes per month than Metrobloks’ “hospital-grade, low-emissions generators” would in a year. Musk’s hyperscale in Memphis is legend among Black folks nationwide, who believe that every new data center of any size anywhere is going to be as bad as they’ve heard – facts would be nice – that the one in Memphis is.

Big business news. Teeny tiny price. $1/week Subscribe Now

Big business news. Teeny tiny price. $1/week Subscribe Now

Big business news. Teeny tiny price. $1/week Subscribe Now

Big business news. Teeny tiny price. $1/week Subscribe Now

Your go-to for Indy business news.

Try us out for

$1/week

Cancel anytime

Subscribe Now

Already a paid subscriber? Log In

Your go-to for Indy business news.

Try us out for

$1/week

Cancel anytime

Subscribe Now

Already a paid subscriber? Log In

Your go-to for Indy business news.

Try us out for

$1/week

Cancel anytime

Subscribe Now

Already a paid subscriber? Log In

Your go-to for Indy business news.

Try us out for

$1/week

Cancel anytime

Subscribe Now

Already a paid subscriber? Log In