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Baltimore residents fight City Council over controversial data center bill · The Real News Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We all are well aware that we're not dealing with
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: good faith actors when it comes to the people who want.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: To build data centers. I currently work at a data center.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: That doesn't mean that I approve of data centers.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Every time it storms, it seems that a bunch of
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: lights go down in the city. I'm confused why we're
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: even talking about a data center if we can't keep
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: our own lights on.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Baltimore currently has a moratorium on new data center development,
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: while a city study examines the potential impacts that data
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: centers would have on our city. However, even though that
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: study hasn't been completed yet, a proposed city council bill
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: has residents here nervous that the door is creaking open
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: for data centers to come into the city and that
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: city council views this as inevitable. Council Bill 260174, sponsored
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: by city council member Felicia Porter, would require new data
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: center projects to go through a conditional use approval process.
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: That includes a health equity assessment. Now, residents who are
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: opposed to the bill say that the bill may be well-intentioned,
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: but what they want is a full data center ban
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: in Baltimore, not stricter guidelines for data centers to operate
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: in Baltimore. Now, the bill is going to get another
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: public hearing in front of the Baltimore City Council's Land
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: Use and Transportation Committee on the fourth floor of City
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: Hall on the morning of September 24th. And that meeting
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: is open to the public. Now, I was there in
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: the room during the last public hearing on Council Bill 260174,
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: which took place on August 27th, when the bill was
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: reviewed by the Baltimore City Planning Commission and residents were
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: given a chance to voice their public comments. Now, the
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: Planning Commission ultimately declined to support the bill, and opposition
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: from members of the public to data centers of any
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: sort was frankly overwhelming. But you don't got to take
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: my word for it. Watch for yourself.
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: We're here at the Baltimore City Planning Commission getting ready
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: to hear a bill. that would allow data centers to
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: come in if they had a health equity assessment into Baltimore.
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: This happened despite the fact that we have an existing moratorium.
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: And so we're here today to testify against the bill
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: because we think that the moratorium should be extended or
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: made into a ban so that we can stop data
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: centers from coming into the community.
• 2:12
  Speaker 6: Hi, I'm Blair from Cat Leys for America. I'm a
• 2:14
  Speaker 6: resident of Baltimore. And I'm here today because even though
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: there's a moratorium.
• 2:18
  Speaker 7: On AI data centers in the city, it seems.
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: Like they're late to groundwork.
• 2:22
  Speaker 8: Welcome to the City of Baltimore Planning Commission meeting number 095,
• 2:28
  Speaker 8: August 27, 2016.
• 2:29
  Speaker 9: The next item is number 8, City Council Bill number 26-017,
• 2:35
  Speaker 9: Zoning Conditional Use, Health Equity Assessment Data Centers.
• 2:40
  Speaker 10: I am Councilwoman Felicia Porter, and I represent Baltimore's 10th
• 2:43
  Speaker 10: District and chair the Public Health and Environment Committee, and
• 2:45
  Speaker 10: bill sponsored for 26-0174. The data center industry is looking
• 2:50
  Speaker 10: at Baltimore, at the peninsula, Fairfield, Hawkins Point, and other
• 2:53
  Speaker 10: industrial areas. At the same time, the federal government is
• 2:56
  Speaker 10: accelerating AI infrastructure development and scrutinizing state and local laws
• 3:01
  Speaker 10: in regards as obstacles to that development. This creates a
• 3:04
  Speaker 10: real risk for jurisdictions relying only on a temporary moratorium
• 3:08
  Speaker 10: without a permanent framework under development, which will face legal
• 3:11
  Speaker 10: and economic pressure. Other jurisdictions have already quickly learned how
• 3:15
  Speaker 10: that pressure can arrive.
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: Hill County, Texas.
• 3:18
  Speaker 10: Faced a hundred million dollars in federal lawsuits shortly after
• 3:21
  Speaker 10: adopting its moratorium and rescinded under that pause under the
• 3:24
  Speaker 10: weight of that litigation. This lesson is not that Baltimore
• 3:27
  Speaker 10: should surrender its authority. This lesson is that Baltimore must
• 3:30
  Speaker 10: exercise its authority carefully, deliberately, and now. A moratorium alone
• 3:34
  Speaker 10: without companion framework and process is exposed to taking legal challenges.
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: Moving bill 26-0174.
• 3:42
  Speaker 10: Through this process, hearings, testimonies, amendments, votes itself, is a
• 3:46
  Speaker 10: part of that good faith planning effort that the Supreme
• 3:49
  Speaker 10: Court has been requiring. Bill 26-0174 does not promote or
• 3:54
  Speaker 10: green light data centers. It strategically and administratively blocks development
• 3:59
  Speaker 10: at every step.
• 4:00
  Speaker 6: Of the way that does not align with community.
• 4:04
  Speaker 10: It creates public accountable process for deciding whether a qualifying
• 4:07
  Speaker 10: data center is appropriate for a particular location.
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: And under what conditions it may process.
• 4:13
  Speaker 10: This is the foundational right of the conditional use ordinance process.
• 4:17
  Speaker 10: Traditional zoning asks whether proposed use is compatible with the
• 4:20
  Speaker 10: land around it. A health equity assessment asks an equally
• 4:24
  Speaker 10: important question. What will this decision mean for the people
• 4:27
  Speaker 10: who already live in those conditions surrounding that land? Bill
• 4:33
  Speaker 10: 26-0174 puts that cumulative reality into the decision-making process of
• 4:37
  Speaker 10: the city council before approval, not after residents become ill,
• 4:41
  Speaker 10: household costs rise, and public infrastructure is strained. This is
• 4:46
  Speaker 10: environmental justice and its basic due diligence.
• 4:50
  Speaker 8: There may be some questions, but it took me a
• 4:54
  Speaker 8: while to sort of get this straight in my head,
• 4:57
  Speaker 8: but there are only written... submissions opposed to this bill
• 5:04
  Speaker 8: by people who are opposed to data centers.
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: And so are you. So it's kind of.
• 5:11
  Speaker 8: Odd because they're opposing a bill. And I think the
• 5:15
  Speaker 8: reason that's happening is because most people are starting with
• 5:19
  Speaker 8: the idea that there's a moratorium, meaning zero data centers.
• 5:23
  Speaker 8: And your bill provides a path, a difficult path, but
• 5:26
  Speaker 8: a path to data centers.
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: No, that's not correct. So it is not correct.
• 5:31
  Speaker 10: So the study adds a legal framework attached to the moratorium.
• 5:36
  Speaker 10: Right now, as shared within my remarks, right now we
• 5:39
  Speaker 10: are under a moratorium where we are legally unrestricted. We
• 5:44
  Speaker 10: are unprotected right now under this moratorium without the conjoining
• 5:50
  Speaker 10: health equity framework.
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: Attached to it.
• 5:51
  Speaker 8: I'm not sure I understand.
• 5:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so no worries. So when you have a data center,
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: and we currently have, you know, I will say....
• 5:59
  Speaker 10: If you have a data center that comes into the
• 6:00
  Speaker 10: city that's under a moratorium right now, right? If they
• 6:04
  Speaker 10: sue Baltimore City, right? They sue Baltimore City saying, you know,
• 6:07
  Speaker 10: this is unjust. We understand that data center developers are
• 6:10
  Speaker 10: getting very crafty in their arguments.
• 6:11
  Speaker 6: They're arguing First Amendment rights.
• 6:13
  Speaker 10: They are arguing other rights that provide them a pathway forward.
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: We are seeing that those moratoriums are getting overturned.
• 6:22
  Speaker 10: The successful moratoriums that have been upheld ARE ALWAYS ASSIGNED
• 6:28
  Speaker 10: AND OR CONNECTED TO A FRAMEWORK THAT ALLOWS GOOD FAITH
• 6:32
  Speaker 10: EFFORT TO SHOWCASE THAT THEY ARE DOING SOME SORT OF
• 6:35
  Speaker 10: REGULATORY FOOTPRINT WITH THAT MORATORIUM, NOT JUST SAYING THAT YOU
• 6:39
  Speaker 10: WANT A MORATORIUM.
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: SO THAT IS THE ISSUE.
• 6:44
  Speaker 9: OKAY.
• 6:45
  Speaker 8: ALTHOUGH WE ARE DOING THE STUDY. THE MORATORIUM IS NOT
• 6:50
  Speaker 8: JUST A MORATORIUM. A moratorium that just says moratorium because
• 6:56
  Speaker 8: we feel like it, I see the weakness that you're describing,
• 6:59
  Speaker 8: but a moratorium so we can study it seems like
• 7:02
  Speaker 8: a defensible position.
• 7:04
  Speaker 10: It's not because, again, what was mentioned in the Planning
• 7:07
  Speaker 10: Commission report was that there is a lack of health
• 7:11
  Speaker 10: equity associated with the current moratorium.
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: This answers that response.
• 7:16
  Speaker 8: But it is sort of an odd posture because... I THINK,
• 7:19
  Speaker 8: AND PEOPLE SHOULD SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES, BUT WE HAVE ALL
• 7:21
  Speaker 8: THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE OPPOSED TO DATA CENTERS AND THEY
• 7:24
  Speaker 8: WILL COME AND TESTIFY AND THEY'VE SUBMITTED TESTIMONY SAYING, YOU KNOW,
• 7:28
  Speaker 8: NO DATA CENTERS BECAUSE I THINK THEY SEE IN YOUR
• 7:31
  Speaker 8: BILL A A PATHWAY TO DATA CENTERS AND THEIR VIEW
• 7:35
  Speaker 8: IS WE DON'T WANT THEM AT ALL.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: I'M NOT ARGUING WITH ANYONE.
• 7:41
  Speaker 8: I'M JUST TRYING TO GET STRAIGHT BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALL
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO COME UP AND SAY
• 7:45
  Speaker 8: NO DATA CENTERS BECAUSE THEY PERCEIVE, PERHAPS, YOUR BILL AS
• 7:50
  Speaker 8: LOOSENING THE RESTRICTIONS, WHICH IS ACTUALLY NOT HOW YOU INTEND
• 7:52
  Speaker 8: YOUR BILL.
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: IT'S NOT THE INTENT OF THE BILL. AND I WILL
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: ALSO CAVEAT.
• 7:58
  Speaker 10: How many data centers have an application now with the
• 8:01
  Speaker 10: current city of Baltimore that once this moratorium goes away,
• 8:05
  Speaker 10: if we do not have the regulatory framework in place,
• 8:07
  Speaker 10: how many of them will be actually going through the process?
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: But if I'm understanding the bill correctly, basically we currently
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: have a moratorium that is pending a health review, health
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: study review and the findings there. And that the bill
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: is saying we need to do something that is stricter
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: than a review, and stricter than a moratorium because a
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: moratorium can be overturned.
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: And basically the bill is saying.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: We're going to provide a path to a data center,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: but the path is going to be very difficult. And
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: so the hope, I believe, if I'm understanding correctly, is
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: that with the difficulty of the path, the data center
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: should not be able to be built unless it passes
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: very strict scrutiny that it likely will not pass. My
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: concern as a citizen of Baltimore is this. I understand,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: we all know full well, we cannot legislate the hearts
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and minds of people. We cannot say, we cannot put
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: into a bill, we all have to be nice to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: each other.
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: However, we all.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Are well aware that we're not dealing with good faith
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: actors when it comes to the people who want to
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: build DAP centers. We've already heard testimony that there are
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: people in rooms looking, combing through every law, probably across
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the country, with fine-tooth combs to see where they can
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: actually exploit loopholes. And my concern as a citizen of
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the city and someone who cares about the city, who
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: has young people who I care about in the city,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: who I want them to grow up in a place
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: with clean air, clean water, not having the sound pollution
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: and the headaches and all the things that come with
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: having a data center in their vicinity. My concern is
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: that if we know that we're dealing with bad faith actors,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: then does it not Is it not our responsibility as
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: citizens and as people in government to deal with the
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: world that we have and not the world that we
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: want to be you know what I mean like deal
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: with the people who we know are building these which
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: are bad faith actors and not deal with the fantasy
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: of oh well you know it's going to be really
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: hard so people aren't going to be able to you
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: know pass the pass the test when people are looking
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to do everything they can to subvert every possible obstacle
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: to getting these bills?
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: So I'm a long-time Baltimore resident, electrician with the IBW.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: I'm here to speak against, obviously, data centers. Obviously, the
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: contradiction here is that majority of the work for the
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: IBW right now is data centers. I currently work at
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: a data center. That doesn't mean that I approve of
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: data centers. One of the things that I think that
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: we're all missing here is that Baltimore is a city
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: that has suffered from de-industrialization for a long period of time, obviously,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: the shutdown of General Miller's, the shutdown.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: Of Bethlehem Steel.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: What we could be talking about instead of wasting our
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: time with this is we could be thinking about how
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: can we generate the power that the grid demands for
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: something like this. We could be talking about solar farms,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: wind generation. We could be talking about battery storage. If
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: you look at PJM's own records, they say that Baltimore
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: and the Mid-Atlantic region is at risk of rolling blackouts,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: as others have said, by 2028. Obviously, our grid needs investment.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Our infrastructure needs investment. The city needs investment. Investment from
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Google Meta does not solve our issues. If we actually
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: care about having a city that functions, we're gonna need
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: to be thinking about where are we putting power, not
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: where are we taking power to. It's really just that simple.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: And on that topic, if we're talking about actually maintaining
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: a labor force, we should be talking about how do
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: we get the young people in our city into the
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: trades that this type of work demands. by doing some
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: type of local hire mandate, something to make sure that
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: our young people are not just left in the wind.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Roughly 25% of young black men in the city aren't working.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Why are we not talking about what we can be
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: doing for our city? It just pains me. I just
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: see no solutions, but we're talking about something that can
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: help billionaires become trillionaires.
• 12:25
  Speaker 11: Baltimore ordered the nine month study specifically required to recommend
• 12:30
  Speaker 11: conditional use standards for data centers. Yet this bill is
• 12:33
  Speaker 11: already establishing conditional use framework. Why not finish the study
• 12:37
  Speaker 11: and let the evidence inform the legislation? Second, under this bill,
• 12:42
  Speaker 11: the company seeking approval prepares the health equity assessment, evaluating
• 12:46
  Speaker 11: its project's potential health and environmental impacts. Subjection C-9 even
• 12:52
  Speaker 11: requires that applicants to explain the compelling public interest in
• 12:56
  Speaker 11: its own project would serve. When a company has financial
• 12:59
  Speaker 11: stake in an outcome, relying heavily on evidence prepared by
• 13:03
  Speaker 11: that same company creates a conflict of interest. Why isn't
• 13:08
  Speaker 11: this assessment independent from the applicant seeking approval? Where is
• 13:12
  Speaker 11: the scientific independence in this process? Finally, if this legislation
• 13:17
  Speaker 11: is truly about putting community first, where is the community
• 13:21
  Speaker 11: process when this hearing is being held in the middle
• 13:24
  Speaker 11: of the day, as other people have stated? My friend,
• 13:27
  Speaker 11: she had to leave. Many working class Baltimoreans cannot take
• 13:30
  Speaker 11: off to participate. So we are urging that this study
• 13:35
  Speaker 11: be completed, that we require independent assessment, give affected communities
• 13:41
  Speaker 11: meaningful participation. Please oppose this bill and enact a ban
• 13:47
  Speaker 11: on data centers.
• 13:49
  Speaker 12: I'm a 29 year resident of Remington in Baltimore. I
• 13:53
  Speaker 12: want to tell you about a new building that's being built.
• 13:55
  Speaker 12: I know this hearing is not about that, but it's relevant.
• 13:58
  Speaker 12: This new building is going to use more energy than
• 14:02
  Speaker 12: Remington and Charles Village combined. It required the building of
• 14:06
  Speaker 12: a new electric substation. It's going to be as big
• 14:08
  Speaker 12: as the convention center. It's on the edge of stony run,
• 14:12
  Speaker 12: ground not appropriate for such a large building, requiring very
• 14:16
  Speaker 12: deep pilings. It's displacing animals already. There are deer on
• 14:20
  Speaker 12: my street. For the first time in 29 years, there
• 14:24
  Speaker 12: are deer on my street. My street is five blocks
• 14:26
  Speaker 12: from any wooded area. deer are walking five city blocks
• 14:30
  Speaker 12: to come to my street to eat all my flowers.
• 14:32
  Speaker 12: I don't care that they're eating my flowers because they're hungry.
• 14:36
  Speaker 12: This building also has a truck road. It's going to
• 14:40
  Speaker 12: result in the destruction of over 100 trees. There was
• 14:44
  Speaker 12: strong community opposition to this building. We were told that
• 14:49
  Speaker 12: this building would not be a data center.
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: We don't know if it's a data. I personally don't
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: know if it's a data center.
• 14:55
  Speaker 12: The amount of power it's using, the size of it
• 14:58
  Speaker 12: makes me wonder.
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: So I have some questions. How did this happen?
• 15:02
  Speaker 12: What's the definition of a data center? And I just
• 15:05
  Speaker 12: want to say that's why I want to ban. I
• 15:07
  Speaker 12: don't believe this is a legal issue. I believe it's
• 15:09
  Speaker 12: a trust issue. There are bad actors. The megas of
• 15:12
  Speaker 12: the world are bad actors.
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: And often our.
• 15:15
  Speaker 12: Representatives do not support us. Odette supported our community. We
• 15:19
  Speaker 12: voiced our opposition. And yet Zeke Cohen voted for this
• 15:23
  Speaker 12: and said data centers are inevitable.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: And we need them.
• 15:26
  Speaker 7: I want to also remind everybody that people in Baltimore City, many,
• 15:32
  Speaker 7: many are living on the edge. They're living week to week.
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: They're living month to month already. Now, data centers are
• 15:40
  Speaker 7: needed for AI. So you have AI and data centers
• 15:43
  Speaker 7: working together. For some reason, we're rushing into unregulated, unplanned,
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: black box of technology.
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: I don't know why, except I think it's the.
• 15:56
  Speaker 7: Investors who are creating this, creating this bubble. So we
• 16:02
  Speaker 7: have people, regular people, striving to just get by. AI,
• 16:07
  Speaker 7: on the one hand, is displacing jobs.
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: It has displaced jobs.
• 16:12
  Speaker 7: Everybody involved in AI says it's going to massively destroy jobs.
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: Sam Altman bragged about it.
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: On the other hand, we have data centers which have
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: raised utility rates for people around the city. As they're built,
• 16:32
  Speaker 7: they will raise more utility rates. Now we have people
• 16:35
  Speaker 7: who are barely getting by.
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: What happens to them? I love Baltimore. It's a fantastic city.
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: Fell in love here.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: Now we'll have lots of friends and I'm connected to
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: a lot of local art communities.
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: It's an important city to me and everyone in this room.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: And I say that because there's a lot of conversations
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: going on about water, about power. Every time it storms,
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: it seems that a bunch of lights go down in
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: the city. I'm confused why we're even talking about a
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: data center if we can't keep our own lights on.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: I see streets and potholes all over the place, and
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: I would really like Baltimore to be a city that
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: is ready for something like a data center.
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: And to be clear, I.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Want a ban on data centers. But if I'm looking
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: at the infrastructure we currently have just to support homes,
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: just to support me, just to support my friends and
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: family using regular water, I turn the heat down on
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: my water heater. I'm doing what I can to try
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: to make sure that I'm a good citizen in a drought,
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: in a moment of contention. So I am asking council
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: to put a ban on data centers, period, until we
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: deal with potholes. Until I can drive my car and
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: not worry about it, period. Until we can deal with
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: power outages after storms. Until we can make sure that
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: all of our neighbors have access to grocery stores. that
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: are healthy for them in their local neighborhoods.
• 18:03
  Speaker 13: I'm a long-time participant in Baltimore's professional filmmaking community. I'm
• 18:07
  Speaker 13: also a long-time member of IATSE Local 487. So I
• 18:14
  Speaker 13: think I'll kind of address my concerns in terms of,
• 18:18
  Speaker 13: you know, in sort of a cinematic fashion with a
• 18:21
  Speaker 13: metaphor of sorts. When I think of the evolution of
• 18:25
  Speaker 13: data centers as a topic of debate in the public consciousness,
• 18:28
  Speaker 13: I can't help but think of vampires as a metaphor
• 18:32
  Speaker 13: for what they offer, both in how they mystify the
• 18:35
  Speaker 13: impressionable and how they have the power to leech resources
• 18:38
  Speaker 13: and destroy communities. When I look at this bill, it
• 18:42
  Speaker 13: almost feels like they're saying, hey, vampires want to come
• 18:47
  Speaker 13: to Baltimore. We want to lay the groundwork to only
• 18:50
  Speaker 13: allow the right vampires to come into the city.
• 18:53
  Speaker 6: Vampires are risky.
• 18:54
  Speaker 14: We want to make sure we know what a vampire
• 18:57
  Speaker 14: is and then We want to make sure we get,
• 19:00
  Speaker 14: you know, the old money vampires who have accumulated their
• 19:03
  Speaker 14: wealth over hundreds of years and only bite certain kinds
• 19:06
  Speaker 14: of people.
• 19:07
  Speaker 13: Maybe vampires that'll make some of us super hot and
• 19:09
  Speaker 13: young forever. We want the best vampires for the community.
• 19:13
  Speaker 13: I don't think I'm alone when I think of that
• 19:18
  Speaker 13: and I go, what if we just did no vampires?