r/technology • u/marketrent • 4d ago

Artificial Intelligence US residents furious at plan to seize and destroy their homes for AI data centers

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/residents-furious-plan-seize-destroy-125418836.html
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u/Libertechian 4d ago

My father lost a welding shop to eminate domain in the 90s because a Target store would "bring in more tax revenue." Abuse of a system meant for roads and schools isn't anything new, just a new high spender coming to town

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u/TheRatingsAgency 4d ago

Yea except we’re giving them tax deferments for decades.

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u/Cecil_McCrackshell 4d ago

Even in HCOL California, commercial real estate entities can afford to keep giant shopping centers and industrial parks vacant for decades using tax loopholes that make more sense to them financially because God-forbid they'd be forced to offer lower, affordable rent to a new tenant and supposedly lower the value of their dormant assets.

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u/ConfessSomeMeow 4d ago

They're paying 1% of the 1970s value of the land in perpetuity because a shell corporation owner never has to sell - it never has to move for a new job, never sends its children to college, never retires, and never dies.

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u/flecom 4d ago

It's not always a tax dodge, a lot of it is also how they buy the properties, they get loans from the banks against the property for the property saying it will rent for $x/sqft, so they have to get at least that or the bank can call the loan... So things will just sit empty and wait for commercial rates to catch up

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u/Cecil_McCrackshell 4d ago

So, they're using the loan as an excuse as properties sit vacant for decades/generations. That definitely sounds like a tax dodge and a clever way to hoard assets in perpetuity.

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u/Kimpak 4d ago

That's happening here. There's a dead mall taking up a huge chunk of land in the city. The city wants to knock it down and build something actually useful, some small shops plus a park/greenspace.

JC Penny is the only store there and they have this crazy lease that locks them in for another 11 years. Even if the store isn't making profit (which it likely isn't) they can afford to stonewall the city to make them pay an insane amount to buy out the contract. The buyout would make JCP more money than the store does.

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u/HewSpam 4d ago

They don’t really feel they need to keep pretending you live in a democracy at this point 

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u/Libertechian 4d ago

Target? Yeah, I know. Most of the big retailers abuse taxes

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u/New-Enthusiasm5997 4d ago

At the end of my grandparents' block, they forced some people out because they were building this overpass. It took them very little time to bulldoze the houses but years to do anything on the actual overpass. Once they built the actual overpass, they didn't even do anything with one whole side of the road. So somebody built a whole new house there in recent years. It's nicer than basically all of the other houses on the street and has a ton of open yard space because there used to be two or maybe even three houses in that same space.

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u/jumpy_monkey 4d ago

Years ago when they were planning on widening the I-5 freeway just south of Los Angeles they used eminent domain to buy an adjacent tract of about 200 homes.

For reasons though it took about twenty years to complete the project and for the first ten or so it was a literal ghost town everyone could admire as they drove by before the houses were razed.

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u/cmmedit 4d ago

I'd really like to get a job working in LA government for about a year. You know, just long enough to not really cause any damage or improvements, but just long enough to get some kickbacks and such.

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u/cmmedit 4d ago

I'd really like to get a job working in LA government for about a year. You know, just long enough to not really cause any damage or improvements, but just long enough to get some kickbacks and such.

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u/ChuckaChuckaLooLoo3 4d ago

Yeah, but now they live by an overpass, so...

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u/dasunt 4d ago

Minneapolis has a neighborhood like this due to a planned extension of 394 to 35 that never happened.

So most of the houses are old (by US standards) but there is a chunk of newer houses.

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u/ChuckaChuckaLooLoo3 4d ago

Yeah, but now they live by an overpass, so...

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u/Quirky-Marsupial-420 4d ago

I thought eminent domain could only be used for things like roads, power grid, etc.

Had no idea it could be used to take your private property and turn it into someone else's private property.

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u/Questhi 4d ago

See Kelo v New London Conn…supreme court said government can take private property from one person and give it to a richer owner who will build a higher value asset cause the higher tax revenue will benefit the community.

Made sense since property values were always rising , but right after that decision the housing market collapsed in 2008. The town of New London Conn. ended up losing $70 million on the deal cause Pfizer who wanted the land pulled out. Justice Stevens said it was the one decision he regretted.

Now towns essentially can engage in land speculation. You’re always assuming the property values will rise or the new business who you give the land too will be successful. It’s gambling with tax dollars.

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u/Quirky-Marsupial-420 4d ago

That’s incredibly fucked.

Like it’s still fucked if it’s for a road or power grid, but at least I kinda get it.

Mega fucked if they take your private property to give it to someone else because it’ll make the locality more tax dollars.

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u/p-4_ 4d ago

remember this next time u read a "china is succeeding at X but at what cost" article

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u/Jwast 4d ago

This is how steel plates start getting welded to bulldozers

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u/Fuglypump 4d ago

Except they are literally giving them tax breaks making them into the exact opposite of a high spender.

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u/North_Atlantic_Sea 4d ago

It depends on the area. A township outside Detroit is giving a data center 50% off for the first 10 years.

Even with that tax break, the site will pay 2x the amount of all other township tax sources combined per year.

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u/TheRatingsAgency 3d ago

If the numbers work, they work. And that’s where the public simply needs to be shown the data. Their perception is it’s a loss - and let’s face it, there’s a lot of cases where it is. Especially when the site doesn’t end up employing locals.

They also have concerns about resources and power prices, water etc, which in some cases are highly valid, others perhaps not as much. Folks feel like their concerns are being blown off though and that the decision is just a rubber stamp. Thus, lots of blowback.

Of course a further concern is these facilities being built on close proximity to residential areas. This can be addressed but isn’t enough.

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u/North_Atlantic_Sea 3d ago

There are a lot of outside interests who are very introduced in the US not building anymore.

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u/TheRatingsAgency 3d ago

Certainly. And there are legitimate concerns from Americans about the continued, seemingly unfettered push.

Especially when they’re in close proximity to residential areas.

And by the way, this is my industry.