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A lot of NIMBY/racism/classism and modern reality of legal delays means that it can be costly. Zoning laws is another. It's a lot of fun visiting Japan and Ta
by CharlieDigital 6mo ago
A lot of NIMBY/racism/classism and modern reality of legal delays means that it can be costly.
Zoning laws is another. It's a lot of fun visiting Japan and Taiwan because you can wander around and there's a huge variation of utilization in a given block. US approach to zoning means that I rarely see similar utilization in the US.
Separate from this is politics.
I'm in the NYC metro area and we've been trying to expand access into NYC for decades.
You would think that this would be a no-brainer because it enables so much economic activity in both directions (NY/NJ). Yet, Chris Christie canceled the ARC project (which itself was years in the making) for optics at the time of the Tea Party.
- kavok 6mo agoNIMBY seems to have a hard time stopping data centers. Why do they have more success stopping renewables and rail?
- Avicebron 6mo agoIf we put the same amount of economic pressure on rail that data centers have...the US would have probably have almost as nice infrastructure as China and be significantly better off.
- CharlieDigital 6mo agoNIMBY is stopping data centers. Maine set to become first state with data center ban: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/09/maine-data-center-ban.html https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/09/maine-data-center-ban.html Also, it's a different kind of more insidious and visceral NIMBY rooted in racism and classism.
- WillPostForFood 6mo agoYes, see the famous essay, Nimby Good When My Neighborhood by I Hyppocrit.
- ghaff 6mo agoNot sure it's a bad thing. So, they would employ maybe 30 people after they're built. Consume a lot of power and water. I'd have to see the details of a specific proposal but I'd probably vote against personally.
- kavok 6mo agoSure, it’s stopping some, but not most/all even with strong public opposition. See: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/small-missouri-town-ousts-half-its-city-council-after-usd6-billion-ai-data-center-approval-petition-calls-for-mayors-removal-as-frustration-and-violence-over-ai-data-centers-mounts https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/small-missouri-to...
- kulahan 6mo agoIt's facetious to pretend NIMBYs are as such because they're racist and classist, rather than because they just want to protect the single most valuable and future-determining investment they'll make in their entire lives.
- otterley 6mo agoThose factors are tied together and aren’t easily separable. The racism and classism comes in because they believe that people of a different race or class will diminish the value of their investment.
- tormeh 6mo agoIf enough people believe this then it is true. That's just how markets work.
- kjkjadksj 6mo agoThe public rail industry has no bribing mechanism unlike the data center industry and the fossil fuel industry. Did I write bribe? Sorry, “campaign contribution.” But sometimes also literally bribes like Tony Soprano cash in the bag.
- kevin_thibedeau 6mo agoThere's an existing disused commuter rail line in NJ near the Hudson that was shut down in the 60s. It still has many of its stations and density to support rail service today but can't be reopened because of the NIMBYs. If they can't make that work, the rest of the country is mostly hopeless.