A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead
9d 9h ago by lemmy.world/u/Some_Emo_Chick in technology from www.404media.co
Don't even mention:
Datacenters Behaving Like Acoustic Weapons
She’s gonna get a share of the lease revenue on that, right?
…right?
Even if they didn't do her dirty, she wouldn't. She donated it to the city and relinquished ownership of it. The expectation, even written into the deed, was that the land was to be used as a park, but they turned around and sold it multiple times. Despite the stipulation in the original deed to the parks and recreation department, the data center is still going forward.
The story is just such a tragedy all around.
Huh, I’m not an attorney but that sure seems actionable if the intended use was documented in a contract.
She's got an attorney and they're trying to stop it based on that, but it just seems like everyone involved (edit: besides her) just doesn't give a fuck.
They've been taught that if they ignore the law and do whatever they want to they don't get punched in the face.
That will only go on for so long but it's going to suck until someone gets punchy.
Especially with the recent East Wing argument, the lesson is "if you do it fast enough and ignore other people getting angry about it, you can do whatever you want."
The only reason they ever didn't ignore people getting angry about things was because when people used to get angry they also got shooty.
gimme some wiskey and point them out, I get punchy, 1 shot or 20
What's the saying? "Ownership is 90% posession."
Like with the stuff going on at the East Wing or the Kennedy Center, some people just move forward even if they're not allowed to because chances are they won't be stopped or penalized.
"Possession is nine-tenths of the law" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_is_nine-tenths_of_the_law
Interesting to witness societal decay in real time.
The relevant case law may be found in Molotov vs. New Construction .
Can't find what it was, what did that one end with?
A bang
Oh, that, well it was definitely a hit
You don't get it, they will build a data center park!
While in many ways it is a tragedy, the cure is often worse. I on balance oppose deed restrictions, either you own the land and pay taxes, or you give up all control. Deed restrictions just force future generations to live by your values and that is a bad thing.
It's a lot like another commenter mentioned about eminent domain. It can be used for good (roads, fiber deployments, district heating, etc) but also for things not so good (data centers, etc).
I went out of my way to find a house that didn't even have a vestigial HOA deed restriction, so I get that. But when a private citizen donates something to the local municipality, it's pretty egregious to not honor those restrictions, especially for things that may take a while to develop.
I'd donate my share of my family's farmland to build a park, but I wouldn't sell it for all the money in the world to build a datacenter or landfill or anything else, really.
It is a jerk move for sure and the voters should be mad about this. If you can't keep your word without a contract that says a lot about your lack of honor.
I'm talking pure legality here though. The cities actions are legal and should be. They are however dishonorable and nobody should deal with the city again.
As for your last line there, forcing future generations to live by the values of having a park isn't a bad thing.
What makes you so sure? I mean, I would hope that future generations will have parks, but we don't know what the future is going to be like. There may be some consideration that we couldn't even conceive of that would make it not a good thing for them to have a park. Or maybe parks are considered good in future generations, but there's a reason that that is a particularly bad spot to have a park.
No takey-backs! ✝️
Best they can do is no trees, half of everyone riding mobility scooters and neighbors with dogs that can poop EVERYWHERE.
Nice try, Big Dungbeatle Inc. 😑
they're not even leasing. It's a flat sale. For a measly 10 million
One of the more fucked up aspects of eminent domain. City/county/state governments can nuke deeds by using eminent domain. It allows them to turn a plot of land, regardless prior restrictions, into things like dumps.
The fucked up part about it is they can also turn public lands into private lands with that same trick.
What's frustrating is we still need eminent domain for good. It's basically the only way to build railways and roads. It even ends up being one of the few ways to deploy things like district heating/cooling and new fiber lines.
Eminent domain didn't factor into this particular case. The Taylor Economic Development Corporation simply ignored the deed and sold the land to BPP Projects LLC/Blueprint while Taylor City Council and Judge Ryan Larson approved and upheld it respectively.
I believe eminent domain should have a very limited scope legally and should mostly only be used for public infrastructure projects and housing honestly…
But AI is Public Infrastructure.
/s^just in case
We have different definitions of good. I don't see how building a highway system through other animals homes is considered "good".
A road in of itself is definitely a public interest...
Where they should and should not be built is another discussion.
Agree to disagree. I don't believe humans own the earth.
Serving the public interest is not already a prerequisite? Surely gov't cannot arbitratily pull this card?
I might be talking out of my ass but i'm pretty sure using imminent domain is not only needed for matters of public interest but specifically needs to be backed by it when you want to use it.
AI is starting to show that it isn't worth the investment and they are STILL building more?!? WTF is going on?
Because I do not think AI is the actual end goal. I think the actual end goal is cloud computing. They want everyone to use thin clients and connect to their data center instead of using a pc at home.
Don’t forget the surveillance state! The global buildout for the NWO one government surveillance state will be paid with your pension and retirement savings.
Nothing to do with a so called new world orde just the same people as before. It is just the government and industrialist that want more power. We are just living though the beginings of a cyberpunk setting.
Yeah but without the cool tech or space exploration. We just get the shitty parts.
Well there is cool tech for the ultra rich (some examples, robotic prostetics, private space companies, Gabe's private lab yachts, brain interface, private exploration of the Marianna trench).
We definetly get the sloppy seconds, if that.
I think the real goal is the billionaires uploading their minds to achieve immortality. Definitely impossible, but that's what I think.
That was my theory to why Zuck was so interested in his Metaverse. Every billionaire is planning some sort of post-life or extending their lives one way or another. The same way kings and emperors of history have.
Chinese emperors often consumed mercury in pursuit of eternity. Zuck and friends want to print themselves onto silicon. Coincidence?
You also have Brian Johnson's blood transfusions and it wouldn't be a stretch that Musk's children are all potential organ donors.
AI LLMs are definitely a smokescreen for justifying more compute.
What the real goal for all those CPUs is I have no idea.
full circle, back when I started, main frames with thin clients.
Good thing my rural internet isn't strong enough for that
Than just a thin client for you.
Jensen Huang has been pretty open about that being the plan lately. Although he still insists that even the cloud computers will be run by AI agents.
That might have worked over a few generations but they want people that are used to owning their stuff to just give it up over night and it's not going very well for them.
There are multiple goals in mind such as surveillance, pumping the stock market, taking control out of people's hands, excuses to do things like lay people off, etc. In this case or in general for local governments, it's a matter of a select number of people getting a lot of money in their pockets and thus pushing for these data centers to happen.
The bailout money will be double what they lost I am guessing.
Red line go up.
Profit Cults gotta commit to the behaviour
That is crazy and would make no sense for them to do. Why do you think they're doing that?
Hmmm Providence RI by any chance? LOL
OP claims to be from southwestern europe here: On a post about his cat
Lol, that's clearly Portugal. They have burrokracia over there, and they are honorary Balkan.
Not judging but curious, why did you dig into post histories? I see plenty of people doing it even if I never do, so I'm just curious why.
Can't answer for them but the few times I've done it is to make sure I'm talking with someone that can actually hold a conversation and I'm not arguing with a shill or looney. Sometimes just to see what a person is like on average. Especially if they act like a cunt for little reason. Some do it just for curiosity sake.
Makes sense. Thanks for the answer!
Sure thing. 🙂
Lol I wasn't expecting op to actually reply don't need them doxxing themselves was just poking fun at how that crap happens more often than you'd think with the corruption , shits a plague everywhere
It should be legal and acceptable to take back things given for one purpose that end up being used for something else.
It actually is if the gift is conditional on a specified use - in writing of course.
In my country it is legal to do so
It's legal to burn down data centres if you don't get caught.
I was curious where the land was, and if I could help in any way.
It's in Texas. I made a promise to myself that I'd never go back to Texas.
Texas. Fucking. Suuuuuucks.
“Don’t mess with Texas” now has a different meaning.
"Don't mess with Texas, it might be contagious"
Just like "Everything Is Bigger In Texas" is considered a self-own to the rest of the world, they're the brunt of the joke. (Sorry Austin, you too. Yes, even SXSW)
"Texas hurt itself in its confusion."
Texas. The state by millionaires for billionaires.
People should know that donating land like this is not at all guaranteed to keep the land from being developed. Promises to keep parks in existence is nothing when the city "needs" a new development, hospital, data center, whatever.
I know the saying is "don't mess with Texas" but Texas seems to fuck itself over all the time. I would be raising hell about this if it was my backyard.
That's kind of but not exactly a mistranslation. The original Chinese is closer to 'do not interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake', but in the american vernacular, you can just say 'don't mess with Texas' and it means the same thing locally. Its one of those very regional sayings.
Pretty sure "Don't mess with Texas" began its life as an anti-littering campaign in the late 80s or early 90s. It has been appropriated to mean all sorts of things, though. The original meaning might be even more relevant to data centers...
No, the EPA just appropriated sun tzu.
I mean... I guess it could mean that now, but that is certainly not what it meant originally or how it was ever used.
Oh, you speak Chinese?
In the most Peggy Hill way possible.
Is "don't mess with Texas" Chinese?
I just said its a translation. Yes. From sun tzu I think. In england they translate it the other way I said here.
Except the actual phrase didn't originate from whatever Chinese saying you're talking about. It was an anti-littering campaign, from Texas, in the 1980s.
No, its from translating 'the art of war' into an american dialect. EPA just appropriated it.
You got evidence to back that up? Especially since the EPA had nothing to do with the ad campaign?
Yes, but it would be very personally identifying.
How is a translation of some ancient public work personally identifying
Are you guys autistic? They are obviously kidding...
There's no such thing as autism, only severe aspergers.
It's in-ism
Any time I think of the art of war, I think of this song:
Any time I think of the art of war
That is how Americans do things. A third of angels fell, but that's ok because we have the Illuminati to kerfuffle their feathers.
This has nothing to do with any translation of any language, it's a US English expression.
It is a joke.
They are intimating that texas makes so many mistakes that "Don't mess with texas" may be a blowhard boast to texans, but to everyone else it means "just let the idiots wreck themselves"
Also that 'Texas' is synonymous with 'enemy' for all Americans.
Still has nothing to do with translating anything from any other language.
And since they doubled down on it being the actual origin when pressed on it, I don't think they were joking.
..it was pretty obviously a shitpost, dude.
Absolutely not. You don't double down on a joke.
Thank you for the correct interpretation, I really need to remember that one
a while back when i was a animal physio class a university, the profess told how he knew someone about to retire/Will but he wanted to donate it to STANFORD on the sole purpose of it being used as a research station in some island/country. the guy somehow heard the stanford lawyers said they were going to sell it or rent it out instead right behind his back. he gave it to Berkley university instead to be used for science.
the moral of the story make sure you have something in place so that the land/property being donated is used properly by a lawyer or a trust org.
Universities are a business and have the morals of your generic street thug. Why anyone would consider donating anything to them is a mystery.
Mostly to get their kids guaranteed entry into the university.
Whistleblowers with morals are also more important that people realise.
And this is why you need a lawyer when you're doing this kind of thing.
If this farmer was smart, there would be a clause in the contract that the land may only be used for a park or other public space. And that if the city decides to resell the land, the farmer or their descendants will have the right to reclaim it.
Thus, farmer could either stop the data center or at least get a solid payday.
If you read the article, there was exactly this sort of clause in the deed, and now the courts are saying “fuck you”
and now the courts are saying “fuck you”
It's one Court and unsurprisingly it's the Court located right there in town. I strongly suspect that the Third Court of Appeals is going to have a different take on this mess.
At least where I live you can't wash away a deed restriction like this by transferring the property a couple times.
It is wild to me that this wasn't handled elsewhere to begin with. There is no way to at least somewhat guarantee a fair process with this massive potential for conflict of interest.
Actually just did read the article, had to dig it up off an archive site. Honestly this seems like it's a garden variety case of deed washing. Pass the property back and forth a few times between various entities, somewhere in the line the deed restrictions get 'accidentally lost', and what comes out in the end is a parcel with no restrictions and the only one with any interest in enforcing restrictions is five or six owners ago (all with impeccable arm's length separation of course) so if a court does try and fix it you end up with a giant mess of transactions to unwind, some of which may not be possible to unwind.
Sadly if I'm correct that means the most likely outcome is the deed restriction is enforced and the data come center company files a claim with their title insurance. The best shot at actually unwinding any of this is that the property was transferred for significantly below market value or for nothing between some of those entities in the middle, which makes it a lot easier to argue they were acting as one.
IANAL. The general approach to this isn’t to sell it, from what I’ve seen. It’s to lease it for purpose.
We have a number of scouting camps near me that have permissive leases. Technically, the family that “donated” the land has a conditional lease with BSA, with terms like “BSA may use the land so long as one Boy Scout sleeps on the property at least one night per year.” With stipulations that if this requirement is not met, the land returns full and unconditional ownership to the nearest living descendant.
In the mean time, BSA is responsible for all taxes, costs, upkeep and improvements.
Basically, until BSA dissolves, they will be free to use the land. Failure to meet the condition would immediately revert ownership and void the lease.
I can just see it- 'Okay kids it's that time of the year again, whoever wants to get their computer merit badge and their camping merit badge, bring your tent at meet at 6:00 p.m. in the parking lot of the data center on our old campground...' 🤣
(I'm sure that's not the only restriction heh)
But yeah I agree that's the way to go, basically guarantees the donation recipient stays in line and the instant they don't the donation evaporates.
Not a lawyer either, but the article explicitly says “sold”, so I assume it’s not just leasing
In 2003, the Texas Parks and Recreation Foundation granted the land to another non-profit called the Williamson County Park Foundation. A month later, that non-profit gave the land to the City of Taylor. Five years later, in 2008, the city of Taylor sold the land to the Taylor Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) for $15,000. In 2025, TEDC sold the land to Blueprint, the data center developers, for $10 million.
was there a clause that if it isnt used as intended, it return to the owner?
Pave paradise and put up a parking lot data center
🎶 shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop 🎶
I can't imagine a better way to ensure people don't donate land ever again.
Stories like this always remind me of the Peter's parking deck at GA Tech. The couple that donated the land wanted it to be a park, so that the students would have a green place to play and relax. Once Tech had the land, they put a parking deck there instead. But they put a basketball court on the top level so that they technically met the letter of the law.
In fairness, as a student I needed that parking deck way more than I needed the park.
omg, never knew about this donation. Sad, but also in the spirit of an engineer doing absolute minimum to pass compliance while achieving what you need. Whats the good word!
The said part there is truly that the you needed a parking lot more than greenspace.
Yeah, it's a park... An industrial park
I’m curious what would be the better approach if someone wanted to donate land to be used for a park? Give it to a charity? Or somehow find the cash and just build the park yourself and let people visit your land?
My town had a guy that loved baseball a long time ago, he had money and wanted it local so he built a baseball field right on the river, made a big park and donated it to the city. He was pretty smart about it and worked the deed so that it would take a two-third vote of the citizens to sell it.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago and the mayor petitioned the governor to change the deed under an NDA as he wanted to lease the park to a minor league baseball team. In the deal he also gave them the naming rights for the park, so the baseball team renamed the park after a local bank that gave them money.
Damn, you really can’t control your legacy, huh?
It would be easier if you weren't dead
Depends how it was dontated, you can specify a loan of the land indefinetly to the city as long as its use is xyz.
If its a straight donation with no caveats attached then the city can do what it wants
My local council tried to build on some park land donated 100 years ago but the donator had specified its usage in the donation so they got shut down pretty hard.
Unfortunately it seems like the donator specified the usage in this case as well, but the courts are straight up ignoring it.
On July 7, 1999, Bland’s descendants granted 87.97 acres of land to the “Texas Parks and Recreation Foundation, a Texas non-profit corporation, to be held in trust for future use as parkland by Williamson County, Texas,” according to a copy of the deed reviewed by 404 Media.
Sell a part of your land and use the money to build a park on the rest.
tax benefits to donations, as opposed to maintaining it
For a financial benefit, a sale beats a donation.
404 Media is journalist-founded and supported by reader subscriptions. They are four high quality investigators doing amazing work (they work with a couple of other people on some stories).
If you can't afford it, I understand. I share archive links all the time. For anyone with a few extra bucks who cares about quality reporting by people with integrity, this is easily one of the best options around. I've been extremely happy knowing they exist. (Gets you extra content from their podcast, too.)
I generally hate the principle of subscriptions + ads + paywalling stuff to viewers but not to crawlers, it’s pretty much double-dipping while baiting people for SEO.
On the other hand, I understand that in this day and age keeping a news outlet afloat without “outside influence” requires doing stuff like this. It’s a hard thing to balance but in either case I appreciate the insight from your comment, I admit I didn’t look them up and I figured they were just another money-hungry megacorp-owned outlet.
And I have no problem with that. I sort of found out who they were by accident cause they had a trend of good stories getting posted here and at some point I auditioned their podcast where they mention that.
Shoulda got that in writing I guess.
Sounds like she did and the city just ignored it.
She trusted the government I don’t understand what Went wrong
if you just give it away, assume it will be used for the worst thing you can imagine. You give it away with strict agreement that it will be used only for things you have intended.
There was a specific clause in the deed that it had to be used for a park, and now that is not being honored
Corrupt Bastard: "We will name it...Data Park."
then hopefully the city will be made to honor it
Anyone got old Indian burial grounds to donate for a data center?
Best I can do are some bats and protected plants.
What can we do to fight this particular court ruling?
Fuck me. I used to live around there a while back
This is why you don't donate property and large sums of money unless you're already rich. I used to date a girl whose parents inherited like a million dollars, and they donated all of it to their fucking church. Shortly they're after, the preacher retired and build a new giant house. Fuck that shit.
If you're poor and win a lot of money, the best thing to do is to shut the hell about it.
I've seen this story a few times now. Is there (gonna be) a court case, or is that it?
Nobody got any fight in them anymore. Which is how they like it.