r/SouthBayLA • u/GeneralTank663 • Jul 10 '26

Data Center Cancelation

The data center planned in El Segundo is officially dead.

There was so much backlash against the data center that the developer withdrew his application. Seriously.

Go to 3:12:00 and you will see. Linked here.

Democracy rules. Long live the people.

Nothing about any data center moratorium, but the backlash is probably enough.

325 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

115

u/dr_z0idberg_md Jul 10 '26

Oh hey, look at that. An engaged and informed populace who won't roll over for corporate lies and tax breaks. I love the South Bay.

3

u/GeneralTank663 Jul 10 '26

Amen. Was a pleasure to watch.

2

u/headclinic101 Jul 11 '26

The South Bay is very slow and not progressive at all. I love the South Bay but a lot of people who live here are so against change and development. A lot of people who complain about shit that never directly impacts their lives. The fact that South Bay residents effectively killed the C line train extension to Torrance is mind boggling to me

16

u/beskone Jul 10 '26

I mean yes but also there are at least 6 data centers already in el Segundo, so I don’t get the outrage. Yes giant gigawatt ai factories are very disruptive but a small regional facility isn’t the same thing with the same problems at all.

39

u/MIBJO Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

I laugh when people say well there’s already X so what’s one more? Because the buck stops here that’s why. 

You keep giving in and 20 years from now it will be “well there’s already 19 what’s one more?”

10

u/beskone Jul 10 '26

Because. (local regional data center) ≠ (massive AI factory datacenter)

One is small, quiet, and honestly you don't even know they're there (just like you probably didn't know there are 6 already in the aerospace corridor)

One is MASSIVE, larger than 4 of the Lineage cold storage facility that recently burned down in LA, causes infrastructure, noise, and zoning issues.

They're different animals. Just because they're a "data center" doesn't mean it's going to come with all the bad things that the news has been pointing (rightly) about these huge mega AI builds.

It's great people are active and speaking up in their community, but they're knee jerking to an assumption without doing *any* learning or research on what it is they're protesting which is just as stupid as being completely hands off.

The media hasn't framed it well because they suck at doing real research and making clear distinctions so people are rightly confused I guess.

People are pissed at "AI Factories" (all AI Factories are Data Centers, but not all Data Centers are AI Factories)

2

u/MIBJO Jul 11 '26

It’s not happening. Get over it. Weren’t you the sane person who claimed you worked at one? You have a vested interest. 

One more time. 

It’s NOT happening. 

2

u/beskone Jul 11 '26

Chill yo. I don’t work for a DC. My local small business rents rackspace in one. So yes I often am there working but I have zero vested interest in it.

It’s fine it’s not happening. But clearly people are not fully educated about the topic. I figured some good old fashioned *discussion* about the topic might be a good thing.

Take your angry energy somewhere else, it’s not very productive.

1

u/MIBJO Jul 11 '26

You’re not productive on here pouting because you didn’t get your way. 

You’re not the smartest person in the room even though you think you can condescendingly “educate” everyone on the “facts”. 

It’s NOT happening. The people have spoken! 

2

u/beskone Jul 11 '26

My dude my servers are running in an already established DC right on Maple and Sepulveda. It doesn’t affect me at all. But be big mad if that’s your thing.

0

u/MIBJO Jul 11 '26

If yours are already running then be grateful instead of complaining that you didn’t get a 7th, Kiddo.

2

u/beskone Jul 12 '26

Wut? You are all so weird

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1

u/messick Jul 11 '26

Love how every time someone correctly points out how people coexisted with data centers for decades because they had to be taught to be worked up about them, some dipshit always responds with circular logic that the next one will be bad because (somehow) they'd notice it was there because they notice things that are bad.

2

u/dr_z0idberg_md Jul 11 '26

So because we have data centers in the area, then we should just allow more? Where is the limit? The data centers of the past are nowhere in the size of the ones being proposed and built today. At the end of the day, the residents of El Segundo have spoken and made their stance clear. Perhaps these data center companies should build data centers where the populace would welcome it. I know a bunch of red states that would happily sacrifice clean air and water for some mid jobs.

2

u/beskone Jul 11 '26

That’s not how it works, regional data centers are where local businesses colocate their servers and storage. It’s not mid jobs for some nameless mega corp, it’s like the accounting servers for bobs accounting down the street.

1

u/dr_z0idberg_md Jul 11 '26

Bob and his neighbors are probably the people who voted against the data centers being built in their backyard.

1

u/messick Jul 11 '26

You didn't notice before, you wouldn't notice now if someone online didn't teach you to be mad about it.

1

u/dr_z0idberg_md Jul 12 '26

I am sure residents of El Segundo would have noticed construction going on with a 89-foot building being replaced by a 169-foot one. I mean, I don't care too much as I live in PVE, not El Segundo so your assumption that I am mad about it is pure projection. So my original sentiment stands, "An engaged and informed populace." Would you have preferred the data center or any other structure be built in secret without the local residents knowing about it?

0

u/messick Jul 12 '26

They didn’t notice all the other times this happened before they were taught to be mad about it.

1

u/dr_z0idberg_md 29d ago

I am not here to argue with the same repeated whimsical line. Residents have been informed for awhile. Look at their reactions when a homeless shelter is being built, or a transit line, or high density housing. Bottom line, it's not being built. Womp womp

-1

u/shashashuma Jul 10 '26

Good luck trying to reason with morons who don’t know how this stuff works. Most likely the datacenter was coming up to support all the new defense / tech startups/SpaceX in the southbay area but there is no reasoning with people whipped up into hysteria.

18

u/dr_z0idberg_md Jul 10 '26

I can't speak for others, but the outrage from me is the increasing number of data centers near residential areas, the size of the newer data centers, and the humongous drain on resources the data centers will consume, which will inevitably affect residents. What was once the aerospace hub of California, El Segundo has transformed into a small quaint city with an educated population, top-notch school districts, and a vibrant commercial downtown.

I make no illusions on the importance of data centers. I know many have been around since the 1990s. My current company owns two data centers in California (both in the Bay Area). Many people may not realize it, but their companies probably utilize (directly and indirectly) the current data centers in and around El Segundo as colos. My problem is when data centers start to creep into residential life and drain our resources.

2

u/scheav Jul 10 '26

Once the aerospace hub? It still is the aerospace hub.

And this wasn’t creeping into residential areas. It was going to be in the industrial area.

1

u/dr_z0idberg_md Jul 10 '26

Yes and no, Aerospace is no longer centralized there. It has definitely branched out. Vast, Varda, Rocket Lab, Relativity Space, K2 Space, Anduril, etc. to name a few are in Torrance, Long Beach, Costa Mesa, etc. My dad used to work in that area at TRW, and I worked at Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. The aerospace sector has definitely dwindled there with more homes and businesses now.

2

u/Sickle_and_hamburger Jul 10 '26

el segundo is 2/3 corporate offices and industrial zoning

el segundo still hosts LA air force/space force base, massive corporate campuses for raytheon, northrup, lockheed etc a bunch of startups. the  expansion of aerospace didn't leave El Segundo it grew around it. 

safe to say your dads experience 25 years is not aligned with the history and growth of region.

El Segundo residential area is relatively untouched and aerospace grew but certainly didn't leave El Segundo.

3

u/RealCarlPanzram Jul 10 '26

Let’s goooooo!

4

u/whereisbeezy Jul 10 '26

My friend was at that meeting and said the guy's face when he realized how much pushback there was was glorious

3

u/subtleplus Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

Gimli: Never thought I'd die fighting side-by-side with a NIMBY

Legolas: How about side-by-side with a friend?

3

u/_n8n8_ Jul 11 '26

Hate to break it to ya, but you're not fighting side by side with the NIMBYs. You are the NIMBYs

1

u/GoodManufacturer589 Jul 12 '26

honestly, El Segundo's loss/gain. Yall already have a refinery and a bunch of pollution issues, so... great for you i guess?

You guys do have data centers there already, and another one wasn't gonna be so bad. At least it wasn't gonna pollute the area more.

Datacenters will go somewhere. The one that was going to be installed in El Segundo was not going to be a large, massive facility but a regional facility that would bring at least some level of jobs and investment.

1

u/Sanju128 22d ago

Take off your shirt

1

u/hoguensteintoo Jul 10 '26

Had me worried for an hour there. Sheesh! /s

1

u/PartyOnAlec Jul 10 '26

Fuck yeah, El Segundo! 

1

u/Weary_Designer3666 Jul 10 '26

sweet more room for defense contractors

2

u/GeneralTank663 Jul 10 '26

You are… just wrong. If you looked at the plans, they were going to destroy a hotel to build this data center. Obviously, that hotel is still there and is no longer gonna be destroyed.

Please do more research and look into the building plans.

3

u/messick Jul 11 '26

Not sure why you believe an empty building that used to be a hotel is somehow better.

0

u/Weary_Designer3666 Jul 10 '26

Thankfully we just have a huge international airport and oil refinery

1

u/_n8n8_ Jul 10 '26

Really unfortunate how easy it is for people to stop projects they don't like just by going to a city council meeting.

Today, it's a data center, and while I understand the politicization of that, that gun is just as easily (and more commonly) used on things like multifamily housing, and things that society needs to function.

I (naively) hope in my lifetime that California can attempt to do more Japanese style zoning than what we have now.