Stop The Data Dump on New Florence

05/31/2026

Mark Your Calendars, Montgomery County!

📅 Tuesday, June 2 – 6:00 PM
Preserve Montgomery County Meeting
MCity Library

📅 Friday, June 5 – 6:30 PM
Meet the Candidates for Presiding Commissioner
KC Hall
A great opportunity to meet and greet with candidate Harry Cope.

📅 Monday, June 8 – 9:00 AM
County Commission Meeting
Montgomery County Courthouse
Agenda item: Tax abatements for Google.
Come watch county officials discuss reducing taxes for a trillion-dollar corporation while residents continue paying full freight. Because the latest economic development strategy is:
✅ Tax breaks for billion-dollar companies
✅ Increased burden on local taxpayers.

Remember, Amazon received substantial tax incentives. Now Montgomery County residents will witness yet another round of corporate giveaways.

Whether you support the project or oppose it, show up, ask questions . Remember they’re not spending their money. They're spending yours.

05/20/2026

How refreshing to see local leadership demonstrate the courage to perform thorough due diligence and prioritize what is truly best for their community. Responsible leadership requires transparency, independent evaluation, and a willingness to ask difficult questions before supporting projects that could significantly impact residents for decades to come.

Contrast that with the approach from MOCO local leadership which was to simply rely heavily on NDAs and treating attendance at a carefully curated data center tour in Altoona, Iowa as sufficient due diligence for projects of this magnitude.

Our community deserves a far more transparent and comprehensive review process.

MOCO citizens have the ability to shape the future of their community by changing leadership via the ballot box ….starting this August!

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – St. Charles city leaders are expected to vote Tuesday evening on a permanent ban on large data centers. The vote comes after months of strong opposition from St. Charles re…

05/18/2026

Be on the lookout for the upcoming survey in your mailbox, as it will be an important opportunity to make your position known regarding the proposed MOCO data centers.

Normally the appropriate time to express public input on this issue would have been during the initial stages of discussion; however since our local leaders decided to essentially bypass this part of the process , citizens did not have meaningful opportunity to do so. During recent commissioners’ meetings, we even heard dismissive /flippant remarks such as “surveys aren’t necessary.”

This survey represents a key opportunity for voters to clearly communicate the level of concern and opposition within the community. It is also a chance for citizens to hold elected officials accountable for their decisions.

And remember, voting for new leaders starts on August 4th.

05/09/2026

We’ve heard endless chatter from the “I Love Data Centers” crowd hyping the promise of “all this money for the kiddos” in the Montgomery County School District.

What they never explain is how flooding a broken system with more money magically fixes the actual problem.

Our public schools do not suffer from a funding shortage. They suffer from an administrator surplus problem . Yet another example of bureaucracy run amuck

Throwing more money at the system without addressing the root cause solves nothing. It’s the equivalent of trying to get rid of dog p**p 💩 in your yard by spraying it with perfume. You may cover the smell for a little while, but the root cause still exists.

Don’t buy the sales pitch. The same leaders who failed to plan, failed to zone responsibly, and failed to protect community resources are now demanding blind trust because they’re dangling tax revenue in front of residents.

05/05/2026

Wright City clearly approached data center development with foresight and structure. They implemented targeted zoning requirements that reflect planning, risk awareness, and a baseline commitment to protecting community and environmental interests.

By contrast, our local leadership took the passive approach to establish meaningful data center specific zoning standards by bending over to the need of the developers. ( And the developers didn’t even have to buy them a drink!)

When you compare Wright City’s defined requirements to those in Montgomery County, the gap is hard to ignore. One reflects intentional planning; the other highlights serious questions about whether adequate safeguards for residents, infrastructure, and natural resources were ever a thought.

Last night, about 20 local residents showed up and engaged on an important conversation… data centers!
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Planning and Zoning and the Board of Aldermen sat down together to walk through a proposed ordinance, and its important to point out that the tone in the room was very different than expected. Everyone's conversation was respectful, professional, and productive.
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That was a pleasant surprise on such a hot topic!
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If you want to read the full draft yourself, here it is:
https://bit.ly/3QMvCMM

Here are the items that stuck out to most:

👉A dedicated M-3 zoning district specifically for data centers. This ensures they are not quietly grouped into general industrial zoning and keeps the public fully aware of any potential changes, as rezoning requires Public Hearings.
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👉Public notification within a half mile. If something is proposed, neighbors will know.
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👉No tax abatements on personal property. This would be written into ordinance, removing the ability to negotiate incentives later.
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👉Tax relief for residents. Revenue generated from a data center would be used on a 1 to 1 basis to reduce taxes for Wright City residents before the city sees any new revenue.
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👉Dual approval requirement. Both Planning & Zoning and the Board of Aldermen must approve.
In this case, Planning & Zoning would not just recommend… they would have the power to stop a project.
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👉On site power requirements. At least 25% of power must be generated on site using renewable sources like wind or solar.
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👉Wastewater restrictions. 100% of wastewater must be trucked off site.
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After much discussion here is what was added to the proposed ordinance:

👉 Contract a third party expert to review these developments. Just like traffic and stormwater studies, this would require independent professionals to evaluate every aspect of the development. The goal is simple… ensure modern, high level environmental standards are met and protect nearby residents from any negative impact.

👉 A defined appeals process. Before anything ever ends up in a courtroom, there would be a clear path for both citizens and developers to challenge decisions. That adds another layer of fairness, accountability, and transparency to the process.
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Some on the dais felt that being too restrictive would send the wrong message to future developers.
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I would have to agree. Yes, this ordinance is strict. Some could say it is too restrictive. That is a fair opinion.
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But what this ordinance does is remove any uncertainty! And, remember, we are creating special zoning for Data Centers (M-3), so this would not affect any other development coming to Wright City.
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This clearly defines every step of the process and limits the ability of any current or future board to negotiate behind closed doors or change direction midstream. If a data center ever does come knocking, the expectations are already set. No surprises. No guessing. No shifting standards, regardless of who's in office.
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There is still work to be done. This ordinance will go through two public hearings and must be voted on by both Planning and Zoning and the Board of Aldermen.
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So, this is far from over!
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Stay engaged.
Ask questions.
Be skeptical.
Read the ordinance for yourself.
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At the end of the day, the future of Wright City should be shaped by the people who live here… not by outside interests. I 100% support this legislation in its current form, and I appreciate the Wright City BOA for taking these necessary steps to move our community forward!

05/02/2026

“ Surrounding surface areas typically increase by an average of 2 degrees Celsius — or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit once AI centers start operating, suggesting that the data center heat island effect “is real and significant, especially in the context of global warming and climate transformation.” Overall, “our results show that the data heat island effect could have a remarkable influence on communities and regional welfare in the future,” researchers said in the study. “

Impressive work MOCO leaders! Your goal to substitute real due diligence with a curated Altoona tour has been a roaring success!!! Unfortunately, it’s our residents who will be left dealing with the consequences of your series of missteps.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration seems eager to plow ahead with development.

04/24/2026

Rest assured, county residents have been told that commissioners, zoning officials, aldermen, and economic development leaders conducted the appropriate health assessments and due diligence.

Imagine spending the rest of your life knowing you consciously put the lives of your community’s residents at risk for financial gain.

Nice to see there is a growing sentiment that these decisions will ultimately face increased scrutiny and accountability.

04/10/2026

Anthropic has cautioned that its new Claude Mythos AI could, if misused, enable a surge in highly sophisticated cyberattacks. The concern is that such systems may rapidly identify and exploit critical vulnerabilities across operating systems, web browsers, and essential infrastructure, including energy grids and healthcare networks, at a scale and speed far beyond human capability.

This capability would be leveraged by nation-state actors such as China, Russia, or Iran, as well as non-state groups, to conduct large-scale cyber operations with significantly greater efficiency.

That said, did the Economic Development Council and the Commissioners carefully evaluate these types of risk scenarios as part of their due diligence process?

Of course not!! The only “due diligence” performed was a curated data center tour to Altoona, Iowa, which is analogous to operations managers of Dachau, Buchenwald, and Auschwitz conducting a tour for Hi**er.

Anthropic has triggered alarm bells by touting the terrifying capabilities of “Claude Mythos”– with executives warning the AI model is so dangerous that it would cause a wave of catastrophic hacks …

04/08/2026

I don’t agree with this, but it’s not surprising when leaders effectively govern by fiat.

A city commission voted last week to allow rezoning for the data center in council member Ron Gibson's district. He has publicly backed the project.