Get ready, Santa Clara, because you are about to become the “almost was” entertainment capital of the South Bay. We have finally gotten clarity on Related Companies’ long-awaited public district in the city’s Northside, and it will undoubtedly make Santa Clara original.
What will we have that Historic Murphy Avenue, San Jose’s San Pedro Square and Downtown Campbell do not? Why data centers, of course.
“The Center of What’s Possible” is about to take another step toward becoming the center of the data universe. Related’s long-promised entertainment hub filled with retail and office space designed to create a vibrant urban space for Santa Clarans has given way to the multi-level behemoths that have invaded our city – data centers.
Like a modern-day snake oil salesman, Related rolled into town 13 years ago, promising an animated space for Levi’s Stadium patrons and Santa Clara residents to enjoy. It was supposed to be a gathering space. All the company needed from Santa Clara was a promise of an exclusive negotiating contract on city-owned land to make this vision happen.
Don’t worry, Related said, we’ll pay rent soon, we just need a little time to get things going.
Now, more than ten years later, Related has paid the city a fraction of the millions the city would have received had the project been rolled out per the plan. The city has received none of the $15 million+ in sales tax it would have received. Now Related is changing course to perhaps the farthest thing possible from the effervescent community center we were promised.
Why would we want a bustling, vibrant space for the community to gather when we can have the gentle hum of millions of data storage towers?
Is this what we evicted businesses like David’s for? Is this why we shut down the golf course?
For ten years, we have allowed Related to hold the rights to city land and do absolutely nothing with it. For ten years, Related dangled the promise of a community space for office workers, tourists and local families to enjoy and nothing happened.
Related wants you to think this latest turn is in the financial best interest of everyone involved. It’s certainly in the best interest of Related, which now has an inside track on building new data centers in the Bay Area city with the lowest electricity rates. And the company didn’t even have to waste money looking for the land to build it on. We gave it to them for a song.
While this will add property tax money to the city’s coffers, it is also a tipping point for the City of Santa Clara.
It is time that we, as a community, decide where we want to see our city go. Are we open to allowing data centers wherever, no matter what the cost to the community? Do we want to allow a big business like Related to take over coveted city-owned land simply to add data desolation to it? What kind of community do we want to be?
Santa Clarans, it is time for you to speak out. This project will be voted on by the Planning Commission on June 11 and will return to the City Council in July. If you do not want to see your city go in this direction, then make sure the city’s leaders hear you.
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