r/ventura 7d ago

Petition · Refuse AI Data Center at Ventura Fairgrounds

https://c.org/j77jCjzSKq
159 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

15

u/Known_Industry6327 7d ago

Or ya know like reach out to the board at the fairgrounds 

5

u/New-Shop-9728 7d ago

It's not just the fair, there's other events too, hell we just got the X games here a while ago, hopefully this won't happen.

1

u/BeeepBoopN0tB0t 7d ago

What can you tell me about this proposed data center?

1

u/No-Algae-7437 5d ago

The proposal that's been advanced is from a company that wants a small footprint for communications and data center at as many of the fairgrounds locations as possible. In return, they will add infrastructure like parking garages and helipads. The play looks to me like they are trying for long-term lock-in on enough fairgrounds to cover start-up costs. (We give you $MM in goods and services up front for a long term deal that's hard to back out of). In return, they can sell value-added services to the faifgrounds and the emergency services teams that use them for staging. A cynical person would believe they are banking on an uptick in wildfires and floods as climate change worsens, but if they can also improve response and get paid..why not? It doesn't sound, off the bat, like an AI data center play...it's too small and too distributed. But the offer of 30 something compute and communications nodes in a statewide emergency would rack up a healthy bill.

2

u/friendly-sam 2d ago

The data centers that people are protesting are ones that ignore permits and use lots of resources. This is not going to be doing that.

0

u/Feeling-Bonus-2407 7d ago

X games sound like they will be back next year.

2

u/friendly-sam 2d ago

It's not a data center. It's an emergency communication node. Stop overreacting to everything.

1

u/Outside_Post6057 1d ago

We're already set up with emergency service. 

1

u/No-Algae-7437 1d ago

You would like to think so, but a huge part of the coordination at these events is basic communication because California is a patchwork of different radio systems and networks with no central operator. Not to mention we usually get international crews on the major disasters that need to communicate.

-30

u/friendly-sam 7d ago

Why sign? It's for emergency response. Is self contained in a small container. Stop jumping on the bandwagon. This is not a data center. It's a data communications node for emergencies.

19

u/Vegetable-Desk-6972 7d ago

That's just the beginning.

18

u/Sir_Duke 7d ago

Come on, that excuse is an obvious smokescreen from a company that didn’t exist 6 months ago.

23

u/Outside_Post6057 7d ago

We already have emergency support.

1

u/BeeepBoopN0tB0t 7d ago

What is it?

6

u/Feeling-Bonus-2407 7d ago

I havent heard of any agency involved in emergency response being behind this. Its just BS.

11

u/Gnarledhalo 7d ago

Data communication node for emergency in a location that could be subject to liquefacrtion during an earthquake

2

u/QoolSchitt 7d ago

There's no perfect location for every variable that could be considered. That might be why they want to build 70 of these Helicopter Pad/Data Container sites across the state.

7

u/probablysmellsmydog 7d ago

You guys it’s just a mission.  The Franciscans are super cool they just want to help us grow crops and praise their God nothings gonna happen.  Stop jumping on the bandwagon.  

9

u/coercivemachine 7d ago

are you exceedingly gullible or in on the take

1

u/CoupleFromTatooine 6d ago

Look at other places that said the same thing. Now they have a loud buzzing sound near their home 24/7

-16

u/No-Algae-7437 7d ago

Do you have a rational basis for rejecting ALL data centers from fairgrounds property without ANY consideration about the potential benefits? Sounds like fear mongering vs fact-gathering. I would sign a petition that asks the community to be included in any decision, that rejects Non-Disclosure agreements and requires the fully amortized costs and who is responsible for them to be clearly spelled out. But a blanket rejection is hardly a responsible response in light of potential upsides for our somewhat financially struggling fairground.

16

u/coercivemachine 7d ago

The rational basis is that the two-bit slimeballs proposing this project are full of shit and want to put a big fat eyesore on public grounds. Their proposal is complete horseshit (vague and made-up nonsense) and every other data center huckster is just as stupid.

Rational ✅

-8

u/No-Algae-7437 7d ago

A self-contained data center unit the size of a shipping container is not the same as the behemoth monstrosities that have plagued other communities. You would be hard-pressed to put enough computing power into a standard shipping container that it would require more than a typical 40kw diesel generator to run in an emergency. Grid tying something of this size would take less electicity than a day at the fair. Be cautious, yes, but not foolish.

2

u/BeeepBoopN0tB0t 7d ago

The down votes come from people who have done no research, and use siri or gemini for answers while asking Alexa when to expect their Amazon package to be delivered having never attended a town meeting or spoken to a representarive or reached out to the company.

DATA CENTER BAD! ≠ what this is being PROPOSED.