(ESCAMBIA COUNTY) --- Pensacola doesn't want data centers. And it's not quiet about it.
Residents are organizing protests, circulating petitions, and marking calendars to show up at the next Escambia County Board of Commissioners meeting in June.
The message is clear: this isn't the kind of growth we asked for, which I state in my report on the FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance (EDA), Escambia County's lead economic development group.
Their mission sounds simple: "building, growing and sustaining the economic potential and prosperity of Northwest Florida."
They promise to achieve the same by bringing in new businesses, helping existing ones expand, training a workforce through the University of West Florida (UWF) and Pensacola State College (PSC), supporting local entrepreneurs, and ensuring our community assets actually serve the people who live here.
I point to exactly how the promises are false, beginning with the fact that data centers don't create real jobs for Pensacola, yet they promote the ability to work and live here with CyberCoast, a group that FloridaWest EDA promotes on its website.
(Photo: FloridaWest EDA website)
A data center is a facility that houses servers. After construction, it runs with a skeleton crew. They don't need engineers from UWF or skilled trades from PSC.
You don't get the kind of hiring that lets a family buy a home and stay in it. People are protesting because they want careers and a place to build their families, not a building with a big power bill that destroys our water supply.
FloridaWest EDA CEO Chris Platé took over in late 2024, with a background in economic development, aerospace, manufacturing, and life sciences.
In April, FloridaWest EDA highlighted, and even shared on the main page of its website, that county investment in economic development had returned 444% in new tax revenue while creating thousands of "high-wage, high-quality" jobs.
That's the bar that Platè has proudly set, as noted in Wednesday's report. Data centers don't clear it. In fact, they go against every piece of FloridaWest's mission.
Another fact: data centers do nothing for the businesses already here with projects that warrant a ribbon-cutting and celebration of additional jobs, so hundreds of families can build a life here.
Our aviation suppliers, defense contractors, and manufacturers aren't waiting on a local data center. They already use the cloud. A server farm doesn't place orders with local machine shops. It doesn't partner with Pensacola tech firms.
It doesn't strengthen NAS Pensacola. It just takes up space, which is why residents are circulating petitions to demand growth that lifts the companies we've already got.
Fact three, data centers don't build the workforce we're training.
FloridaWest EDA claims to work to keep our graduates here. Data centers don't hire them. The work is mostly maintenance and monitoring.
It's not the cyber, engineering, or advanced manufacturing careers we're telling our kids to prepare for. If we give up prime industrial land for this, we're telling our own young people to leave.
Next fact, data centers don't help entrepreneurs.
CO:LAB, FloridaWest's startup hub in Pensacola, is where local founders get office space, mentors, and help launching new companies so they can grow and hire here instead of moving away.
(Photo: CO:LAB website)
You can't build that kind of startup ecosystem around a data center. There are no spinoffs. No return and development work is happening on-site. No local contracts. It's a locked box that imports equipment and exports data.
Our small businesses get nothing. The people organizing want an opportunity for the next generation of Pensacola business owners, not a server warehouse.
(Photo: CO:LAB website)
Lastly, maybe the most important fact: data centers drain the community rather than build it.
Data centers are massive users of power and water, and they do it for a handful of jobs. Even worse, they eat up large sites we need for the industries FloridaWest EDA is actually recruiting: aerospace, life sciences, defense, and advanced manufacturing.
Once that land becomes a data center, it's gone for decades. You don't get a second chance to bring in a plant that employs 300 locals. People are showing up because they don't want to trade our future for a server farm.
Spokesman Chris Platé is reportedly ready to sign off on building in Pensacola. If he does, he owes this county a direct answer: How does a data center get us anywhere close to the 444% return and thousands of high-quality jobs you just celebrated?
Because if it doesn't, this isn't economic development. It's a land deal. And Pensacola is making it clear; we didn't ask for this. That's why there's a protest on June 11th at Garden and Palafox at 5 P.M.
A week later, the people will be at the county commission meeting, June 17th at 4:30 P.M. at 221 Palafox Place, Pensacola, FL 32502, to make their voices heard.
Be there, it matters for every reason I pointed out.
I have listed the contacts below to make it easier for you to protect your family's local resources, especially since they have already proven to be in high demand due to data center usage.
Board of County Commissioners Main Line: (850) 595-4902
District 1 – Steve Stroberger, (850) 595-4910 | district1@myescambia.com
District 2 – Mike Kohler, (850) 595-4920 | district2@myescambia.com
District 3 – Lumon May, (850) 595-4930 | district3@myescambia.com
District 4 – Ashlee Hofberger, (850) 595-4940 district4@myescambia.com
District 5 – Steven Barry, (850) 595-4950 | district5@myescambia.com
0
0
Comments