INDIANAPOLIS — Martindale Brightwood residents showed up at Frederick Douglass Park for the second public meeting about a potential data center in their community on Wednesday.
WRTV was there as more residents asked questions, still seeking transparency and encouraged leaders to reconsider this possible plan.
"Why the Martindale-Brightwood area? They still haven't answered that question either," Immanuel Ivey said.
The second time was not a charm as residents voiced their concerns about Metrobloks. This company wants to bring a data center to the intersection of 25th and Sherman Drive at the site of the former Sherman Drive-in.
"I mean, we understand that that plot of land is blighted. It hasn't been developed for over 30 years, but you know, we want something that's going to benefit our community, not extract from it," Ivey said.
Wednesday's meeting caught the attention of several state lawmakers, who attended to listen.
"We see an influx of data center proposals coming to the state of Indiana because the land is cheap and it's not as expensive as other parts of the country," State Representative Gregory W. Porter said.
"I serve on our Indiana State Senate Utilities Committee, which is where we talk a lot about data production, data centers, and the utilities. That will then hook into them to help power them, how the environmental impact will have an impact on our water supply or things like that," State Senator Andrea Hunley said.
Utility rates remain a top concern for many residents.
"We have a lot of senior citizens that live within the community, and their light bills may be affected," Ivey said.
Just two weeks ago, in an op-ed published in the IndyStar, AES Indiana President Brandi Davis-Handy said data centers don't have anything to do with their recent rate increase request.
"Everybody has a script. And that is their script. I believe that it will take away power, it will increase, but you know, they have the script and they're going to stick to that," Porter said.
At the first public meeting, Councilor Ron Gibson told WRTV, "This potential opportunity does a lot in terms of vacant and abandoned properties in my district," Gibson said.
A remark that residents did not agree with.
"I was at the same meeting, and like I said, I didn't hear any benefits of this center coming into our community. So, unless they provide benefits that are going to provide quality of life for Martindale-Brightwood, I mean that's what we want," Ivey said.
"They want us to pay for the data center. That quote unquote creates jobs, but not a whole lot of jobs, and they're high-level jobs, uh, not necessarily jobs for the community either," Porter said.
This plan is still in the very early stages; no official proposals or rezoning requests have been made.
This Monday, there will be a rally at the site organized by those against the data center.
