Nearly 100 community members protest data center in Martindale Brightwood
This article first appeared on Mirror Indy here.
An out-of-state developer wants to bring a data center to the old Sherman Drive-In Theater.
Toni Ball has lived in the Martindale Brightwood area for nearly 60 years. She was one of nearly 100 community members gathered at the intersection of 25th Street and Sherman Drive on Oct. 13.
Chanting and stopping traffic, they were there to protest a proposed data center an out-of-state developer wants to build in the neighborhood.
“We don’t need a corporation coming in here telling us what we need to have,” Ball told Mirror Indy. “The data center is not going to benefit our community, it is going to be really against us, raising our bills and causing us to have more inconveniences than we already endure. We do not want the data center here.”
Los Angeles-based developer Metrobloks wants to build a 13-acre data center on a piece of the site of the former Sherman Drive-In Theater, 2505 N. Sherman Dr. The land has been vacant for decades and is a brownfield — meaning the land may have been contaminated or polluted. At a Sept. 23 meeting between the developer and residents, Metrobloks CEO Ernest Popescu said further environmental studies on the site need to be completed.
But Martindale Brightwood residents are experienced in vetting developers who want to come into the neighborhood, said Paula Brooks, environmental justice director for the Hoosier Environmental Council. She is also an adviser to the Protect Martindale Brightwood Coalition, a group community leaders created in opposition to the data center.
The neighborhood has a history of companies coming into the area and leaving pollution behind, Brooks said, “be it lead, be it groundwater pollution, noise pollution, and then leaving the residents with the harmful impacts. And community members are seeing this data center as that same entity that wants to come in and extract what they can from the community and then they’ll be gone.”
City-County Councilor Ron Gibson, who represents the area, told reporters at the Sept. 23 meeting that he has not made a decision to fully support the development.
“I’ve initially given my initial support for the project, but it’s contingent upon neighborhood leaders buying in,” Gibson said at the time.
In an Oct. 11 email sent to Mirror Indy and residents, Gibson attached a document from Metrobloks with the company’s commitments to the community.
The email did not go over well with some residents, whose addresses were visible on Gibson’s email. One resident responded by telling Gibson he was not listening to his constituents.
‘No deals done in the dark’
A second public meeting with community members and Metrobloks was scheduled for Oct. 21 at Frederick Douglass Park. But Brooks said Metrobloks backed out of the meeting, wanting a private meeting with community leaders instead.
“Martindale Brightwood doesn’t operate like that,” Brooks said. “It’s very transparent, there’s a lot of trust between stakeholders and residents. One of the North Stars when we started creating this coalition is that there will be 100% transparency, no deals done in the dark.”
Representatives for Metrobloks did not immediately respond to Mirror Indy’s email request for more information. The project is still in its early phase and the developer has not submitted a rezoning petition to the city.
‘No deals done in the dark’
A second public meeting with community members and Metrobloks was scheduled for Oct. 21 at Frederick Douglass Park. But Brooks said Metrobloks backed out of the meeting, wanting a private meeting with community leaders instead.“Martindale Brightwood doesn’t operate like that,” Brooks said.
“It’s very transparent, there’s a lot of trust between stakeholders and residents. One of the North Stars when we started creating this coalition is that there will be 100% transparency, no deals done in the dark.”
Representatives for Metrobloks did not immediately respond to Mirror Indy’s email request for more information. The project is still in its early phase and the developer has not submitted a rezoning petition to the city.
Image: Protestors demonstrate in opposition to the proposed data center. Credit: Lee Klafczynski for Mirror Indy.