LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor, When I was a kid, I thought I had pretty good ears. Well, maybe not to look at. After all, they were kind of big, stuck out a bit, and if I had to honestly describe them, I’d have to say they looked goofy. I wasn’t alone there: the kids in school agreed.
On the other hand, they did what they were supposed to do: they heard things. Loud things. Soft things. Happy things. Sad things. Nice things. Angry things.
I seemed to hear everything around me, even things I shouldn’t, like those whispered conversations between my parents. Not those yucky romantic “sweet nothings” when they called each other “Baby” and “Honey.”
No, it was more like those tense, clipped disagreements, often shot through with words I wasn’t supposed to know – the ones I learned in the school yard – the ones that I was definitely not supposed to hear at home. Those were the talks where “Jimmy” gave way to “James,” and “Evie” was replaced by “Evelyn.”
When I’d hear things get that formal, I knew it was time to skedaddle. Or at least hide under my bed so I could listen without getting caught.
That’s why I was always confused when my mother would accuse me of not listening. That made no sense to me. After all, I heard everything she said. “You may have heard me,” she’d explain, “but you didn’t listen.”
“Yes, I did,” I’d protest. “Then why didn’t you take out the trash cans to the curb when I asked you to?” she challenged me.
I didn’t have a good answer. In fact, I had none at all – and that’s when I started to get it. Hearing and listening are two different things. Yes, I heard her, but it went in one ear and out the other. And the trash didn’t go anywhere.
I thought about that during last week’s San Marcos City Council meeting. More talk about Data Centers. Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk.
I may be exaggerating just a bit, but it seems that Data Centers have been the primary topic of conversation by the City Council since they first got on its radar screen last August – almost a full year ago.
And as long as the Council has been tossing around the Data Center issue, the people of San Marcos have been turning it right back to them – meeting after meeting after meeting – and explaining to Council and to city commissions – sometimes patiently, sometimes politely, sometimes with exasperation, sometimes with impatience and, more and more often, with frustration.
They’ve been pretty clear about where they stand: they don’t want Data Centers in San Marcos. Period. Full stop. End of story.
We all understand the big issues driving much of that opposition: water consumption here in a place where water is scarce. Electricity consumption where generating capacity and transmission infrastructure are lacking. The huge direct and indirect costs of buildup. Environmental degradation.
And there’s the growing awareness of the extent to which Artificial Intelligence – AI – is dependent on Data Centers. This is driving a growing squeamishness about both of them.
We’ve reached a point where there’s an emerging understanding that the promised benefits of AI may not fully outweigh the potential downsides – and there are many.
Some, pointed out by experts, include job displacement and loss, social manipulation, privacy violations, AI ”hallucinations,” data quality issues, financial risk, bias resulting from bad data, and potential manipulation of users by AI systems or by unscrupulous system operators.
At this point in their development, along with almost everyone I know, I’ve made a firm decision against supporting Data Centers – facilities that may be politely described as the Pandora’s Box of the 21st century – operating here in our own back yard. We’re not alone in this. Nationwide, community after community do not want Data Centers.
The City of San Marcos has been in a confusing dance with Data Centers since 2025. Originally, the Planning and Zoning Commission turned the concept down. That meant that the Council had to deliver a supermajority of 6-1 to give the green light to Data Centers. But it could only muster an approval vote of 5-2. At every step of the way, residents of San Marcos objected. Loudly. Vociferously. And in great numbers.
But that was then and this is now. As someone much wiser than me once said, “You can’t keep a bad idea down.” In January, P&Z agreed, revisiting the issue and reversing itself, voting in favor of permitting the development of Data Centers.
The issue was on the agenda of last week’s City Council meeting as part of a larger land-use package. The Council passed amendments that focused on Data Centers’ place in the Land Use Matrix. their use of water and other utilities, noise and setback issues, development criteria, and permitting. Again, the residents of San Marcos objected. Just as loudly, just as vociferously and, again, in great numbers.
Mayor Jane Hughson was in favor of the amendments, explaining that she didn’t want to close the door completely “because there may be technological changes in the future that will make this, I’m not going to say, desirable, but will make it less objectionable.”
I understand her position, but I do wonder why would we want to embrace something that, while “less objectionable” is still objectionable?
I find myself in much closer agreement with City Council member Amanda Rodriguez, who made it very clear that while she initially thought placing Data Centers in the Land Use Matrix’s “Heavy Industrial” category would be sufficient, “That was not what people wanted.” Consequently, she proposed that Data Centers not be allowed in any category of the Land Use Matrix. She was outvoted, despite the clear support she had from virtually all members of the public who spoke at the meeting.
As one speaker said, “This is the fourth time that Data Centers and public comment have been before you. Each time we think we have made progress, that we’ve killed a proposal, or convinced council members – you – to understand or believe that these Centers represent a serious problem and threat to our community, we find ourselves back here, again.”
If my mother were here to speak to the City Council herself, I’m confident she would tell them, “You may hear us, but you’re not listening.”
Sincerely, Jon Leonard San Marcos
