Monterey Park Becomes the First City in California to Ban "All Data Centers Within City Limits"
Monterey Park, a 60,000‑resident city east of Los Angeles, became the first California municipality to permanently ban data center construction. The city council unanimously approved three ordinances that label data centers a public nuisance and prohibit them citywide. The ban follows a months‑long grassroots campaign that halted a proposed 250,000‑square‑foot facility by Australian asset manager HMC StratCap. Voters will decide in a June 2 ballot measure whether to codify the ban permanently.
A Brief History of Techno-Negativity
The blog spotlights Thomas Dekeyser’s new book “Techno‑Negative,” which chronicles centuries of resistance to technology—from ancient Greek machine‑breakers and medieval bans to the Luddite loom riots, anti‑tech communes, and 1980s computer arsonists. Dekeyser argues that techno‑negativity is a recurring political...