City Council - Regular Meeting

If having reached the hour of 5.31 p.m., I am calling the August 11, 2026, Modesto City Council meeting to order and ask the city clerk to call the roll.

Council Member Bavaro. Vice Mayor Williams. Here. Council Member Wright. Here. Council Member Skoutia-Brayton. Here. Council Member Alvarez. Here. Council Member Rickey. Here. And Mayor Zwollin.

Here. Will everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the invocation from Pastor Latricia Beasley Day, Victory and Praise Church Modesto. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, All right apparently pastor day is not here this evening so we will proceed with the meeting Does the city clerk have any announcements I

Yes, Mayor. Written public comments were received and those comments were forwarded to the council. A reminder, public comment is three minutes. For those attending in person, speaker cards can be found at the entrance of the chambers. If you're participating remotely and would like to comment through Zoom or by telephone, please use the raise hand feature or press star nine on your phone when the relevant agenda item is announced. The mayor will call on you when it's your turn to speak. Thank you.

Thank you. Do any of the council members have any conflicts of interest? I do not see any. Thank you. Will the City Attorney please report out on closed session?

Yes, Mayor. Under closed session, the Council considered items related to existing litigation. No reportable action was taken.

Thank you. Next on the agenda is item one, consider accepting the resignation of Thomas Orozco from the Audit Committee. Does Council have any questions of staff? Seeing none, I will open item one up to the public. Are there any members of the public that would like to come forward? If you are participating remotely, please use the raise hand feature now or dial star nine on a telephone to indicate you wish to speak on this item. Seeing no one, I will close public comments on item one.

Any comments from council members?

I serve on the Audit Committee and I would like to publicly thank Thomas for his service. He was a public member of the Audit Committee and served very responsibly and was always on time and prepared and I appreciate his service. I need a motion to the resolution accepting the resignation of Thomas Orozco from the Audit Committee. So moved. Second. Moved by Councilmember Bavaro, seconded by Vice Mayor Williams, will the clerk please call the roll for this item?

Councilmember Bevaro? Aye. Vice Mayor Williams? Aye. Councilmember Wright? Aye. Councilmember Scudia-Braton? Aye. Councilmember Alvarez? Aye. Councilmember Rickey? Aye. And Mayor Zwollin? Aye. Carries unanimously.

Next is item two. Consider accepting the resignation of Gloria Edith Verdon from the Citizens Housing and Community Development Committee. Does council have any questions of staff? Seeing none, I will open item two up to the public. Any members of the public that would like to come forward? Seeing none, anyone online? I do not see any. I will close public comments. Any comments from council members? Council member Scudia Brayton?

I have public comment. I move.

Okay. Excuse me. I've closed public comment for this item, for item two. For item two, yes. Thank you. And I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm at that. Okay. Vice Mayor Williams.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to thank her for her service. Having been on that committee myself, she was a great asset. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Any other comments from council members? Seeing none, I need a motion for a resolution accepting the resignation of Gloria Edith Verdon from the Citizens Housing and Community Development Committee. Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Second. Moved by Council Member Wright.

Second.

Second by Council Member Rickey. And will the clerk please call the roll for this item?

Council Member Pavaro.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Williams. Aye. Council Member Wright. Aye. Council Member Scudia-Brighton. Aye. Council Member Alvarez. Aye. Council Member Rickey. Aye. And Mayor Zwollin. Aye.

Carries unanimously. Next on the agenda is public comment. I have a statement that I will make and then we will proceed. Before we move to public comment, I understand there may be many individuals here and online who have concerns regarding data centers. The issue has received significant attention in the news, and the city has received numerous comments and questions on this topic. As the city has previously stated publicly and to the press, large data centers are not currently in allowed use under the city's zoning code. Any change to the zoning code would require a formal code amendment process which would include consideration by the Planning Commission and ultimately come before the City Council for approval. City staff is not working on a proposed amendment to the zoning code to allow data centers and they are also working on and exploring the need for a moratorium. I want to make sure that everyone understands the City's current position in the existing process before we hear from the public. We always welcome the community's comments and appreciate everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts. Regarding public comment in general, public comment tonight is available both in person and through Zoom. We thank you for joining us. The City Council meetings are a place where everyone is encouraged to share insights, listen and participate in the decision-making process that benefits our community. To ensure a fair and respectful environment, the Mayor is responsible for maintaining order and decorum as outlined in the City Charter and the rules of decorum posted at the entrance of the Chamber. I ask that we are all respectful of all members of the public, presenters, and council members. Anyone who disrupts the meeting may be asked to leave. I appreciate your cooperation as we discuss key issues and make decisions that affect our city. We will now open public comment for items not on the council agenda. You have three minutes to speak and if you are participating remotely, please use the raise hand feature or dial star nine on your phone to indicate you'd like to provide public comment. I will alternate between participants attending in person and those participating remotely. I will begin with the first blue card that I have. And it is Carolyn Newman.

Hello. My name is Carolyn Newman, and I am on the Citizens Transit Sales Tax Commission, and I'm a board member on the Stanislaus County Civil Taxpayer Association. When talking about AI data centers, many folks who are here tonight will say better than I have the time to how profound the polluting effects are on our environment, as well as how they are used to pollute our privacy as regular residents. They are correct. However, I'm here to speak on a different element of concern, how AI data centers affect you, council members and mayors Whalen. Very recently, you passed an aggressive 10-year general plan that relies on attracting myriad industrial businesses to boost the economy and support population growth with jobs and commerce. If you allow a day AI data center, which uses up an extraordinary amount of water and electricity, you would be doing so at the exclusion of other industry for no meaningful revenue growth, tax gain or job growth. The only people who get value from data centers are the companies who own them and the landowner. That's it. If you do decide to consider engaging with an AI data center, there are upfront concerns you will have to navigate. Foremost, too many companies who sold AI data centers to their residents were caught bribing local officials and engaging in political corruption. The new tactic is inappropriate NDAs and circumventing the public process, which is why we're here today. They promise you they will only run turbines at 20%. They will run them at 80%. They promise you they will only run three turbines. They'll run all nine. They will tell you they have found ways to reduce noise and heat and use less water or cycle at safety. They are lying. And they only need you to believe the lie long enough so they can build their building and you have to shoulder the consequences of their lies. For betrayal like this in municipalities all across the country, elected and appointed officials have been fired, recalled, voted out, and sued. I suspect those political careers will never recover. If you still decide to allow an AI data center, I suggest you look at an email I will send you that includes the 43 rules that Plymouth Township in Pennsylvania has implemented. As an emerging technology, you have every right to create new restrictions, particularly for any industry using an entire population's worth of power and water. Furthermore, you have the right to create a moratorium on constructing or operating AI data centers. We have some five-year data and studies, but we do not have 10-year data. Even if you are unmoved by the many, many concerns of your residents that you will hear tonight, I ask that you will consider how you are perceived by us and if allowing an AI data center is the hallmark you want to end your political career on. Thank you.

Next online, Clara. Clara online. I'm here.

Great, we can hear you. Okay, perfect. Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Claire Nosek and I'm a resident of Modesto and zip code 95350. I'm here tonight to urge you to shut down any proposed data center project in Modesto. I ask the Council to follow the lead of our neighbors in Paterson by enacting an immediate moratorium on all new AI data center developments. Health and community resources are deeply political and we cannot talk about this project without looking at the actual social determinants of health in our town. Please do not be swayed by the potential short term gain during the building of these large centers and instead consider who will bear the burden of the skyrocketing utility bills grid instability, and long-term environmental costs once the construction dust settles and the tech companies move on to their next build. Entertaining any AI data center in Modesto is a threat to public health, an economic issue for many reasons, but tonight I will present three. Number one, our food system. The sheer water depletion and electromagnetic interference directly threaten our local agriculture, the bee populations, cattle farms, and crops. Number two, the chronic environmental stress these facilities run. they run industrial cooling fans 24 7 and that constant low frequency drone isn't just annoying it also causes real sleep disruption chronic stress and elevated blood pressure for nearby families number three the massive diesel backup generators will emit toxic particulate matter it is a privilege to ignore air quality but for our kids the seniors and our neighbors with asthma we they don't have that luxury. In Modesto and Stanislaus County, chronic lower respiratory diseases are already a leading cause of death. And I ask you all to do what you can to avoid adding to that burden. As your decision today will shape Modesto for generations to come, and as our elected leaders, it is your job to protect this community, not just corporate interests. And the voters in this district will be watching this decision very closely, and we will absolutely hold you accountable at the ballot box. So please stand with your constituents and let's put a moratorium on any future data centers in this city as well as Stanislaus County. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next is Jacqueline Rivas Gibson. Welcome.

You said Jacqueline Rivas Gibson, right?

Yes. My name is Jacqueline, and I have lived in Modesto for 30 years. I'm not going to repeat statistics at you guys. You know that data centers are bad for communities, for utility prices, and for environments. You've seen the same testimonials that we've all seen. We, the people who elected you, and pay your $30,000 paycheck every year to speak for us, we are telling you that we don't want this. We do not want data centers in our community. Mayors Wallen, thank you for reassuring us that there is currently no allowance in our town. We appreciate your back and forth with us, but frankly, it's not enough. We the people you represent want our city municipal code to specifically prohibit data centers. So I won't lecture you, but I will ask you a very specific question and I will ask it on public record. City council member, Eric Alvarez. Sir, will you support a moratorium on data centers being built in Modesto? Thank you. City council member, Nick Bavaro. Will you commit to putting a moratorium on data centers being built in Modesto?

At this point, I'm going to ask for guidance from our city attorney, because this is not on tonight's agenda. I don't think we can be voting publicly on something that the entire universe is not about. It's not quite voting.

And I checked before I came up here, and it did allow for back and forth. OK, sure.

Thank you very much, Mr. Sanchez. If we respond, if each one of us responds, is there any problem with that? No, we should respond once the item, if the item is on the agenda, that's when we should respond.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you very much. City council member and vice mayor, Jeremiah Williams, will you commit to a moratorium on data centers being built in Modesto?

Joe, are we able to respond yes or no?

The item is not on the agenda. The response, obviously, we would not be voting on any item of support because it's not on the agenda. So discussion, we can't have discussion. This is simply a neighbor of yours asking a very specific question, sir.

You can always call me, and then I can give you that answer.

Thank you. Understood.

NEIGHBORS, THESE FIRST THREE CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE CURRENTLY GOING TO BE UP FOR ELECTION IN NOVEMBER OF THIS YEAR. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT. MAYOR SUSE WALLEN, WILL YOU COMMIT TO A MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTERS BEING BUILT IN MODESTO? NO COMMENT. UNDERSTOOD. NEIGHBORS, UP FOR ELECTION IN 2028. PLEASE BE AWARE. We are committed to holding our leaders responsible to the decisions they make for us. Please know, our eyes are on you. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next on line, we have Ramon Rodriguez on line.

Good evening, council members, Mayor. Everyone can hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

The data centers, for everyone, for the sake of the community, you have to be really careful in dealing because these companies, these AI companies, they're coming with various tricks, dirty tricks and schemes to build the data centers. And I remember years and years ago with a teleplan down Cross Landing Road in Modesto, Having a data center, that's going to make the title of the plan look like amateur hour. But it's going to be devastating for communities, especially marginalized communities. And for all the talk of annexing lands and everything, especially wood colony, We should not have a data center at all, especially AI because of testimonies, of data, of proof what's going on. An AI data center in Modesto is going to be devastating for everyone. And it's not going to benefit for the community. It's going to benefit the corporation. It's going to benefit the billionaires, the tech bros. And it's going to destroy our environment, our livelihoods, and it's going to destroy the Central Valley by drying up all the water, ruining the environment, and also ruining our economy because they're going to take all the water Instead of using the water to grow crops and producing food, it's gonna use the power, something that's not gonna benefit for society. So you have to stand up for the community and tell the AI data center people, no. And also do it seriously because if you accept them, It's not gonna look good for you. It's happening everywhere in the country. And this is a chance to stand up and say no to data centers, especially AI, because having data centers in Modesto, it's gonna affect the entire Central Valley, especially when we're living in a time with climate change. with all the terminals happening, it's not going to look good. Plus, we're getting close to the bubble is going to be burst on AI. It's going to make the tech bubble look like amateur hour. So for the sake of the community and the sake of Central Valley and everywhere in California, consider a monitorium on data centers just like what Patterson did and all over California because we the people say no to AI data center. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next is Sandra. There you go. Please. I'm sorry, I wasn't sure how to pronounce your last name. Okay, great. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I'm going to make it kind of short here. I'm really highly suggesting that the council listen

Yes, can you please speak into the microphone?

There we go. Thank you. Highly suggesting that you listen to what we all want here. We don't want the data centers. We don't... We... I know that our code bans it, but this has been, you know, maybe a little consideration since 2025, and we just kind of find out about these things now, and it's not right. And I don't think that North Point developers are pretty much in it for themselves. Our community is going to be watching, really, all of you. to see how many stand behind us who stand behind Modesto and don't want this. This is a fact. Power grid stream, water use, no job growth, because if you think it's going to give jobs, it's not. You don't need many people to run a computer, okay? And it's just, It's just not tolerable. We have enough going on here in our city. We have enough. And I think it's better to stick with the issues that are more important, and the data center is not. And that's all I wanted to say. Thank you. Thank you.

Next online is Elijah Elder Rosen. Elijah, online.

This is Elijah Elderozen. Thank you for taking my comment, Mayor and council members. You're welcome. You're welcome. I am here to join the overwhelming chorus of voices that I hear on a daily basis asking for a moratorium on AI data centers. we can look at the record of what's gone on around the country and see the sideways channels these companies can use to circumnavigate zoning laws, to get AI data centers built in places where people did not want them. I am a local educator here. I'm an environmental scientist and I work with children. I'm the sustainability coordinator at the school that I work at. And we talk about this with the kids all the time. I was just asking the kids about this today. How would they feel about an AI data center? And all the eighth graders I was talking to today realized that that will ruin their future. We'll be looking at a environmental catastrophe a financial catastrophe and basically selling out the future of my students and our children locally for short-term profit for corporations we don't want it we won't accept it if people are not willing to listen to us we will get organized and vote you out of office we are extremely upset at the idea that it could even be a possibility North Point is not a good corporation. The time I spent reading about them, they seem like one of the most evil entities that could possibly exist. We don't want them lobbying you to change our zoning laws. We don't want them getting in any way they possibly can. So please include language that makes sure that we do not get an ai data center that ruins our community modesto is a beautiful and thriving place that has so much potential i would like to see us focus on the circular bio economy that's already starting to flourish there's been a 50 million dollar investment in the circular bio economy with an organization called beam circular the last couple years And they've been talking to us educators and telling us about how we can have so many jobs. It's gonna be hundreds of millions of dollars in industry. Well, guess what? If we don't have the water and resources for those corporations to come in here and give us jobs and give our kids a future at any education level, then it's not gonna happen for us. We're gonna be another crappy Dust Bowl town on the 99. uh could you imagine if our air was any worse could you imagine if our water was any worse i have so many students with chronic health problems from the terrible air in modesto already if we degrade our environment any further we'll have nothing left so thank you so much for listening and i appreciate you guys thank you next is olga castaneda olga yes welcome

Good evening, mayor and honorable council members. I'm here also to join my fellow citizens in urging you to enact a moratorium on data center construction in Modesto and let's be good ancestors to our for me, grandchildren. And thank you. You're welcome.

Next online is Kim online.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

I am also a resident of the city of Modesto. My name is Kim Wright. I am a social worker here who works with homeless vets, and I also do private practice in the city. I remember when I first moved to the city that people said, oh, you're going to have allergies, oh, this and that. And as I've lived here over time, they were right. I'm more concerned not just about allergies, but the other serious conditions that could be contributed to AI centers. From the noise pollution to the things that have already been said, the consistency of our water, the quality of our water, the quality of our air, our quality of life, the whole nine. And I stand in solidarity with my fellow residents that we are taking notice of how people are voting. We are taking notice of how people were unwilling to even verbalize a commitment to a moratorium. I think it should be more than a moratorium. It should be a flat-out ban on building data centers here, period, in the city or anywhere in our county. And so if we do have to organize, if we do need to revote, or if we need to run for office ourselves, please do not sell out the soul of our city, not just the profit for the corporations, but for any personal profit or gain. So I am encouraging everyone that I know, pay attention to these meetings, get involved in these meetings, know what is going on, know what your politicians are doing, use your voice. And I would have been there in person had I not had a conflict of interest of somewhere else that is equally important. But we are taking notice, and we do want and expect our voices to be heard. And if we are ignored, we're not going to go away. Thank you for listening. You're welcome.

Next, Alma Torres. Alma, welcome.

Hello, my name is Alma Torres. I am a resident of Patterson here in solidarity with you guys because my family lives here in Modesto. I'm here to let you know we have already used up the majority of natural resources that the planet can regenerate this year. Not talking about exactly here in our region just yet, But AI data centers could pollute and waste what's left, especially when we have finite resources. The water you need for your livestock, your agriculture, all of that could be gone. Your property values in time will tank too because nobody can tolerate the sound issues, data heat islands or temperature spikes, bad drinking water quality, bad air quality. My friend lives in Arizona, her air quality, she lives surrounded by data air centers. It was a very bad 500 index. I can't remember exactly, but I'll get to that later. We have We have information about these heat islands that can be felt up to six miles away, up to 16 degrees hotter. We have not quantified the cost of living or the cost of running data centers when it comes to our communities. A lot of people commute and fuel is costly. We're going to be competing with these data centers in the long run because the Hormuz is closed. The blockades and standoffs have created global economic impacts, shortages in resources and fuel, something to consider as the cost of living, those costs go up. We're gonna be in deep trouble. We are looking at grid strain. Using large amounts of fossil fuels, we face fuel supply depletion and massive need for electric. In one case, 50,000 residents of Lake Tahoe will lose their power May of 2027 to power data centers in Nevada. How is the grid holding up, Modesto? Good, I hope. I'm sorry. I'm trying to like not run out of time. A single large data center can require 20 to 100 megawatts of continuous power for IT equipment, for cooling and infrastructure. That same amount of energy or power, it could go to 80,000 or 100,000 homes here in Modesto. Modesto has an estimated city population of 219,652 people, while the broader Modesto metropolitan statistic area is the Stan County, The homes come up to roughly 557,000 residents. If push comes to shove, half the city could go dark without power if we allow data centers to come in. Who do we choose to lose power? Somebody is gonna have to lose if we don't demand the developers to build and pay for a 24 hour 24-hour seven-day grid addition to provide their own power that runs on clean energy. We must demand independent environmental impact studies. There is no middle ground. If they don't, they will hook up to the existing grid on our power, our water utilities. Everything will increase our costs. Sorry. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next online, Hartcourt. Online, Hartcourt.

Yes, hello. Hello, we can hear you. Hello, Minnesota City Council. I'm a hardcore Democrat. I've been a hardcore Democrat my whole life, and I always will be. For that reason, I want to thank the city of Modesto, led by a Democratic mayor, with council members Chris Rickey and Eric Alvarez as Democrats for defending its ordinance against masking at protests. I also want to thank the city for putting up tons of flock cameras up around town. With that ordinance, with that technology, and the Democratic mayor, we can finally easily track and document all the conservatives and Republicans in Modesto when they march at an anti-choice rally or when they protest against the LGBTQ community. Once we finally have a Democrat in the White House again, I have faith that they will criminalize all the worst things that conservatives believe in. And having all that data on them from our flock cameras makes it really easy for us to know who to arrest when it comes for the time for their beliefs to be considered a crime. for that reason i also hope we get a new data center built as close as possible where we can safely keep all this data on these races and fascists secure for future use so thank you mayor thank you city of modesto thank you mpd all right um next in in person is uh carla

Thank you.

Good evening, fellow neighbors. I just wanted to go ahead and bring attention to the momentum that everyone is calling for. They're all calling for a moratorium, and based off the news organization, The Focus Group, we've had city council members say they would support a one-year moratorium or a two-year moratorium, but I would really call on everyone to pressure your city council for an infinite ban, okay, until there's legislation to change it, okay? I believe one of our city council members said that we shouldn't be guiding our decisions around AI based on myths or on tensions or on fears, but everyone here has been expressing real actual threats that will impact the livelihoods of our many generations of future children here. I grew up here in Modesto, I'm 29, and I remember every single year when I was in elementary school, we're in a drought. it's time for us to water our lawns only at night or you're gonna get fined. The fact that we barely got out of a drought and people are still considering a data center or not considering supporting a moratorium on a data center is insane, which is why I ask the community to please continue to pressure the city council because even, you're gonna see that throughout this whole pressure, they will not support you. An example is the mask ordinance, okay? The mask ordinance was a issue that A lot of community members brought to the attention of the city council. It got brought to the attention of the community police review board. And yet, throughout Conlin's meetings that we came here and constantly and constantly asked city council members to please overturn it, get rid of it, they never did. So what did we do? We took it to the legal system. And thanks to the legal system, thanks to an injunction against the mask ordinance, NPD can no longer harass you for protesting with a mask on, okay? So that was not thanks to the city council. That was not thanks to the pressure of the many city members that came here asking them to do so, and they still appealed it, by the way. The city council appealed it, okay? So therefore, I'm asking you guys, all of you guys, don't support a moratorium that's one year or two year to just do pressing issues or it's based off fears. Support a moratorium indefinitely. We cannot afford a data center and thanks to everyone who did the research, you guys are definitely more prepared than I am, but I definitely do wanna inform you guys that yes, no matter how much you come and you pressure the city council, unless you take legal action or political action as the young lady before, thanks for doing that by the way, did, they're not gonna listen to you. Thank you.

Next, online. Excuse me, online. There's not a name, but it's Samsung. Are you there?

Yes, I'm here.

OK, we can hear you. We can hear you now. Hello? Yes, we can hear you.

Hi, my name is Angela Jensen. OK, is my minute started? Oh, they started. My name is Angela Jensen. I have been a resident of Modesto, California my entire life. I am 40 years old. I have no patience for religion and honestly most of this crap. But there is a quote that I would really like to say because it's very relevant right now. And that you reap what you sow. And what has been sowed is a massive amount of distrust between the data centers and these flock cameras. They're ridiculous. You guys have already shown, not you guys, but the city's already shown that our technologies, as far as the flock cameras or whatever you want to call them, are fallible. In March, there was a mass data breach. And we're just tired of it. We don't need to be surveyed. We're not children. We're a community. And as far as the data centers, like everybody else is telling you, they're a massive waste on our resources. If you bring that in, MIT will have to build an entirely new grid. And who's going to fit that bill? We will. And who's going to pay for it? We will. It makes no sense to tell us. to water our plants every other day, to conserve energy, to conserve water, and for you to bring in these massive machines that nobody wants, that's going to suck up our power, especially in a time when you can see that the entire world is on fire. How long until it's us? And I'm gonna leave it there. The only thing that I want to say is Chris Rickey I really appreciate the attention that you've been bringing to the animal services agency All right, you guys have a good one.

Thank you. Yes is Anthony drop Nick Anthony

Good evening, all. My name is Anthony Drobnik, and I'm a proud public school teacher. Today is the first day of school for many children, and childhood really is a special time. The simplicity, the innocence, it's beautiful. Think back on some of your favorite childhood memories. Back when the word ordinance didn't mean anything to you, back when flock was just something birds did, and back when ice was just that thing you put in your apple juice on a hot day. The issues facing Modesto tonight may appear complicated, but I really believe that young children would have no problem seeing the simple truths of the matter that I'll be speaking on tonight. And to help reach the inner child in all of us, I think it's time for a story. My childhood favorite was Dr. Seuss. In a city of water, contentment, and health, where neighborly love is its own form of wealth, a stranger came strolling for the town in a very fine suit and a very big crown. He wasn't from here. He wasn't from there. His name was Mr. Greed, and he didn't play fair. Greed looked at the valley and licked his lips wet. He wetted his lips as wet as they'd get. He craved dollars and deals and power galore. He cheered as he dreamed. More, more, and more. First came all the cameras watching the street. Safety, cried Greed. Surveillance is neat. But folks called out, who owns the pictures they keep? Who watches the watchers? How long do they sleep? Next came agents with power of the state. Mr. Greed said, excellent, make this place great. But the valley replied, you don't belong here. You can't take my neighbor. Those are people you're hurting so much more than their labor. Then data centers rose as the zones got all redesigned. AI shouted, greed, embrace the future or get left behind. But farmers asked, who decides who drinks up the water? Will there be enough left to drink for my son or my daughter? Mr. Greed feared the people together, taking a stand. He'd keep people from protesting. Masks were now banned. But the people did say, you can't do that. We have the right. This is our valley. So get lost. Scram, take flight. Mr. Greed shook his head. You people complain. I'm bringing you progress. I'm bringing you gain. But the valley stood firm and answered instead. Your gain isn't progress if we're all left for dead. You don't live here. You don't farm this ground. You don't get to decide the fate of our town. So when Mr. Greed comes with another grand scheme, Don't simply applaud him, stand strong as a team. Show up, speak out, demand a real say. Protect our valley and send greed away. Thank you.

Next online is the initials LC.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Okay, good evening City Council. My name is Laura Connor and I am a concerned community member who is here to echo those who have commented before me and voiced my opposition to the development of data centers of any kind in our city, in addition to expressing my concerns about the rise of surveillance locally. I do want to acknowledge the city statement which says that data centers are not in allowed land use under Modesto's municipal code. However, the level of ongoing underhanded activity from North Point development that has been reported by our local journalists is deeply concerning to me and many other residents, especially considering North Point's Let's be clear, data centers are a waste of our local resources. Whether they create jobs is highly debatable, but what is undeniable is how they can harm our environment, hike up the cost of our utility bills, and how some of them have even been deployed to violate the constitutional rights of civilians by tracking us in our personal data for malicious purposes. I also want to uplift a previous speaker's comment about the breach of data that occurred in which one of MPD's automated license plate reader cameras shared data with federal agencies, including Customs and Border Patrol. To this day, I am unaware of how MPD has been held accountable for sharing local data with immigration enforcement. The breach happening at all is unacceptable, especially when we have had our immigrant neighbors snatched up by ICE, including at the courthouse most recently. These automated license plate readers do not promote public safety, they promote the violation of our trust and privacy. In closing, I want to emphasize that the residents of Modesto don't need thousands of dollars poured into data centers automated license plate readers or the over policing of marginalized groups or the defense of a discriminatory mask ordinance. We need safety and stability in the form of more affordable housing, more emergency housing, rental assistance, Universal basic income and stronger accountability measures to ensure that our police department is not targeting nor complicit in the targeting of immigrants, people of color, poor people, and homeless people. As our elected officials, what you choose or don't choose to invest taxpayer dollars into speaks volumes about your regard for your constituents. I ask that you stand on the right side of history and on the side of the people, ban the building of any data centers in our city, allocate funding to the community police review board, and spend more of your time, energy, leadership, and resources on life-affirming solutions to our problems, not one centered on extracting from us, targeting us, or locking us up under the guise of public safety. Thank you. You're welcome.

Next is Sydney Waters.

Hello. As I'm sure you're aware, the idea of a data center building here is one the community doesn't like. We have showed up loud and proud to make sure the council knows that. Many possible issues come with building something like this in a community like ours. With power involved, this data center could occupy 20 acres of space. Data centers of this size are reported to use power equivalent to 25,000 to 50,000 homes. We already have more than one neighborhood being built in the Modesto area. Can our infrastructure handle such a large burden as is? Or would the residents be faced with bill hikes because of limited resources and power companies need to build to handle the load? As far as water is concerned, I get a schedule from the city every year telling me what days and times I can water my lawn or wash my car facing a possible notice and fine. University of Georgia College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences found a 20-acre data center can use anywhere from 300,000 to 5 million gallons of water per day. Would they be put on similar restrictions? Unfair for residents to shoulder the only responsibility for that environmental burden when something like that could be built in our area. We're a farming community at our core. Almonds and other nuts, fruits and vegetables, and our dairy farms are a huge part of not only Modesto, but the Central Valley as a whole. A drought prone, farming heavy, environmentally diverse area like ours does not need or want and can't handle the type of multi-resource drain and environmental changes something like a data center would bring to our community. District 2 councilman quoted by the Modesto Focus saying, with uncertainty comes fear, hesitation, and skepticism. The city has a responsibility to do research on realities, not myths or speculation. We are not uncertain. We are not treating this like a boogeyman. We are seeing and hearing the negative effects and realities from places this has already happened. And we, the community this council serves, say no. The research is abundant and readily available. The community has already done it. I'd like to acknowledge our District 3 Councilman's willingness to hear this community's response and take it into consideration. Quoted saying on KCRA 3, I'm concerned about their electric usage and the impact on rates that it would have for residents in Modesto. And posting on his Instagram five days ago that he will continue declining meetings intended to lobby for them, data centers. I urge the entire council to also listen to the community. Recently we also I believe had a local high school take part in an MPD lowrider event. A local high school or a local organization actually created an entire MPD themed lowrider just to recently have a private on private property lowrider event shut down by the MPD citing unclear ordinances in the process. I don't feel the need to echo much more information that people have provided regarding flock cameras. The data breach has already been mentioned multiple times. I thank you for your time and please continue to take all of this into consideration. We are listening. I grew up on the outskirts of District 2, currently live in District 3 and what both councilmen have to say is very important to me and I acknowledge and appreciate anyone who's been willing to make public comment.

Thank you. Next on line is Jessica Quintero. Jessica? Hello. Hi there.

I had a question, because I came in a couple of minutes, I think, after you guys started. And you were talking about the data centers. And my question is, did I hear correctly that you said you guys currently are not entertaining anybody moving forward for the data centers, but then said that you were making or you're looking into making amendments for the city ordinances to possibly include data centers? Is that correct or did I hear that wrong?

I can, if you'll stop it since you did not hear my comment, I can repeat the comment that I made. Yes. So before we move to public comment, I understand there may be many individuals here and online who have concerns regarding data centers. This issue has received significant attention in the news and the city has received numerous comments and questions on this topic. As the city has previously stated publicly and to the press, large data centers are not currently in allowed use under the city's zoning code. Any change to the zoning code would require a formal code amendment process, which would include consideration by the planning commission and ultimately come before the city council for approval. City staff is not working on a proposed amendment to the zoning code to allow data centers. They're exploring.

Sorry, in that part, are you now working or not working?

City staff is not working, I'll just read it as I say it. City staff is not working on a proposed amendment to the zoning code to allow data centers. They are also exploring the need for a moratorium. I want to make sure that everyone understands the city's current position and the existing process before we hear from the public. We always welcome the community's comments and appreciate everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts. So proceed.

Thank you. You're welcome. So, from what I just heard, you're not working towards an amendment, correct?

I just stated it.

Okay. Sorry, it's just a little hard to hear on my end. I'm on Zoom and, you know. Anywho, I just wanted to... I don't need to give you the same statistics that my neighbors and family and friends whom are there have already stated. We don't want any data centers here. We don't want the flock cameras here. In addition to that, at the end of the day we already are striving so hard to survive as a community in modesto with all the influx from all the people that have come from the bay area from other places like original modesto modestins and the new people that have came here are already struggling hard for affordable housing and things like that even just our gas prices electricity everything and then just to add this load on to us is would be too much for us in our community so please know that you know if you want to hear us now that sounds great to us and we would love that you didn't entertain any data centers or any further flock cameras but if you decide not to then we will organize and we will use our vote to get the people that have the same similar views as us in office in the positions that um are going to make the moves in the rest so that we would like so we're going to just pick representatives that actually represent us and that's really all i have to say thank you so much for your time you're welcome

Next, I believe, is Kinney.

Hello, my name is Kenny Pernette. I work for the Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram recall team. I work for corporate. I work for Mopar. My job is specifically to locate Mopar vehicles and get the urgent safety recall out of the vehicle as soon as possible. I go down all the way down to Sacramento, all the way up to Sacramento, all the way down to Fresno. I've seen the drought myself. I've spoke to farmers, people that have orchards. And they tell me from firsthand that they don't have enough water. These data centers don't need water. There's a guy in Idaho just spoke about these data centers that don't need, not even a gallon of water, that they use cooling coils to cool down these data centers. And they don't need to be that massive, all right? So especially Flock right now, and they're not even using Flock, they're using Axon cameras, the same cameras that the MPDs have on their chests. Now they're not reading license plate, they're doing face recognitions. And especially in Wisconsin, they're tracking their ex-girlfriends and threatening women. What are we doing here? It's going to be inevitable, especially over here in MPD. That's another can of worms I don't want to open. Another can of worms I don't want to open. And I've been here for a while now. I was with the music scene with Chris Rickey, but playing with Josh Rosenblum and everything, and especially some of those people over there didn't even like you, Chris. And I didn't even like you either, man. You shoulder checked me, and you started screaming about if I knew who you were. I still don't know who you are, bro. What are we doing here, you guys? This is a small community. Everyone's putting all their chips in. Everyone here. And you guys are just, what, this is a possibility? Oh, we're not even sure yet? Like, are you serious? If we need to vote to get you guys out, we will do so. We will do so. And I'm talking to you, Ricky, also too, man. All right, so that's enough of my time here.

Thank you. Next. Next online is L. Hello, are you there online? I just see the initial L. All right. At this time, I'll go to the next in-person speaker, and then we will come back to the person online. The next in-person is Bill Walker. Bill.

Thank you, Your Honor, and council members.

You're welcome. I'm Bill Walker. My and my wife, Charlene Friedman Walker, live in District 3, and we are here to say an emphatic no to a data center in Modesto, whether it's the site that North Point is eyeing or any other. I'm retired from a career as an environmental policy analyst, Everything I know about toxic chemicals, water and energy issues raises red flags about the scores of data centers being built nationwide. The evidence is abundant and well documented and I don't need to repeat it. But one thing that has not yet been pointed out is that these systems that run these data centers use the notorious forever chemicals that once you're in your body, they stay in you for a lifetime. Modesto focus and they of course also use huge amounts of energy. The focus investigation found that even a so-called small data center would use enough energy for 25 to 50,000 homes. But there's another issue here. Developers are racing to build these monstrosities behind our backs. In Gilroy, Amazon is completing a 400,000 square foot data center that was green lighted without a single city council vote. We appreciate that here some of the council members have made us aware of North Point's lobbying. But ask yourself, if big tech goes to such lengths to keep these projects secret, what is it that they don't want us to know? Data centers are built to power AI applications that go far beyond today's chat GPT, uses that will further divide our society into haves and have-nots. The New York Times reports that the tech lords waging the AI arms race, believe they have only a few years to get rich before the loss of jobs to AI creates a permanent underclass. By trying to put a data center here that will employ very few people but only create profits for Silicon Valley, they clearly see us as part of the underclass. We may not be able to stop what's coming, but we don't have to help it along. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next on line, we have Sam.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Okay. I am just going to say a brief unprepared statement. I personally do not feel trust in Modesto's city council. the whole thing with the mask ordinance happened, play out last year. Several people came out to comment and expressed their discontent with Modesto's mask ordinance. The ACLU threatened to sue the city of Modesto And they're doing it now, and they've already received a preliminary injunction, which is not a good sign for the beginning of Modesto's defense. Not the be all end all, but it's not a very good sign. And it just reeks of That you all don't represent the people. You all are not establishing trust in the people. And with this AI data center coming up and you all kind of giving us wishy-washy language of, oh, there's no legal way for it to happen right now. But there's also two data centers already in Modesto right now. And you're just not instilling confidence in us. We don't trust you. to not put up a data center. And I think that says a lot. Even if there's no plans to not put up a data center, we do not trust you all to defend us right now. And we need to see that. We need to see you all defend us in this moment. Thank you, you have my time.

You're welcome. Next in person is Wendy Smith.

Hi, I am Wendy. Thank you for listening to me for a few minutes. I don't have anything prepared exactly, but I appreciate the information my fellow citizens have given you. I work real hard every day. So do a lot of other people who aren't here. I'm representing them because we work and get home and we're tired. So I really had better things to do tonight, but it actually became important for me to be here tonight because I was disturbed by the information you dropped on social media uh saying that you know people were calling you bothering you um people were um you know you you gave us the spiel that you've given us here which is you know the code doesn't currently allow it you understand that's not too terribly relevant because it can be changed um so i'm here to say for those of us good people that are working hard, I encourage you in the positions that you've taken, the titles that are in front of me, that you work hard for us, that you put your back into representing us. We are here clearly saying we don't want data centers. So I'm here to say, put your back into it Don't be passive. Stand up. Speak loud. Speak broadly. Put into the public what position you are going to take. Put into the public social media, news is here, TV may come ask you for something, please say you will not allow data centers to be here. Please take a position, please make that clear. I encourage you to use your role to do for us what we can't do as individuals to represent what we want because that is your job. I'm encouraging you to be strong, to be loud, take a position, make it difficult for anybody who has the idea they're gonna be here. Make that your PR statement you put out there. Make that what you have to say. Make it clear that you're gonna make it difficult for anybody who thought they were gonna come here. You're gonna oppose it legally, you're gonna oppose it with the code, you're gonna make it difficult, you're gonna make it take a long time, you're gonna make it cost a lot of money, whatever it takes. What I want is for you to speak for us and say for us We don't want data centers here and you're gonna do everything in your power to make sure it doesn't happen. I encourage you to do that as a citizen, as a member of this community, representing the other people who aren't here tonight because they're at work working hard. Please work hard for us.

Thank you. Next I see Lee.

Hello, hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. All right. I am also with the swath of people voicing their concerns in regards to these data centers being built. Now, I also, I cannot speak for your intention. I can only speak for what evidence we have to go off of. And I can agree with many of the other community members that you are not building any confidence whatsoever, especially with how you handled the mask ordinance, how you handled the brutal, brutal assault, attempted murder of Carlos Hernandez, and the fact that you haven't launched a single investigation or demanded more of NPD. And even in your police review board, not doing enough to really instill any trust that you're going to defend community members against this injustice against this corruption however i would like to give you the opportunity to clarify and ask this question i hope not in vain what are you planning to do to honor these requests made by your community members are you guys already planning to make another meeting to hear more about our request Are you going to make a form that we as citizens can fill out so that you can quantify the amount of people who are against this? What are your guys' plans in order to honor these requests against, you know, beyond a moratorium of AI data centers? Because like you said, the key word in your release statement is currently. There is no code allowing for the building of AI data centers. But we also know that these, like North Point, they're very, very corrupt. And they'll do all these shady backhand deals. And who knows how much they've promised you'll get if you do side with them. But not really much you're going to make if you get voted out. So there you go. Please answer my question if at all possible.

Thank you. Is that the end of your comments? Yes, it will be for now. Okay. All right. Thank you. Next in person is Beverly Sullivan.

Answer the question.

Beverly Sullivan.

Good evening. This is my first time at a meeting, and I understand everybody's concern, because it's my concern, and I'm glad that my neighbors all came out in full force against the data centers. I also wanted to address the flock lights also. That is an issue in our community, Here in Modesto, I just basically wanted to have a nice community, be safe in my community, not have to worry about water every other day, have to worry about my PG&E bill being too high. I cut back as much as I could. I can't cut back anymore. These data centers, I understand, is not healthy for our community, and I want a healthy community. I want to be able to have my grandkids here, be able to live and peace and be able to have, be happy. And I'm all, every time I turn around, there's always something going on. I can't rely on my politicians or my community leaders to take care of our community to make sure that we have everything taken care of. Modesto do a lot. They clean our streets for us. They pick up our trash. I do appreciate that because I have been to other cities where they no longer have streets sweeping anymore. And basically, I just want you guys to understand You need to take care of the community. That's why we elected you, is to take care of our environment. Make sure that we have good running water, electricity. Don't let these corporate companies come in and take over and just run us out, overprice us. We can't afford that anymore. It's not like it was in the 60s and the 70s. Everything is more expensive and you get less. We can't even go shopping. Everything has to be done online. And you can't even just go and pick out certain things. You can't even go to a fabric store anymore. They're closing that down. It's just getting to the point where we have to shop for everything online, and it's just getting unbearable, especially for senior citizens. A lot of us, we can't just go out and do everything on the computer. We need to touch these. We can't just change. These data centers are changing everything for us. And also, I want to address in my neighborhood, because I want it on record, I have roundabouts. We need some cross lights on our roundabout. It's too dark. Kids come home from school. Cars are going really fast around the roundabouts. they're gonna end up hitting somebody. So I wanna, I don't know who I need to go to, but I need to address having street lights for crossing in our roundabout in my neighborhood.

Thank you. All right, excuse me. Alison will connect with you. Thank you. Online, I do not see another person online. Okay. In person, Susie.

I hate doing this. Thank you for listening to me. You're welcome. I was reading articles and doing a lot of research for my comments tonight. But I'm still in post sepsis brain fog so I'm going to speak from the heart. I came several times to speak out against the mask ordinance. Because it's dangerous for people who speak out against our current federal regime. And I was worried about us going farther and farther into a surveillance state. So I was worried about the federal government. But look what's happening in Modesto. So we have cameras everywhere now. We went from 30 to 100 very quickly. Some of them might be basic surveillance and license plate readers which are bad enough, but my understanding is that for some of the cameras, very quickly buying the right software, they become facial recognition cameras. And we know that that technology is notorious for errors, especially recognizing faces of people of color. So what I ask is that you carefully look at the MPD budget and don't allow any more purchase of software or cameras. We have plenty. In fact, I'd like to get rid of them. Make sure that our data isn't being shared, even accidentally, through the FLOX system or any other system. So that was my main thing. But since everybody's talking about the data centers, I'll just take a minute to say thank you for your clarification about the ordinance about data centers. But municipal codes can be changed, so I don't think that will stop them. There is too much money that can buy votes, and I don't want data centers Thank you. Thank you, you're welcome.

Next is Susan Azevedo. Yeah, I thought I saw her leave. Okay, I'll save hers until the end in case she returns. Next is Shel.

Thank you.

Shel Thompson, this is a great opportunity. There are a lot of teachers who've spoken. A lot of people are here. It's a great opportunity to invite everybody to read extensively and understand AI, which is a brand new industry, biggest industry ever. And these data centers, and I won't go through all of the things that they do that are detrimental, but I would invite you to read those things and really understand it and have the teachers invite their students to do the same, because this is a real watershed moment, what's going on in society. Now, I've been here for almost 80 years, and every single thing that is sold to our community is always predicated by, this will create jobs, jobs. Well, this one's a little different, because this one eliminates them, and every day, I read about huge companies. And most of these guys were in the front row at the inauguration. Some of America's finest citizens with your interests at heart. But anyway, they are doing things every day that you read where these companies just laid off 5,000 people. but they shifted a lot of their employment who are into AI to figure out how to cut more jobs within their companies. That's what's going on. But these people have a lot more power than we do. And one of the things that they do is operate under NDAs, which is important to all of us here because In a community like ours, power is scarce. They can make deals with the power companies to get their volume for a cheaper price. The cost is shifted over to us, and we don't even know that. But these are really important issues, and I hope that everybody here will really read and understand what this stuff is before you make any decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Excuse me, next is Luis Campos Garcia.

Good evening, everyone. I am a Modesto resident. I'm working in the creative industry. And I'm here to express my concern about the possibility of a data center being installed here in Modesto. People have expressed already many of those concerns about the environmental impact, the cost of utilities. And I am also concerned because these AI-run centers AI technology was created on stolen work, the work of many creatives like myself, artists, designers, photographers, filmmakers, musicians, performers, writers, researchers. Their work was used to train these AI And that is not something that is creating more job for the creative industry. To the contrary, it's getting jobs all around California. And the creative industry is one of the principal money producers here in California. And we want to keep it that way. and also taking care of what is left of the natural resources that we have here in California, in Modesto, especially since we have one of the main rivers running here in California, the Tuolumne River, running through this city, and how we're going to keep these resources for the future generations. Thank you. You're welcome. Just the last thing, I am supporting a moratorium, at least, for no data centers here in Modesto. A ban will be better. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next is Leah Hassett.

Hi there. Thanks for the time. Say no to data centers for these reasons. It's well known that data centers are unhealthy for humans and other living things. AI, for which many data centers are built, is a poison that displaces workers. AI is dangerous for the world, and many AI scientists are afraid of AI itself. AI is part of the military industrial monster, creating robots for battle and computers who kill and who knows what else. No regular American benefits from AI, only the very rich. Maybe data centers belong in their swimming pools over in Menlo Park and surrounding communities. Keep that garbage out of the valley. We need to protect this land and our communities. um second and moratorium and a ban is necessary now and forever as far as i'm concerned um uh i need comp uh complete information that's easily understood on how to easily surveil and keep up to date on the status of any data center is that is planned discussed even thought about And I expect that from you all because as it's been stated before, it is very hard to trust and no trust has been established and also it just, just need it and no legal ease should be used when expressing any plans or anything. This includes any opportunity to comment, weigh in, anything at all. So this public participation is amazing and I'm impressed and humbled by how smart everybody is that's spoken before and I just am amazed and just Yes. Also, a ban should have been an automatic no-brainer without us saying anything, because you're our elected representatives. And if you think about what our needs and wants are, you're going to know that this is anti-person, anti-human, anti-regular person, AI, and a data center especially. And I probably have one more. Oh, keep in mind that this is not a partisan issue or a left and right issue. Pretty much all the people are in agreement, so you're not going to be able to divide us, and neither is anybody else anywhere. Thank you.

Next is Teresa Gamboa.

I lost it. Good evening, mayors Wallin, council members, city managers, city attorney and members of the public. My name is Theresa Gamboa. I'm the chairwoman of Woodland West Community Neighborhood and I'm a neighborhood watch leader. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I wanted to thank you Mayors Wallin and Councilmember Alvarez and Councilmember Rickey for coming to my National Night Out event last Tuesday night. It meant a lot to me and it meant a lot to our neighbors. As you know, it's my favorite day of the year. 174 of us gathered that night for food and fun. It was a great evening despite the heat. I would also like to thank our assistant city managers. Sonia, Chief Gillespie, Captain Meredith, all the lieutenants who came. The CSI unit came and that's always a big hit with the kids. It's a very interesting unit and they love it. I want to thank the Modesto Fire Department. The kids love the firefighters and they love exploring their truck. Our next event will be Family Fun Day on Saturday, September 19th. I don't have a flyer yet, but I'm hoping that some of you will come. It's a fun event, right? So it seems that everybody is united against data centers and paving over farmland, but thank you for hearing me. Have a nice evening. Thank you.

Next is Steve.

I JUST WANT TO START BY REMINDING YOU, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU GUYS KNOW THIS, BUT WE'RE IN A RELATIONSHIP. I DIDN'T CHANGE MY FACEBOOK STATUS OR ANYTHING. BUT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FOR US. YOU SHOULD THINK OF US AS BE, WHICH STANDS FOR, WHAT IS IT AGAIN? BEYOND EVERYTHING. Yeah, I know that. Trust me, I knew that. But I wanted to say that I remember when you guys approved, as you always do, Brandon's requests, Brandon's demands, basically. I remember when flock came to Modesto. and I remember what was going through my mind and it was discouraging and I thought well hell we've been coming down to city hall every week for months to beg you to stop your cops from murdering us and you sided with the animals in the back of the room because that's just how you are. You're not Doc Holliday Chris. It was a nice nice try. This is about, it was mentioned earlier tonight, this is about the haves and the have-nots. Okay, the reason that there was not a big reaction to when you guys started the flock contract when that went into play is because nobody knew about it. I didn't know, but I remember thinking, that's not going to go well. But I mean, I was already thinking, I got to go home. I got to get away from these monsters. It's very stressful to come down here and plead with my political leaders to give a damn about human life. And I don't even have time to go into all the nonsense. You threatening me, telling me to meet you in the parking garage, Mr. Bavaro, you clown. Sue witnessing it and Brandon witnessing it. You guys talk all the time about trust. This is a wonderful opportunity for you guys to build trust. Who would like to motion that we put ending the city's contract with Flock on an agenda? Let me read this really quick because I know how much you like to lie about the Brown Act, Sue. Public comment period, three minute, blah, blah, blah, okay. Council members may respond to manners being presented under this item only as follows. Briefly respond to statements made or questions raised. Ask a question for clarification. Provide a reference to staff or other resources for factual information. D says, request staff to report back at a subsequent meeting. And E, finally, a council member or the council itself may take action to direct staff to place a matter of business on a future agenda. Which one of you has the cojones to go ahead and motion that you put on the agenda a discussion to end the contract with FLOC and to make a moratorium on data centers not being built in Modesto? Who's going to step up? I know you're farming likes. You're out there trying to get fans, Chris. Why don't you be the one? Step up. Who's going to do it?

All right. Who's it going to be? All right. Who's it going to be? Next is Sean. Sean. Excuse me. Sean. Sean. Sean. Okay, all right, we'll get the online person next after this person in person.

Hello.

Hi there.

I am Shawn Walke. I'm 20 years old and I've lived in Modesto my entire life. And we were in drought for most of my adolescence. In no complex terms, a North Point data center will kill Modesto. We don't have the water resources to uphold it. And it's not even about the water it uses. It's the water that we can't get back from a data center. Because these companies don't just use water to cool their their server rooms, they treat the water with chemicals that they don't take out before they put it back in the water supply. And those chemicals make the water unusable for humans, for animals, for plants, which means we can't use it to water our crops. Modesto is, as you know, an agricultural town. We need the water for our crops or else this town will die. And... I honestly find it frankly disturbing and insulting to the heart of Modesto, the soul of Modesto, a town full of art and diversity and community, for it to be even a consideration for an AI data center to be built in this town, which AI is antithetical to every principle that supports human art. I am also frankly disappointed in my city council and in my mayor that this is the first city council meeting I've been to and barely any of you have managed to answer any of our questions that we've posed to you. Because I'm sure you all know what a damning non-answer means. And finally, I'd like to address the presence of flock cameras in our community. As my former high school psych teacher already showed you the importance of stories, I'm going to tell you where the word Palantir comes from. It comes from a story written in the 50s by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Palantir is the magic orb that the evil wizard Sauron uses to spy on the protagonists, the Fellowship of the Ring, in this story. And Saruman is also the one who clear cuts forests to fuel his forges of war. I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you. We will hear from one more person online, and then we will take a break, which I will announce. Next is Olivia online.

Good evening city council members. My name is Lydia and I've lived in Modesto all of my life. This is the first city council meeting I've ever been to like the previous speaker. I'm here to express my concern with the possibility of a data center being built in Modesto. Currently there is talk of one possibly being built on Graphics Drive, which is less than a mile from where my family and I live. Data centers consume vast amounts of water to cool their cooling equipment. Will the millions of gallons of water for this data center be imported? No, they're gonna come from our water supply, the water supply of the community. The supply that is very much limited, so limited in fact that the city of Modesto has a watering schedule for as long as I can remember. With Modesto already rationing and trying to reduce water consumption, it's irresponsible and unethical to allow a data center to drain our water supply. A direct quote from the city website is conserving water year round and help reduce the effects of drought in our daily lives. Consuming less water on average minimizes water waste and protects our underground aquifers. So having a data center in Modesto using millions of gallons of water would, by that statement, increase the effect of drought in our lives, increase water waste and endanger underground aquifers. I also want to express concern over the statement that was issued on August 6th claiming that data centers are not allowed land use under the city's municipal code. However, if that's true, why are there already two small data centers in Modesto? In fact, both of them are on this street. IERA technology is just two blocks away. So if that statement tried to calm community concerns, it was untrue and honestly made me even more concerned. Either it was ignorance about the data centers here or was intentionally misleading. I hope it was not the latter. Despite there already being two small data centers here, they're primarily network facilities. But most importantly, they're tiny in comparison to the 20-acre area at Graphics Drive that North Point is interested in. They're trying to build a data center 25 to 50 megawatts, which would use the same amount of energy as 25,000 to 50,000 homes. We do not have the capacity to power that. We barely have the capacity to power the buildings we already have. In fact, last week, MID was offering a discount to those who reduce their energy consumption during peak hours. If a data center were to be built, it would stress our energy infrastructure, causing power outages and higher energy prices for us. There is absolutely no public benefit to data centers, and it is your responsibility to not allow this to happen to our community. Please do the right thing and be on the right side of history. Thank you. You're welcome.

All right. We will take an eight-minute break and return at 7.10 p.m. Thank you. all right it is currently 7 10 p.m and we will resume the meeting uh in person i have sophiel o'hara

Hello, I am here in opposition of the potential Modesto AI data center. I oppose AI data centers in whole, but I especially believe that an AI data center in the Central Valley would be particularly catastrophic and would be counterproductive in all ways. AI data centers suck up immense amounts of clean drinking water, which would dry up all of the agricultural crops that make up the Central Valley, which is already a heavily drought prone area. This would ruin both farms and the life that inhabit them, therefore dwindling produce output from the Central Valley to the rest of the country and to its community. All life in the Central Valley would be deprived of drinking water. You, I, and everyone we know You will neglect impoverished neighborhoods first, as politicians historically do, and then your homes will black out and your water will brown the same as ours. Do not forget your humanity. I urge the council to heed to these warnings. We are not asking, we are demanding.

Thank you. Next on line is Jim Ferreira. Jim? On line, Jim?

Hello?

Hello?

Sorry, I think I was muted.

No, we can hear you.

Okay, did you hear me before that or no?

No, just when you said hello.

Okay, sorry about that. I have a little bit different opinion I was going to share tonight. From my understanding, we've gotten a letter of just asking. With all due respect, I understand everyone has legitimate concerns. power, noise, water. Those are all legitimate concerns. But we haven't even heard anything yet. And it's like, you know, like if someone comes to you and says, gee, you've got a piece of property that we could use and we can pay you for it. I mean, again, there's legitimate concerns, but we haven't heard anything from anybody. And if you I mean, everyone's predicting doom and gloom, and it's the end of the world. And you haven't even seen a proposal yet. So I would just say, keep an open mind. Technology, I mean, I've been around a long time. I watched them put a man on the moon. And here we are today. Technology is not going to stop going forward. It's scary. But it's going to happen. And so my opinion is just this. Keep an open mind. I mean, someone just sent a letter and said, just they're curious. Get a proposal. What do they say? How much water are they going to use? How much electricity are you going to use? Maybe we put it to them. Maybe we say, bring your own power. Bring your own water. Have them come up with the solutions. Or we can have 40, 50 acres sitting on the side of the freeway. That's where they want to put it, where the old FMC or that there was a plan there, it's just going to sit for another 40 years with it not being used. Anyway, keep an open mind. And that's my opinion. Thanks.

You're welcome. Next is Victor. In person, Victor.

Hi, can you hear me with this? Yes. So I actually wrote a bunch of numbers down here, and I realize that they're going to be rather useless because people all over the country were coming to talk about data centers. Billions of gallons of water are going to be used. People are going to be without power. All these spaces are going to be taken up. But I want to talk a little bit about something personal that I have. I heard there's a lot of teachers here, a couple came up and spoke. By myself, I'm not, I'm a full-time student. I'm working on a history degree. I graduate at Modesto Junior College just this next coming semester, and I don't know where I want to go after that, but speaking of someone who has always been very interested in history and someone who cares a lot about it, I don't want to have to teach my future students, someone at either college level or anything like that, that You know, we're all coming out today in council meetings all across the country, and here in Modesto especially, that our voices don't matter, you know? I don't want to have to teach my students that all of us are coming here, time out of our day, and we're wasting our time, basically. And I, you know, I have things that I need to be doing. I need to research what college I want to go to, what grants I need to do, my mom. She's at home. Another thing about the jobs that allegedly everyone's going to create, even jobs out here now don't pay enough. My mom has to travel all the way to Santa Clara in Sacramento just to make enough money for the rising bills that we have to pay. One of the numbers I did actually write down was our electric bill from the city of Modesto July was 176 and now in August has been 200. MID has changed from June of $133 to 217 in just a month. So I want to know, obviously I'm not asking a question because I have seen that questions do not get us anywhere today, but I want to, you know, Why do we as a community anywhere in either Modesto, in any place in the United States, do we have to pay for the data centers? Why do our bills have to go up? Why does our fear of losing power, of water, of time and energy, of our future jobs? I don't want to have to go to whatever school I have and worry about a faulty AI because a lot of these things are failing. Every iteration of ChatGPT is getting worse and worse. It's getting more inaccurate. I'm having to worry about the AI checkers for plagiarism, worrying those numbers are going to climb up and worrying that I'm going to have to talk to my teachers. Hey, I didn't use this. I'm just talking differently that may come up with the millions and millions of words they are putting into data centers. And it's going to suck that all of us are, with the mask mandate and everything, Our voices don't mean anything, and that hurts to think about. I'm already terrified to go outside. This is the first meeting I have both here and I'm new to Modesto, I'm from Fremont, and it's like something to matter. And I really hope that you do consider a ban, really, and stand up for the people that you represent. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next on line is Tim.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

All right. Thank you. I wasn't anticipating responding to a prior comment, but I do want to just say to Jim's point about open minds that these are not unfounded opinions. We've seen this play out across the country. So I don't want us to get hoodwinked because we had open minds. And to be frank, if it's that vacant, that would actually be a better case for the city of Modesto and for its residents, to be perfectly honest. But that's not what I actually wanted to say. We've talked a lot here. I actually was there in person and I came home because it was actually a little bit easier to join and give comment via Zoom. And the upshot that a lot of people have said is that if we are not heard, then we're going to vote you out. We're going to vote you out. And I want to stress to you that this is not about electability. This is about livability. And you are now presiding over a town with rising costs, with progressive heat waves, with illegal detentions and abductions of our neighbors, and now with flock cameras everywhere, surveillance state, and a potential data center that crosses the line and makes Modesto not livable. And if you think you can make a town not livable for 250 plus thousand people and that we'll wait for two years until we have to vote you out, that's not how it works. We will not be friendly to you in this town. We will not want you here anymore. We're not going to smile at you at the store. We're not going to wave to you when we drive by. I'm not going to, you know... I can imagine kids might be shunned. It's not going to be good. You all have jobs and families to live with and protect. You all have a community to look after. And if you cannot look after us, we do not have an obligation to make Modesto hospitable to you. Thank you.

In person is Kelly Gepley. Kelly. Is Kelly here? I don't see anyone coming forward, so I'll... Okay, all right. Welcome. I've loved having the children here this evening, I must say. Oh, thank you.

I'm very, very proud to have them here. Hi, my name is Kelly Gepley. I'm a Modesto resident, long time grew up here. I believe my district is District 2. And... There's been a lot of things that have been said that I really don't want to repeat. I do want to say that my son is a huge, both of them are huge fans of PAW Patrol. And whenever I talk about the things that are going on, all of the bad things, what he says is, mom, we have to go talk to the mayor. Because in PAW Patrol, the mayor can help fix the problem. So I would like to propose to you guys, I have a very simple question. How are you going to help protect us from the potential travesty that is going to be happening? It doesn't have to just be to the mayor. I know that I said that like you're the person to protect us, but It's open to everyone. How are you guys going to help protect us?

We will make our comments to council comments.

So right now, out of respect to you, we're listening to you. during council comments, that's the time when council members and the mayor can speak.

I understand that. I've got a minute and 23 seconds left, so I'm just gonna leave it open if anyone else would like to respond.

I mean, yeah, you can talk to them if you want. Right here.

Hello. There are some people who really need us sometimes. And so we really need what Mama said because some people are getting killed. My turn. And kids now are getting a lot of care. My turn.

So just with, I'm so sorry to interrupt you, Ezra. Thank you for sharing. So I just want to confirm with the last 14 seconds that no one has any response that they would like to give on how they're going to protect us.

I have eight seconds left, so I'm going to just confirm.

Thank you very much for your normal responses.

Online, we have Samantha Bass online.

Hello. Hello. Hi. So I've been kind of forming my opinion throughout this meeting because I've been, number one, I do want to address that I think it's really beautiful that everyone's been coming together into this meeting to speak on our community's behalf. and it just kind of shows that we still have hope for the situation and we're trying to like protect our community and preserve it and improve it instead of just giving up and letting this happen you know like we're trying to make sure it doesn't happen so i think one thing that i've noticed is that you guys have been not very like you're not a stronghold for us you know you're being like as of right now we like an ad an ai center could not be built here but what we need is we need a strong no we need it to be clear that it's not happening because these companies when they get wishy-washy answers they know they can come back and they can keep asking and they can say hey let me build it here let me build it here and then we'll give you some money and then you'll go well that money sounds really nice and so you're going to say yes and then it happens So what we need is a straight no. No, an AI data center would never be built here. In fact, we're gonna make rules that make it impossible. I think you guys are here. You know, you're doing a job where we need you to be our voice and we need you to be our will. And you're seeing all of these people come together and talk about how something is really scary and it would be bad for our community and our environment. And you know what the will of the people is. If you were to do anything other than what they're asking right now, you are not doing your job and you're not fulfilling your purpose. Um... I think that's about all I have to say, actually. I owe you my time. Thank you.

Next, Ms. B. Ms. B. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. I also have a question for you, Sue, but you'll probably stare at me with indifference. Can I hand one of these? Can I have 10 for each? Am I allowed to do that? Would you guys like one of these? No, I don't think so. Okay. Here we have, I'm here for a different issue today, even though I do agree with everybody about the data centers. Is Officer Halbrick in the house? I know the rules, Sue. You don't, because we're asking you questions and you're not answering. I know the rules. I was asking for Officer Halbrick because I see some officers back here. My fur nephew is being put to death or probably put to death by the city of Modesto. And the investigation that they are using to murder this dog consists of one, two, three, four, five, six lines. That is the entirety of Officer Holbrook's investigation. You guys are willing to take a dog's life based on six fucking lines. I know the rules, Sue. I know the rules, thank you. Based on six lines. The officer, that's all the effort that he put into this. In court, he openly admitted to stating that he did not investigate further because he assumed, and what do we say about assumptions, right? He assumed Oakdale PD would take up the rest of the investigation. So he did not. Let me get through this real quick. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 56.3 million U.S. households are proud pup owners. That's over 40% of U.S. homes. Statistically speaking, over four of you are dog owners. So y'all should understand how imperative these family members are to the average household. I already went over Hobrick's incompetent investigation. I now want to talk about Kong, who was a dog. His petition had over 30,000 signatures and Sue, you still killed him. Shame on you. All we are asking is that a competent investigation before using the state's resources to torture and murder our family members. Two, to hire a certified dog behavior consultant to properly apply the Dunbar's bite scale before murdering our family members. Holbrook, admitted to only have using this scale six times. He's going to kill this dog and he's used this Dunbar's bite scale six times. Ridiculous. And to exhaust all non-lethal options in our municipal code before killing our family members. You guys have went straight to murder after six lines of an investigation. Shame on you. Shame on your incompetence. Chris, I heard you're the guy to reach out to for this. What can you do, bro? Help us out. If there's anybody else that would like a petition, please raise your hand and I'll bring them around.

Next in online is Graciela. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.

Hi, I have been a long time resident. I grew up in Modesto as a child and I have been an educator for over seven years. I am extremely disappointed with the city council. I recently moved back to help the community. I went to college and got my bachelor's degree in political science. I really wanted to make a difference in my community and I decided education was the route because in politics I saw such a lack of backbone and i see that displayed here today within the city council i'm extremely disappointed and i hope to see all of you take a harder stance not just against the data centers and the flock cameras but also against the misuse of police brutality and ice i love the children in our community as an educator and i am hopeful that you will do the right thing otherwise i make a call to action for the younger generation including my own to take the seats in front of us because this is our community too i yield the rest of my time thank you next laura s laura

Is Laura here? I will, okay.

Hello, my name is Laura Salcedo. I'm the dog owner of the one that Bernadette was previously talking about. He's my emotional support animal and it has been gone already since May 26. I don't know what you guys feel about mental health, but he is detrimental to mine. And like she mentioned, there is a lack of due justice on his part. There was no investigation, um, from officer Hobrick, who's the police, uh, animal control police super, uh, supervisor. Uh, you guys all are aware of him cause I've seen your guys' names on the previous petitions for dogs. So this is a continuing issue. Um, Dogs shouldn't be killed, especially, like she said, Chris, I believe you're doing a lot of work with the shelter. I've seen your name come up multiple times in the posts that I've made. Other people are asking for your help, so that's what I'm here to ask for, too. He's more than just a dog, and he wasn't... He was... He was targeted since the first time that even the attorney that we had present at his abatement hearing said that, you know, he just kind of has it out for him at this point. And so, like I said, we're reaching out on behalf of our family and the families of other people who have came and appealed to your guys' nature and asked for your help. I'm hoping what everyone else is saying that you guys don't. help your people and you're not for your people. I'm hoping that's not true because like everyone's been saying, we're here and you guys are supposed to represent us and we're just asking you guys to do that. Um, so Chris, like I said, specifically, I don't know if there's anything you could do, but your name has been popping up significantly on the posts that I've been putting on social media. I haven't seen that there's changes being made at the shelter. And so if there's anything you could do, um, Officer Harburg was not qualified to make that decision. Like you said, the city of Modesto has over 400 cases, dog bite cases, and for him to only have done six does not make him competent to do that. We're asking that everything else be exhausted. If that means he has to remain at home, there will be no further incidents. He does have a trainer that is also on board to take him on when he gets out, if he's released, because right now he hasn't been with us, like I mentioned. These are just issues that that shouldn't be the first solution to. He's a young dog. He's not even three years old and he's a very loving dog. If someone tells you that their dog is not friendly and to not get in their face, that does not mean they steal your food. which is what this lady's response was. We told her he was not friendly and to not get in his face and she still did and said it was her fault and that we just told her, but her story changed at the abatement hearing and that's what this is a problem. So please, thank you. You're welcome. Bring our dog home. Okay, thank you.

Next is O, online, O. Excuse me. Oh, online.

Hello. I'm sorry. I did not know that I had a different name plugged in. But my name is Stephanie McGarrah, and I'm making a public comment. A couple things were mentioned about the data centers that I'd like to adjust. Firstly, I'm against a data center coming here. I wanted to say that I appreciate that you guys are taking the public comments and listening and hopefully with open ears. um i we are counting on you the community is counting on you to be the experts in providing the city um protections and we have only heard from the news um and so much so much we have heard about data centers we have heard online social media about the situations that other cities are encountering with data centers in their community and of course the priority of our city should be the resources and the people and maintaining the health of our community and i know that The many voices that we've heard today are of the same, saying, hey, we don't want money to take our resources, we're filling constraints. Some things that are mentioned online from news articles regarding data centers are that sometimes they are taking more resources from the communities illegally, tapping into water resources that they said that they would not have. It is my belief that currently with the knowledge that AI data centers have a tremendous amount of money and opportunity, they have the funds to be able to establish a business of having that data center functional. The problem with that push, with all that funding and money is that Quite honestly, the technology has already changed. The technologies have already changed where they can do systems that do not take the water. They don't have those new, they can do that in a smaller scale. They don't need to have a large space in our community. It's just a sign of old technology. And it's a sign that it's going to cause problems like many other communities have faced. So I hope that you will again consider those concerns and serve us well. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next is Alex. Alex in person. It looks like Alex, A-L-E-X. All right, I'll call that one at the end in case they're here. Rosalina? Is Rosalina here? OK, great.

Hello.

My name is Rosalina. I'm here on behalf of my grandpapa. He is an amazing part of our family who fills it with an amazing amount of love and happiness. He is just a huge lovable puppy who believes in his soul that he is a teacup Yorkie who is always waiting for me at the door with such joy and a toy in his mouth so that we can play. A giant who plays with my grandsons and lets them ride him like a pony with no complaints. He has seen my daughter Laura and her fiance Alex through one of the most darkest times of their life and is such a huge part of her emotional well-being and has given them her some semblance of peace and hope. I found it unbearable to think that the decision to end his life has been taken so lightly by someone who doesn't know him and who clearly has ill will toward Papa from the get-go. Officer Chris Holbrook has clearly acted as judge, jury, and executioner against Papa. That is clearly marked by one-sided investigation against him. Not once did he reach out to question his family, who is the only audible voice for Papa. I was there when the incident happened. I am witness to the fear in his eyes and confusion to what had just happened through no fault of his own. I am truly sorry for the injury of this person and I'm not downplaying our responsibility, but she was warned about him not being friendly and about not getting in his face. She didn't listen. She was warned, so why is the only focus being made that the correct words of him being a vicious dog not being used negates the fact that she didn't listen to the warning? I wish you could have heard her while I was rendering aid to her, how she kept saying over and over that it was her fault because they had told her about Papa. It was her fault she didn't listen. So why is Papa going to pay the ultimate price of his life? I just ask that you please help bring our dog home. He is so important to my daughter and her family. Just please help us get him back home where he belongs.

Thank you. Thank you. Jack Gilstrip-Barr? Jack? Okay, next is Alan Burkett.

Dear members of the council, my name is Alan, and as a young resident, I've lived in and loved Modesto for my whole life. Tonight, we've heard a lot of incredible talking points against the construction of AI data centers, its effects on our environment and our neighbors in Modesto, and even the impact the construction would have on yourselves. The construction of a data center absolutely promises to decimate the future of young people like myself. In this matter, we place our future in your hands. Equally so, your political careers lay in the hands of young people just like myself. That fact is something I encourage all residents, young or old, to make note of. You say that you currently have no plans to build an AI data center, but I would like to pose you one simple question. How can you as leaders of this city assure young residents that there will be no similar plans in the future? Because the fact of the matter remains, the amount of effort it would take from these greedy and shady corporations to change this council's plans to build an AI data center is frighteningly small. If what has been seen here tonight is all you can provide as assurance, if all you can provide If that's all you can provide is assurance, there will be no data center. It is not reasonable to place our trust in the members of the council with even a moratorium. Frankly, the only way is to push in all of our power for a permanent ban on the construction of AI data centers in our city. To the members of the council, I ask you to take some actual pride in our city and neighbors and give us the band that we need to assure that our youth have a brighter future. So I ask you once more, what will you do to assure us that your plans will not change? Anybody can speak. I'm ready whenever anybody's ready to speak. You're really only hurting your own careers. Thank you. I believe you proved my point.

All right. Next in person is Tatiana.

Hello, my name is Tatiana. I'm a constituent of Modesto and have been all my life. In your statement, you mentioned there is no active proposal in regards to the building a data center here. I'm here today to demand that that doesn't change. Councilman Rickey in an interview said it isn't 100% impossible. So I ask, what can we do to make it 100% preventable? What actions need to be taken by all of you to ensure our resources, environment, and the residents are all safe? I would love to see that added to the next agenda so we can vote and discuss what that looks like. This conversation is far from over. But another threat our city faces is gonna be flock cameras. It has been discovered that local cameras in our city are feeding into a national network accessible to federal agencies. An example, Texas officer used 83,000 flock cameras to track a woman having an abortion, which was legal in the state she was in. This is setting a dangerous precedent that individual state laws don't matter. Who's to say this won't be applied to immigration and sanctuary states? There are 117 flock cameras in Modesto alone, some facing schools and neighborhoods, putting children and families on a database under the guise of public safety. If there is outrage for a potential data center, we have to be outraged about the active invasion of privacy the city's contracts with flock is. More examples of rogue tech in the wrong hands. Cambridge of Massachusetts canceled their flock after they secretly installed two cameras without their knowledge. Evanston, Illinois, they terminated after flock attempted to unauthorized reinstallation after they canceled. Austin, Texas, audit found 20% of searches lacked documentation. This is clear lack of trust with flock in its entirety. Security failing, so 67 flock cameras streaming to the internet without passwords. Anyone was able to view live, archived, feed, or delete the data that was there. Security outreach already. The Flock pitch is local cameras for local crime. Instead, though, they created a national surveillance network where federal agencies can track anyone without city's knowledge, and this has already been proven. A hundred cities have canceled their contract with Flock. They chose to protect the constituents of their city. Will you? Data centers and Flock cameras go hand in hand, and we say hell no to both. In conclusion, I hope you use your positions meant to protect us to actually create laws that protect us, not just for now, not just for currently, for always. Or we will vote in people who do. Thank you. You're welcome.

Bruce Hammerstrom? Bruce?

My name is Bruce Hammerstrom. I've lived in Modesto since 1965. I'm 69 years old, and I'm sick and tired of the city attorney here interfering and obstructing my ability to talk to my elected officials, including Jeremiah Williams here and Ms. Wallin, who I went to school with at Davis High School. Played with your husband in the alumni game. I had an appointment with you. I waited a half an hour. I just asked to talk to you on the phone I waited a half hour went into the meeting through Scheduled with your liaison and they said oh no he had to go to a ribbon-cutting Okay, well, let's let's reset it Nothing nothing ever happened. I don't know if you know what's going on, but I've asked to talk to the mayor I've been told talk to your elected officials about this the problem is People moved into my neighborhood, two doors down from me, and I never talked to them. I never interacted with them. I never met them. They come out and say, oh, we know him. He's crazy. He's out in the street like a methamphetamine addict, yelling at cars, threatening people. It's all baloney, okay? They attack me. They broke my thumb. They shattered my thumb. I've had three operations on it in the hospital. It's crippled. It's never going to work again. My leg's crippled. They broke my femur. They destroyed my collateral ligament. That still has to be fixed, supposedly. It's terrible. These people, believe it or not, tried to attack me again a year later. Well, the police arrested me. I dialed 911. The policeman showed up. Within seconds, he was hostile to me and cited me, arrested me and cited me. He said, there's not a mark on you. You said they beat the hell out of you. There's not a mark on you. And I start to show him. Well, yeah, look at my eye. Because my eye was gouged. He said, is that your front door? I said, yeah. He goes, wait right here. I'll be right back. He went over and talked to this guy. And this guy is a correctional officer. Blue protects blue. And that's good, because we're a blue family, too. The mother of my children, my grown daughters who are very successful, by the way, was a nurse at the prison up in Jamestown. She also birthed babies here for 36 years at Memorial Hospital. It is a travesty that I'm even having to come up here and talk. It's destroying our family. These people got a restraining order against us, against me, from attacking me. Every time they come down to my house, only two doors down, and attack me, physically, verbally. Is my time up? I'd like to be put on the agenda for the next meeting to address this where I can put in a letter instead of an email. And I'd like an investigation into this ASAP. This man up here.

You've exceeded your time and if you'd like to Allison could maybe share her card with you and then you can have further contact. Thank you. Yes. Next in person is Anne Marie Salgado.

Hello, City Council. My name is Anne Marie. I'm a resident of Modesto. I would like to reiterate, yes, no AI data centers in Modesto for all the reasons that have been listed before. And yes, I'm glad that it is not in the municipal code to allow these data centers. But if North Point is attempting to negotiate, that means they think they have a chance. And these companies, they will break laws. They will do whatever they can to get what they want. So we need you in the position of power to fight for us. And I think people have a good reason to distrust our city council. Let me go back in time. Six people were arrested on June 14th at an ice out protest under the municipal code 4.23, section 2, subsection 13, which bans wearing a non-medical, non-religious mask or face covering at a protest, as well as banning other items like bike helmets, metal water bottles, and wooden sticks thicker than a quarter inch. People showed up to meetings for six months after that. Every single meeting asking the City Council to repeal or amend this code, citing blatant First Amendment violations and how vague and unenforceable the mask section was. City Council did nothing and said nothing beyond empty platitudes until threatened with a lawsuit from the ACLU. And even then, the amendment that they made, that you all made, still outlawed face coverings. So the ACLU went forward with the lawsuit and won the preliminary injunction, making the mask subsection unenforceable. And the city council is still pushing back, filing an appeal against this preliminary injunction. The lawsuit has already cost the city over $300,000 and will continue to do so if you continue to fight in court. and you will lose. It is not a coincidence that the city has currently over 100 ALPR, which stands for automated license plate, license plate readers, cameras installed, most of which were installed in the year of 2026 as of deflock, which everyone should look up to show flock cameras and other surveillance cameras. You are fighting tooth and nail to force peaceful protesters to show themselves to state surveillance. And it is also not a coincidence that the city council has increased the annual police budget yearly, which is currently at over a million, and votes blindly in favor of military grade equipment for the police, including surveillance planes and an armored vehicle, which was over 500K. And it's also not a coincidence that anytime anyone asks for police accountability, it is dodged. We're sent to the police review board. And even when they do make a recommendation, like saying that the mask ordinance should be repealed, they were blatantly ignored. So I ask for police accountability and no data centers and no flock cameras, no automated license plate readers in our community. Thank you very much. Have a good night. You're welcome.

All right. I'm coming back for Susan Azevedo. One more time. I don't believe she's here, but I just want to make sure. All right. Moving on to Amber Blumgren. Amber. Okay. Welcome.

Hi. Everybody stated all the facts regarding data centers. You guys have heard every statistic possible. I do encourage everybody that's listening to look up Erin Brockovich's data center website. It is indexing everything that's going on nationwide. It's a great resource. You can model what we're doing here. We can model after people who have walked before us. Same fight everywhere, so happens to be here right now. I'm a little nervous, and that's OK. All right. So I want to let you guys know, not zoned for the data centers is not enough. A moratorium is not enough. We are asking for you to ban data centers, put it on the next agenda, and make it loud. And I want to show you that our city is beautifully creative. So here we go.

Okay, that'll work.

They paved paradise, put up a data spot. to house their surveillance, chat GPT, and piles of AI slop. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a data spot. Ooh, AI slop. Boo, AI slop. Hey, city council, Modesto will never stop. Fighting data centers leave us water for our crops. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone? They paid Paradise and put up a data spot. Don't pay Paradise, don't put up a data spot. Don't pave paradise, don't put up a data spot. Please. Thank you.

One comment, you have to be my age to really appreciate that song. Next, Lincoln Jones. Welcome.

I don't know how you guys do it. I'm so cold. Originally, I didn't plan on saying anything because I felt like a lot of people were going to have mostly the same opinion and a lot of the same facts. But I think halfway through, I started to kind of perceive that the biggest conversation here really seems to be about how afraid everybody is I feel like whether or not this data center goes through, which I feel like it most likely isn't because it doesn't feel like it'll help us at all. The biggest point is really what will help us. Because whether or not that data center is put there, I mean, we're all still worried about how much it costs for us to have gas and water. And a lot of people, this is the first time that they've ever come here to try to attempt to beg to have a better life. And I feel like that... Hearing people of varying ages really parrot these fears with a perception that the rest of the world is already like this, and people in cities way bigger than ours and way better than ours have already succumbed to this. If it happens in Modesto, we will just have to leave Modesto. For a lot of people here, there's nowhere between LA or the Bay Area for us to go. If something like a data center does move you out of your house, you are really moved out of your house. There's nothing else to think about besides that. I think a lot of the time in this conversation that a lot of people have been having about this data center, I've been wondering to myself, well, if that is the concern, when this data center, if it's banned completely, if that's just where you guys go, what does that fix for the things that we are scared of? How does that change the day-to-day, like these cameras? If there are no flock cameras, the reason that those flock cameras were put up to begin with for protection or safety, how does that change the way that the police interact with us. If we don't like those cameras, we don't like being surveilled, how do we change the system in a way that we do feel protected? We do feel like there's a police officer who could actually help you out. Because when I see those cameras, it reminds me that I don't think about going to a cop if something happens. I see that camera, and I think of when I see a cop, which is, oh, there's one right there. And then you try to avoid it. You don't go down that street again. And it's a daily thing for a lot of people. You see it everywhere online if you don't want to see it. People have information about these data centers. And the places that I found a lot of this information I felt like was deep into the internet. It's honestly kind of impressive how many people know so much about this. And it feels like this is the only thing that we can really fight for or argue about because they're in so much information about it. I think unlike those cameras, there wasn't a moment where we could see something in the future coming and ask you guys to prevent it for us. I feel like that's the biggest thing about this conversation is that it is a relationship and there does need to be communication. And I feel like a lot of people feel like our ability to communicate with you guys is difficult and that it doesn't get anywhere and that a data center could ask you to put one up and it just goes up versus us begging you to consider it. But that's it.

Thank you. Next is Giancarlo.

Hey, I am a Modesto resident and another local teacher that's calling on you for the sake of your constituents, for the sake of the children, such as the ones that are currently here and future children to permanently ban data centers in Modesto. all right if you paid attention to your constituents today you would be well aware that we do not have the capacity to meet the demands of data centers in our communities millions of gallons of water annually which would dwarf the use of entire communities just like ours an example here is actually google has one called the council bluff status center in iowa use around 980 million gallons of water per year That's similar to an annual water usage of over 4 million homes. We have nowhere near that many homes here. We will not be able to meet those demands. Even after, you know, we're asked to cut on our water and energy uses, okay? This would exhaust our energy systems, and it'll always be at our expense, y'all, and at expense of our environment, which faces droughts. You should have also heard from your constituents that this will have negative economic impacts. Data centers require few employees, typically low wage and non-technical or temporary positions. The only ones who benefit will be tech companies with tax breaks and short-term profits. We're North Point, okay, with this business deal, while we all subsidize the costs. And essentially, if North Point's lobbying succeeds, and the thing is, is that the word lobbying, the real more accurate word for that is bribing. If North Point's bribing succeeds, y'all here will be forcing us to pay for and witness the destruction of our economy and environment, okay? And our descendants are going to experience and witness that too. THE CITY SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON MAKING DECISIONS THAT IMPROVE OUR COMMUNITY AND BENEFIT OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS. Y'ALL HAVE DONE IT BEFORE. THE EXTENSION OF THE VIRGINIA CORRIDOR THAT PROVIDED MORE FOLKS ACCESS TO THIS SPACE AND FUTURE GENERATIONS TO COME AS WELL. And the issue is that we shouldn't be approving things that harm our communities, okay? And I'm gonna use this to segue here because one thing that the city did that harmed our community was when y'all approved to raise $349,000 to defend in court the mask ordinance that was greatly opposed by your community members, okay? A court case that you'll waste our tax money on and will most likely lose considering the recent injunction that prevents MPD from even enforcing this ordinance, okay? for months y'all for like a year now y'all have constantly ignored your constituents and carried on with business as usual about that mass ordinance so I'm asking you y'all will you ignore your constituents again who those constituents that you are supposed to represent or will you actually listen to them and act accordingly for the sake of us thank you you're welcome

Good evening. I'm not talking about data or any of the stuff going on tonight. um my name is yesenia rodriguez i am back because the shutdown of pop-up markets continue to directly affect me our vendors our small businesses and the families who depend on these markets for income first i want to sincerely thank allison for meeting with us, listening to our concerns, and continuing to work forward a solution. Tonight, I'm asking the city for a temporary solution, whether it's a micro permit, a temporary permit, a pilot program, or permission to operate on city property while the city works on a long-term solution. Our vendors are willing to meet the requirements. We are holding workshops to help them become properly licensed, insured and compliant. We are willing to work directly with the city and the county to make sure this is done correctly. Every week we remain shut down means lost income for families, vendors and small entrepreneurs. Give us the opportunity to prove that a safe, organized, compliant pop-up market can operate successfully in Modesto. We are ready to get back to business. Please help us get the ball rolling. We need a temporary solution now. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next is Elizabeth. Hi there.

Good evening. So originally I came here to look for some employment opportunities but I found out about this. I wrote down a last minute statement that I want to make. For as long as I could remember, I've been deeply infatuated with the natural world that we have the luxury of being surrounded by. My grandfather taught me to appreciate nature and understand how it provides for our needs. Data centers cause impact on not only our jobs, but with our natural ecosystems that exist for our well-being. My grandpa worked for the Gala Winery for many years. I had hoped to have the same opportunities as him. Many industries are losing opportunities for the new generations. However, our chances of helping our very source of survival of our planet is becoming increasingly dim. It's becoming so hot everywhere. Well, I'm originally from Modesto. I went to school in Vallejo, and my school had academies. I was part of the law academy. And my law teacher and I would discuss the already existing threats on our environment in 2018 when a wildfire in Paradise, California caused many loss and grievance. The sky was black and the sun was red for at least a week. We couldn't go outside due to the constant fall of ash and debris. And from what I've heard from the previous statements, the data centers seem to cause heat in the environment and affect a lot of important things. I go on walks all the time and hikes and I notice a lot of bees just fall to the ground and just die because it's so hot outside. And my law teacher left me with a comment that kind of stuck with me for a lot of years. He told me that, you know, if the people don't do something about it, it's just going to bite them in the butt. not only our economic issues at stake, but our environmental well-being for the future generations. Thank you for your time. You're welcome. You're welcome.

All right, next is Manuela.

Hello, everyone. I first want to acknowledge that we are on Yokut's land and I think that's very important when we look at data centers. When I was reading in the Modesto Focus, some of you said that you were surprised that people are mad. And I just think that shows like how divorced you are from us and people on the ground and what's really happening in this country. So what I'm gonna use as analogy or our saying here in Modesto, and we're gonna look at this through the lens of water, wealth, contentment, health. So we already know, we've heard the stats on what data centers do to our water. But what I don't think people realize is that we have water rights here in Modesto. I was talking to an MJC ag teacher today, and he mentioned that with our water rights, if these data centers find out, or maybe they already know, they're gonna wanna flock here, flock cameras, which we also don't need. They are going to want to come here and take our water because we have those water rights that are longstanding. We cannot let that happen. Wealth. People are really struggling. AI centers bring maybe 12 jobs for people. That is nothing. It only gives wealth to the rich, to the billionaire class who don't care about us, who are willing to kill us and sacrifice us for their profit. The cost of electricity will be out of control. People are not content here. So if we want to look at contentment, people are miserable. Grocery prices are out of control while these grocery companies are making billions upon billions of dollars. Gas prices are through the roof. And again, these companies like Shell and Chevron making billions and billions of dollars while the everyday people here, your constituents are struggling. There's so many unhoused neighbors here, our poor neighbors out on the street. They are not content here and we are even helping them out. But we're considering possibly a data center, even though you say you're not. But like, clearly, we don't believe you. We've talked about the detriment to our health, but it has been proven and shown that where these data centers are built, bees are dying. We cannot live without the bees. The United States has 2,500 native bees. California has 1,500 native bees alone. If the bees die, we die. If we don't have water, we die. Near a data center, The farmers, ranchers have been stating that their calves are being stillborn. The huge data center that they want to build in Utah, the amount of heat, which again, it won't be as big as this one that might be considered, is the equivalent of everyday 23 atomic bombs of heat going off. That is horrifying. So again, do we want water, wealth, contentment, health for the ultra rich, or do you want that for your residents? Thank you.

You're welcome. Next is Alyssa. Alyssa?

Hello. I didn't want to repeat anything of what was reiterated earlier. My name is Alyssa Leyva. I am a Stockton Stans organizer, and my mom was born and raised in Modesto. My grandmother lives here. I wanted to stand in solidarity with Central Valley BIPOC Coalition and the mask ordinance. I am a plaintiff on the case. I won't go into detail, but I'm hearing a lot of contention and grievance. There are actors here who work with 209 Times who is being investigated by state agencies, by the FBI. And so I just really would hate to see that happen here. And anyways, my experience with witnessing the state violence that has been reinforced by you guys and your bureaucratic process and lack thereof, I would hope, point of clarification today, do you guys follow Rosenberg's rule of order or Robert's rule of order? Because you're not doing either or, so you do not chair correctly. And again, these points can also go into our case of you not leading and facilitating correctly. And that itself is a form of state violence to your constituents here tonight. As organizer of the Central Valley BIPOC Coalition, we stood in solidarity with the family of Paul Chavez, who was murdered by MPD. And I only got to know Brittany, his spouse, for a little bit. And she pleaded for her boys and for her livelihood. And she died with a heart attack in her sleep, fighting for justice. You guys know about the people on the ground who are fighting for our communities, for communities of color who already don't have a lot. it's not about your career, it's not about your donors, it's about the people that you serve. And I remember the tit for tat that Eric Alvarez gave to some of the protesters saying in emails, what is your why? And so I asked tonight, what is your why? Thank you.

You're welcome. Next, Pam Bauer. Pam Bauer. She's gone. Thank you. Ryan Bertson.

Good evening. I didn't plan to say anything tonight. This is very unplanned, so sorry if it's off the cuff. This should kind of be like a slam dunk, the data center thing, obviously. Because you have to wonder like, okay, these people are coming proposing a data center. Who does that benefit? Does it benefit our constituents? We're all kind of saying no, right? So there should be like a pretty clear response unless maybe there's like another reason why you aren't being very vocal about it. And just for clarification, they can answer questions, right? But you're not. And I kind of, you can't help but wonder why you aren't answering questions. So I kind of think maybe it's because you can't answer questions. I know that you're being told not to by the city attorney. But I wonder if there's any other reasons why. So I'm gonna kind of just go person to person asking some questions. Mr. David Wright, are you under an NDA by North Point or any other institution that wants to build data centers here in Modesto?

I will just make one statement that this is not a question and answer time. It's our time, since you asked, to listen to you.

Right, but I want your answers and you're able to answer questions. You're allowed to. So go ahead and take some of my time to answer those questions. I'm totally okay with that. Again, I'm going to ask you, then I'm going to go across the board. David Wright, have you signed an NDA saying you, or by anyone from North Point or anyone else? No, okay. Jeremiah Williams, have you been asked to sign an NDA or have you signed an NDA by North Point or anyone else asking to put data centers in Modesto? Absolutely not. Okay, Nick Bavaro, same question to you. Data centers, have you signed an NDA saying you can't talk about it?

No, and secondly, I have not had any meetings with people interested.

Wonderful. Joseph Lopez, city manager, have you signed an NDA saying you can't talk about any of these data centers from North Point or any other party which is in building data centers? Okay, Sue, have you signed an NDA from North Point? Interesting, good, okay. Jose M. Sanchez, have you signed an NDA from North Point or any other institutions looking to build data centers here in Modesto? Just go ahead and answer if you want to, it's cool. Chris Rickey, have you signed an NDA from North Point or any other institution looking to build data centers here in Modesto?

No, and I haven't had any conversations.

Cool. Eric D. Alvarez. Have you signed an NDA from North Point or any other institution looking to build data centers here in Modesto?

No, I haven't even had a conversation with them. OK. Paid to come out and speak and ask these particular questions.

Ridiculous. It concerns me as a constituent. That's appalling. You're engaging me.

I can engage you.

Rosa, have you... Answer his question, please.

You've got to answer my question, sir.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Okay. We'll maintain order. Answer the question, sir.

Have I been paid? No, I haven't. This affects me as a citizen of this town.

Thank you.

He's my neighbor.

So you can ask us questions, but we can't ask you questions. We're here conducting the people's business. We're conducting the people's business.

Next on the public comment is Krista H. Krista.

Hello, I actually want to read from the agenda that we all received. This is from the public comment period section. Under state law, council members may respond to matters being presented under this item only as follows. A, to briefly respond to statements made or questions raised. B, ask a question for clarification. And another relevant point, finally, a council member or the council itself may take action to direct staff to place a matter of business on a future agenda. With that being kept in mind, I have a question for the city attorney. This is a valid question that the council members would be able to answer. I wanna ask each person individually, would you as a resident of Modesto support a data center being built here? Is that something that they have the ability to answer? Jose Sanchez, I'm asking. I'm asking you if they have the ability to answer that.

Excuse me, I'm conducting the meeting, so I've told him that if he'd like to make a comment, sure.

The concern here about answering the questions is that the item related to data centers is not on the agenda. And that's pursuant to the Brown Act. When we start engaging in discussion, the council discusses an item that's not on the agenda. that's a violation of the law you are correct that the agenda does have if for example there was a clarifying question if you were talking about something a council member needed to clarify a question or direct staff to provide you information that would be perfectly valid just like you read but when we start talking about the actual item as far as are you going to support a moratorium are you going to vote yes are you going to do this and the council starts interacting then that potentially crosses into they start discussing an item that's not on the agenda, agendized on the document you're holding, the actual agenda that the public knew is an item going to be discussed. When you do that and you start discussing an item, then somebody may say, wait, I would have gone to that meeting if I knew that data center was going to be up for discussion. I think that's why you see the caution of answering questions just so they could not start discussing the item. But that's it. If the item was agendized, there would be a discussion up here, more robust discussion.

Okay, so in response, thank you for that. Thank you for the clarification. In response to that, given point E that a council member or the council itself may take action to direct staff to place a matter of business on the future agenda, is anyone here willing to do that tonight? Again, left to right. David Wright, are you willing to put it on a future agenda and be that council member that does so? the original statement that the mayor read that it's going to be on the future agenda down the road i don't believe that was made clear but again thank you jeremiah williams would you be able to commit tonight to making that a future agenda item

The item in question concerning the data center, there's really no deliberation that we've had to even bring that up at this point.

Okay, so that's a no. Nick Bavaro, would you be willing to bring it as a point for a future council meeting as a council member that has the ability to do so right now?

I would bring request agenda item to first implement or vote on a moratorium that I would do first. I don't believe we're at the point now to put it on the agenda because quite honestly I have not gathered, done my due diligence and I haven't gathered all the data. This is something that's come up just in a couple of weeks. And so I am not prepared 100% take a strong position one way or the other because I still need to gather data. But I would request a future agenda item to put a moratorium to give us time to look into.

Are you willing to commit to doing that? even if it's a moratorium, again, is anybody tonight willing to commit to getting this on a future agenda, seeing how concerned the community is?

I would ask the city attorney on the process of how I would make that request.

All right. So you've exceeded your time? I'm sorry. OK. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Alex again. Alex? Is Alex here? OK. I think I've checked. How about Jack Gillstrip Barr? Jack? All right. That is the last of the speaker request cards. Is there anyone else online? Seeing no one online. OK. Thank you.

Is it okay to be up here?

Yes, yes, yes it is. Made it a whole thing real quick, so. My name is Jessica, Jessica Cervantes. I have lived in Modesto my whole life. I understand that there's gonna be a council meeting, that you guys are gonna talk about it later. Yet, one thing I will say is I haven't seen anybody taking notes. I haven't seen, maybe you guys are, oh, okay, cool, awesome, thank you for showing me that. I've needed that. I appreciate that, yes, awesome, great. Another thing I will say is, yeah, no, that's awesome. No, that's okay, that's okay, that's fine. I did notice today was back to school. Today was the first day everybody went back to school. And I find it a little bit ironic that the youth are going back to school, families are getting busy again. We had all summer to sit here, have meetings, discussions, so on and so forth. I think that there needs to be a little bit of a better planning situation in accordance with like trying to reach out to the youth to invite them to town council meetings to maybe develop them in that aspect of getting more involved or things of that nature. So I did actually go to Riverbank last week for the Riverwalk. city council meeting too. And it's not just because Modesto's Modesto and Riverbank's Riverbank. It's more so we're a county, we're in this together. It's not, you know, whatever we designated to sit here and be the land that you were chosen to take care of, right? So I would just like to say thank you for listening to me and Yeah, that's about it.

Have a good night. I believe someone raised their hand. Would you like to speak?

Good evening, council members. Our city has a pretty simple little motto of water, wealth, contentment, and health. These are words that I've seen every day since I was infinitesimally young. A data center here in Modesto would destroy all pillars of that. Our water would be irreversibly ruined, unsuitable for human consumption or agricultural use. We, the average Californian or Modestonian, would not see any wealth from these data centers that's been brought up before that they only give about 12 jobs and in the long run only profit the rich and powerful of Silicon Valley. They will do nothing for us and everything to us. With the noise pollution and droning and all the rising utility costs, we will not be content here in Modesto. We are not content with your lack of commitment against this proposal. It may be repeating that these data centers are unhealthy for us. They further pollute our already poor air and water quality. The water in our faucets will turn brown. This has happened. It is documented that it horribly pollutes water. I would like to drink water that I can see through. Is the motto of our city so cheap that you would sell us out to North Point? Thank you.

You're welcome. Is there anyone else wishing to speak under public comment for those in person or online? If you're interested in speaking, please come.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the Council. It's been a while since I've been up here. I'd like to take you back in time about three hours when these chambers were packed. How often has that happened? When the chamber is packed, that means it is an issue that is of concern to every single member of our community. I noticed that the computer people that are on Zoom are quite prolific as well. So did any of you watch Nightly Business Report last night? I did. There was a wonderful article on it about many communities that are now regretting their decision to allow a data center in and they're trying to have them closed down. I would like you all to do your job to make sure we are not one of those communities with regrets. So listen to your constituents and please ban AI data centers from being built here. Thank you. You're welcome.

Please.

Hi. So yeah, I'm not used to doing any of this, so please, I don't know, give me grades, I guess. But I wanted to say that, first of all, I'm very proud of my fellow constituents for exercising their civil duty of being here. I see and recognize many young faces and people that normally we are never here. But this just shows how much we really care about our city, about our future, about our environment. And so over the course of this night, I witnessed several great points spoken against AI, data centers, and surveillance. But I also witnessed every constituent or almost everyone in this room lose trust in our governing system, lose trust in you guys. They do not feel confident that you guys will represent them, unfortunately. And I hope we are wrong, but that is just the impression. It's whether because they feel their voice does not matter, or they feel the system is incompetent. But when people lose hope in the system, they take matters into their own hands and resort to violence. And I think none of us here want that. So please prove us wrong, and please listen to your constituents. I really do fear for our future, and I really want you guys to prove us wrong. Thank you.

You're welcome. Next person. Thank you.

Hello.

I am one of the many residents of Modesto that oppose the construction and proposal of allowing an AI data center to settle down here in my city. I am one of the many residents of Modesto who oppose of the mass constructing of flock surveillance cameras. We do not have the resources to share with the data center. It will kill our water supply and power supply. I suggest that you watch interviews conducted on people who live in towns where AI data centers are established. They discuss truly disturbing and heartbreaking circumstances, such as having to boil and filter water that comes out from their faucet and hardly any water coming out at all. Flock cameras destroy privacy for the public, creating an opening for cameras to be used as oppressive weapons against freedom of speech. Flock cameras will scan our faces and follow us around the web of cameras we find ourselves tangled in and like a spider, it will sink its fangs deep into our First Amendment. If you are not against constructing flock cameras, I recommend moving your bathtub and toilet right underneath the Modesto Arc to understand the feeling we are trying to convey to you. I am one of the many residents of Modesto, and I can say with full confidence that we all say no to AI and no to flock. Do what is right for Modesto. Say no with us. Thank you.

Hello. Good evening. My name is James Nelson, and I've been in Modesto for pretty much part of my whole life. It's a big concern about how the data centers and AI log and it's gonna impact the future. And it's a travesty what's gonna come up when we don't stop it soon enough. Our communities are already suffering and we don't need any more problems. We need more help in our communities because people make this country run. And we have more power behind ourselves with the community to make our future better. But you guys have to represent our voices. That's your job for us. And I hope you consider it. So thank you.

You're welcome.

Hi, Kevin McLarty, District 1. Well, I want to say that this is not a political football. This is not a matter that you put your finger up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. This is not a political game that we're playing here. This is having to do with people's lives, having to do with the survival of humanity because these data centers are a threat to the existence of bees, and the bees are what we need to pollinate our food. And so the very existence of humanity is threatened by these data centers. And so this is not a matter of consulting with your political advisor to ask, what should I do? What should I do? Should I balance it this way or throw it this way? Or should I give a non-answer? How do I give a non-answer? This is not that kind of a matter. This is too serious of a matter. Your political future is not what this is about. This is about the people of Modesto and about the people of the Valley. And I would like to remind Sue and the members of the council what it was like to grow up here. I personally went to insulin school. I think possibly, Sue, that you also went to insulin school, but I'm not sure. Yeah. You and I would have been in the same grade, actually. And you remember Miss Jones and Mrs. Drake, Miss Leonard? Remember how they taught us about the importance of agriculture and they taught us about rotating crops and they taught us about the cow and they would bring a cow to school and they would talk about the two stomachs and they'd show us how to milk a cow and the 4-H club. All of those things were tied to agriculture and we would go and we would walk down to the rainbow bread plant and we would see how the bread is made from the grain which is grown on the farms. That is what this is all about, Sue. It's about the Modesto that we grew up in. And that is what we're trying to protect, and I ask you to protect it. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Ladies and gentlemen, I find myself pretty unprepared, so the nerves are running a little bit, but I... When I saw Chris's TikTok, I felt compelled to show up to this and to speak because I do feel this is an important matter that is falling upon our town. I do believe there's so many matters historically that you can look at that you can compare to this situation. I find that The presence of an AI data center will not only decrease the cost of homes, where we already live in a town where many people from the Bay Area sell their homes for a million dollars, come here and buy a 500, $600,000 home. And that leaves us in a even bigger predicament. The people in that area will find themselves not possibly even being able to sell their home, and that will lead to a small data center possibly becoming a larger data center, wanting to buy out the properties and the nearby areas. I find that these data centers, maybe all of your intentions are good, but I believe these data centers will come here and try to infect your intentions and will try to corrupt you, so to speak. Whether all of you are good, I don't believe these data centers will come here with the same presence. These are people that aren't even from this community. And I find some of you have been slandered tonight, and I don't know many of you. And I find it sometimes unfair to witness it, but I do believe we have to hold our politicians accountable. But I do want to say I do appreciate everything that you guys do and try to do. It has also saddened me sometimes to look at you, Sue, because I feel like you do have good intentions despite maybe your histories. Maybe people in your circle drive you other ways. I don't know. But when we look at these data centers and we look at our history of drought, Who really takes precedence in the moment if we have another five year drought? Will they put you all in contracts and put the city in a contract where we emphasize their needs of their water over our own, where we already received letters from MID and other companies about the usage of our water, how we need to lower our shower times, our laundry loads. What else do I wanna touch up on?

One minute, please.

Oh, 34 seconds, please. Like I said, I found myself unprepared. Hopefully I can come more prepared next time. But I felt like I would have regret not speaking. My mom's probably going to see this and be like, what? I do want to say that I had a recent ENT appointment for my nose, and he said, I said to him, what's the diagnosis, doc? And he said, you live in Modesto. You're gonna have nasal issues. You're gonna have respiratory issues. And I find it disrespectful a company comes to this community and tries to tear it apart and didn't even do their research on our water issues and on our agriculture. I'll respect the time. Thank you guys so much. You're welcome.

Thank you. All right. Anyone else wishing to come forward for items not on tonight's agenda? Is there any online? All right. Next on the agenda is consent items. An item may be removed from consent and discussed at the request of a member of the public or council member. Is there anyone in the council that would like an item removed for further discussion? Is there anyone in the public that would like an item removed from consent for further discussion or comment?

Items five and nine for questions. Thank you.

You're welcome. Is there anyone online that would like If you're participating remotely, please use the raise hand feature now or dial star nine on a telephone to indicate you wish to remove an item from consent. I do not see any online or any phone calls dialed in. All right, will the city clerk please read the consent items.

Item three, consider approving the minutes for the July 14th, 2026 council meeting. Item four, consider appointing a voting delegate to the 2026 League of California Cities annual conference to be held in Anaheim, California on September 23rd to the 25th, 2026. Item five was removed from consent. Item 6, consider approving the final map and subdivision improvement agreement with Modesto 92LP, a California Limited Partnership for the PPA 17 West Unit Subdivision consisting of roughly 18.735 acres located east of Oakdale Road and north of Floyd Avenue, APN 077-008-040. item seven consider approving the final map and subdivision improvement agreement with kb home north bay llc a delaware limited liability company for the arcadia tivoli unit 2 subdivision consisting of roughly 10.64 acres located north of sylvan on future area way apn083006054 item 8 consider accepting the monthly investment report for may 2026 and item 9 was removed from consent

All right, may I have a motion to approve the consent calendar as read? Motion to approve also second.

Second. Is that for five or nine?

All right, motion by Councilmember Wright, second by Councilmember Alvarez. Will the clerk please call the roll for those items?

Councilmember Bavaro? Aye. Vice Mayor Williams. Aye. Council Member Wright. Aye. Council Member Scudia-Brachan. Aye. Council Member Alvarez. Aye. Council Member Rickey. Aye. And Mayor Zwollin.

Aye. Carries unanimously. We will go back to consent item five. Consider approving an agreement for the conveyance and purchase of right away from the Sylvan Unified School District receiving 1.89 acres for public right-of-way, for public infrastructure, for a total amount not to exceed $1,250,000. We will have a staff report.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council, Jessica Hill, Director of Community and Economic Development. And so this item is in regards to our Tivoli specific plan area. So back in 2009, the school district actually purchased a parcel of land, about 13 acres to develop an elementary school in the future. What they didn't anticipate was the land that they'll need to dedicate for the streets that need to be built in Tivoli. And so the city of Modesto is utilizing community facilities, districts funds in order to purchase the land we need. We need for the roadway associated with the roads adjacent to their school. In turn, the school will actually use that funding to purchase some property directly to the south to ensure that they still have the full 13 acres and can can build the size school that they were already anticipated to build.

that i'm happy to answer any questions thank you for that report any questions from council members regarding item five consent item five yes please council member bavaro jessica thank you oh my mic's off no just try speaking into there you go looks um

On the appraisal, my question during our briefing was I thought that that was somewhat expensive to pay that kind of money for that partial 1.8 acres or whatever. Can you explain to the council the process and also to the public the process by which how you came up with that dollar amount? Absolutely. And who did the appraisals?

Of course. So for Tivoli each year, we actually do a land appraisal out at Tivoli for our program called the Voluntary Land Dedication Program. And so we have Cogdell and Associates who does a land appraisal every year. And then we take a three-year average of what that was. And that's what the land value is for those who are participating in dedicating land. And so that amount, was $440,000 per acre. And so the total purchase price of the property was $831,600. There's some significant environmental reports that the school district needs to do with the new land that they're acquiring, which is that amount still up in the air, as well as the legal fees associated with it and the surveying needed. And so what we did is we created some buffer in case those came back a little bit higher. But we do anticipate the cost to be about nine hundred and thirty five thousand.

Great. All right. Any other questions from council members? Seeing none, I will open this item up to the public. I will ask members of the public to come forward. Or if you are participating remotely, please use the raise hand feature now or dial star nine on a telephone to indicate you wish to speak on this particular item. All right, Kevin, welcome.

Thank you. So my question is, this is just for the right-of-way itself, right? It's not for any infrastructure, not for any curbs or sidewalks or anything. It's just for the right-of-way. And that's... hard for me to grasp, I mean, that much money for something which is really just on paper. Really, because it's not, it doesn't involve any infrastructure or concrete or roadways or anything. It's really just on paper. So if it's really just on paper, how does it get to be that expensive? I know that you gave Mr. Bavaro an explanation, but I didn't really understand it, so I... What I'm not understanding is how something that is just on paper, that is just a legal document, and does not involve anybody building anything with their hands, ends up costing $1.25 million. All right.

Thank you. Please reply.

Yes, thank you, Kevin. And so what it does is actually it's not just paper. So it's actually the purchase of physical land in order to build the future street. And so we will have physical land that will then be owned by the city adjacent to the school where we'll be able to then build those streets in that area. And so it is purchase of physical land. I do have a copy of the staff report I'm willing to share with you as well, just so you have kind of the breakdown of what that looks like.

All right. Thank you. Any other public comments in person or online? I do not see any online. I do not see any in person regarding item five. So I will close public comments on this item. Any comments from council members regarding consent item five? Council member Bavaro, did I see you? No, you did not do that. No other comments from council members? All right, I'm going to ask guidance from the city attorney. We have two resolutions. Are they separate votes or are they together? Okay, thank you very much for that. I have two resolutions, a resolution approving an agreement for the conveyance and purchase of right-of-way from the Sylvan Unified School District receiving 1.89 acres of public right-of-way for public infrastructure in an amount not to exceed $1,250,000 and authorizing the city manager or his designee to execute the agreement. a second resolution amending the fiscal year 2026-27 non-capital multi-year project revenue and expenditure budget to fund project number 101755 in the community facilities district number 2024-1 for the land acquisition purchase from the Sylvan Union School District in amount not to exceed $1,250,000 to fund the purchase and authorizing the city manager or his designee to implement the provisions of this resolution. Do I have a motion?

So moved. Second.

Moved by Council Member Bavaro, seconded by Vice Mayor Williams. Will the Clerk please call the roll for this item?

Council Member Bavaro? Aye. Vice Mayor Williams? Aye. Council Member Wright? Aye. Council Member Skoutia-Breton? Aye. Council Member Alvarez? Aye. Council Member Rickey?

Aye.

And Mayor Zwollin?

Aye. Carries unanimously. Next is, excuse me, Consent Item 9. Consider approving the plans and specifications for the airfield lighting control and monitoring system and constant current regulator upgrades project, accepting the bid and awarding a contract to Shane Brown Electric of Woodland, California for a total amount not to exceed $534,050. We will have a staff report.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you. My name is Chad Reed, the Director of Public Works. And tonight's item is to provide airfield lighting and control upgrade to the airport. The project is estimated at about $534,000. We're recommending that the contract be issued to Shane Brown Electric of Woodland, California. The project is 95% funded by the FAA and 5% funded by city funds. And that is my report on the project. I can answer any questions.

All right. Are there any questions from council members regarding consent item 9? Seeing none, I will open this up to the public. Is there any members of the public that could come forward or if you are participating remotely, please use the raise hand feature now or dial star nine on the telephone to indicate you wish to speak on this item. Welcome, Kevin.

Thank you. So I wanted to know, Mayor, if this is the blue lighting that is along the runways themselves Or is this the perimeter lighting that goes along the exterior of the runway? Thank you for your question.

And would you please respond so that we know?

Sure. This is for the airfield lighting. So the lighting along the airfield itself.

All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other public comments? I do not see any online. No one in person regarding this item, so I will close public comments. Any comments from council members? Excuse me.

Council member Alvarez. Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank everyone, all the residents who came and spoke on their concerns tonight.

Oh, this is we're still on consent item nine. All right. Sorry. Yes. Any other council comments on consent item nine? All right, seeing none, I need a- Motion to approve. Second. Excuse me, I'd like to be able to read the resolution first. A resolution approving the plans and specifications for the airfield lighting control and monitoring system and constant current regulator upgrades project, accepting the bid and awarding a contract to Shane Brown Electric of Woodland, California in the amount of $485,500 and authorizing change orders up to a cumulative amount of $48,550 for a total agreement amount not to exceed $534,050 and authorizing the city manager or his designee to execute the contract. Do I have a motion? Move by Council Member Wright, second by Council Member Rickey. Will the clerk please call the roll for this item? Council Member Bavaro? Aye.

Vice Mayor Williams? Aye. Council Member Wright? Aye. Council Member Skoutia-Breaton? Aye. Council Member Alvarez? Aye. Council Member Rickey? Aye. And Mayor Zwollin?

Aye. Carries unanimously. Next on the agenda is council comments and reports. Do any of the council members have any comments and reports? Unfortunately, so many people are not here to hear them and this is our comments. You have a question?

Yes, Mayor. I would like to ask the city attorney for guidance on how we would put an agenda item to have a moratorium. Is this the time to bring this up or how do we do this?

the mayor sure um please so come on right push the mic right you usually uh if in the way that the the council has done it before is during this time if there was a request a motion can be made to place an item uh on a future agenda um if it comes with the council

All right. First name I see is Council Member Bavaro.

No, it's actually Jeremiah who's asking the question.

Next is Council Member Alvarez.

Thank you, Mayor. As you stated, I wish that this is a packed council chamber. I think the frustration lies in not hearing us respond substantively, which we cannot. We could respond to inquiries or public comment just, you know, just a little, just... NOT SUBSTANTIVELY, RIGHT? BUT THIS IS THE TIME DURING OUR COUNCIL COMMENTS WHERE WE CAN RESPOND WITH SUBSTANCE. SO THIS IS WHY I ALWAYS SHARE MY COUNCIL COMMENTS ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS IN CASE YOU GUYS FOLLOW ME OR DON'T FOLLOW ME THERE. I'LL REPOST THIS IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. I want to talk about four things tonight. I want to talk about data centers. I want to talk about pop-ups. I want to talk about the low-riding event that was shut down that was brought up by a member of the public. And I want to address cameras and LPR technology. So I'll first start with data centers. So I want to thank everyone again who has taken the time to share their concerns regarding data centers. I hear you, we hear you, and we take those concerns seriously. As I previously stated on the record with the Modesto focus, the city has a responsibility to conduct research and understand the facts. Our decisions must ultimately be based on what is in the best interest of Modesto residents. For that reason, I would support a moratorium to be brought before the council on a future agenda. Next, I want to talk about pop-ups. I appreciate the city staff, our deputy city manager, Allison VanGilder, for meeting with representatives of our pop-up community. And those discussions on a path forward have begun. Economic development isn't just about attracting large employers or major developments. It's also about creating an environment where local entrepreneurs and small businesses have an opportunity to grow. I believe we have a responsibility to look creatively at how we can accomplish pop-up events while maintaining appropriate health, safety, and accountability standards. That includes a separate, lightweight permitting track for small, low-risk events, a micro-permit process that is faster and more affordable, or identifying appropriate or identifying appropriate locations such as downtown plazas or underutilized commercial parking lots, as I previously stated, where these events can operate with clearly established guidelines. I'm not suggesting that we compromise our standards in any way. I'm asking that we find a way to meet those standards without creating unnecessary barriers to economic activity. Other communities in our surrounding area and our region are finding ways to make this work and I believe Modesto can too. So I'd like staff to continue working with representatives of the pop-up community and bring us a creative workable options for moving forward. Next I want to address the low-riding event that was shut down I think about the end of July. I don't recall the exact date, but I can get that in the future. So I wanna clarify the facts regarding the recent Lowrider event that was shut down. So the issue was not with the Lowrider community or the gathering in and of itself. The event did not have the proper permits required for activities taking place, including the sale and particularly including the sale of merchandise and amplified music or a DJ. I know these organizers personally as I'm active in the Modesto Classic car scene in the lowrider community. This is my brother, my dad. These are our friends. These are our community members that we all know each other's families. So they were informed before the event and they were informed of the appropriate permits that were required. They knew what was expected and ultimately proceeded without obtaining them. So I think it's important that we stick to the facts Facts of which they know. The organizers are aware of what occurred and why the event was politely asked to shut down. And we look forward to working with these organizers moving forward to help them even get just know-how on how to fill out these applications for permits for future events. And then lastly, I want to talk about cameras and LPR technology. So I understand these are issues that need to be calibrated, but we should not lose sight of why these tools exist in the first place. To deter crime, identify those responsible, and protect our community. We've already seen the public benefit of these technologies. Copper wire theft from HVAC systems on the roof of a local business on Crows Landing Road in District 2. Camera technology helped provide accountability of who committed the crime and resulted in protecting a local mom and pop business. STOLEN TRAILERS. LICENSE PLATE READER TECHNOLOGY HELPED IDENTIFY AND RECOVER STOLEN PROPERTY THAT OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST TO THE OWNERS. THIS IS IN THE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THAT WAS RECOVERED AND RETURNED TO THE APPROPRIATE OWNERS BECAUSE OF LPR'S. VANDALISM OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROPERTY. CAMERA FOOTAGE HAS PROVIDED EVIDENCE TO IDENTIFY THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR DEFACING AND DESTROYING PROPERTY OF OTHERS AND HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE CRIMES. THESE ARE REAL EXAMPLES OF THESE TOOLS BENEFITING OUR RESIDENTS, OUR BUSINESSES, OUR LOCAL MOM AND POP SHOPS THAT ARE BARELY MAKING IT IN TODAY'S ECONOMY. AND ULTIMATELY OUR NEIGHBORHOODS, KEEPING THEM SAFE. So I'd recommend the city and Modesto Police Department continue to address legitimate implementation concerns while preserving tools, these tools that produce public safety results. Results that have resulted in double digit decreases in commercial theft and residential theft. The city's intent is clear. Deter crime, protect the public, recover stolen property, and hold those who commit crimes accountable. Calibration, of course, can be calibrated on the issues that were set forth by the public. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Scoody-Brington.

Thank you, Mayor. Modesto really shined, and it came out in its ultimate beauty last week during a national night out. And we all had the opportunity, all the council members, to engage actively with our first responders, the firefighters, the police department, and other first responder personnel with our community. All the community parties that we all participated in were done over hours in over three digit degree. It was over 100 degrees. So but nevertheless, it was a joy to have community engage with city officials and and just build bridges, strengthen our communication and our trust. And again, just it brought out the beauty that is Modesto. So I really enjoyed my time during National Night Out In regards to everyone that came out today, as strong as the passion was in voicing everyone's concern, it was delightful to see this many people be passionate and have their opinion expressed. Being an effective official, in my opinion, requires us to listen to everyone that comes to these council meetings, whether it's a 15-minute public comment session or over a three-hour public comment session as it was tonight. Also, we are required not only out of BEING AN EFFECTIVE ELECTED OFFICIAL, BUT MORALITY TO LISTEN TO OTHERS AS WELL, AS WE DO BY THE MULTIPLE EMAILS THAT WE RECEIVE, AS WE DO BY THE MULTIPLE CALLS, TEXTS, PEOPLE THAT COME TO OUR OFFICES IN PERSON. SO WE ARE REQUIRED TO LISTEN TO THEM AS WELL. AND WE ARE REQUIRED, AND IT IS OUR DUE DILIGENCE TO LISTEN TO OUR CITY STAFF THAT DO THEIR DUE DILIGENCE And thoughtfully and thoroughly going out there and getting factual data and doing finding out turning over every stone they need to turn over to come back and brief us with the good, the bad and the ugly. And it's only after all that takes place that we can make a comprehensive. Informed decision. Doing otherwise would be irresponsible. I, of course, have an opinion on data centers. It actually is not that different from what was said here today. BUT I FEEL IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY, ONCE AGAIN, TO LISTEN TO EVERYONE. AND THOSE IN THIS ROOM, AS I VERY RESPECTFULLY, AS WE VERY RESPECTFULLY DID, BUT EVERYONE THAT APPROACHES US WITH A THOUGHT OR AN OPINION ON THE SAME SUBJECT. I AM OPEN TO HAVING A CONVERSATION AROUND A MORATORIUM, A LENGTHY MORATORIUM. I AM OPEN TO HAVING A CONVERSATION ABOUT BANNING IT ALL TOGETHER. But it's not if that conversation is going to happen. It's when that conversation is going to happen. I personally will be prepared to have that conversation only once I have spoken to all those groups because the input, the collective input from all those groups, it's what's going to inform and influence my decision. I feel that's the fair approach and the responsible thing to do. So I just wanted to share that with you all. Thank you.

Next, we have Councilmember Rickey, but we will defer to Vice Mayor Williams at this time, and then I will get back to Councilmember Rickey.

Thank you, Mayor. Late June, there was a situation that took place at Beyer Park. Four individuals saved the life of a young man or individual by the name of Larry. He was dead in the restroom at Byer Park. And TJ found him as a softball teammate, saw him there, and four other individuals helped him to revive this individual. And I am very, very pleased to have given those four individuals certificates. The fire department gave them challenge coins, but two of them are here. Is George here today? George, or just... Just you, Royal. Royal, just step forward just a little bit so they can see who you are. But four of these individuals took the time out to save somebody. THEY'RE PHENOMENAL. IT'S REALLY, REALLY DIFFICULT FOR US TO ALWAYS ACKNOWLEDGE ANY AND EVERYBODY THAT DOES A LOT FOR OUR COMMUNITY ALONGSIDE OUR PUBLIC AND FIRST RESPONDERS. BUT WE COMMEND YOU FOR TAKING TIME OUT TO SAVE THIS MAN'S LIFE. AND YESTERDAY WE WERE ABLE TO SHARE PIZZA TOGETHER AT MOUNTAIN MIKE'S, HAND YOU THE CERTIFICATES. GOD BLESS YOU AND THE REST OF THE FOUR FOR WHAT YOU DID. AND THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY TODAY, MAYOR. all right thank you um thank you and thank you so much for being here appreciate you three and a half hours he was here at 5 30 and to receive what we said this is being recorded so you can go back home and share that with the rest of the fellas who did that great work so thank you again and god bless you thank you uh council member ricky thanks mayor

I just want to thank everybody tonight for their thoughts on AI data centers. I know that they are going to have a huge impact, not only on our community, but on the world. And your opinions matter, and I'm glad that you shared them with us. My personal opinion is that based on your feedback, and not just here at this council meeting, but just the conversations people have been having online, the conversations that we've heard through the media, I think the city should impose a moratorium on data centers and I also am interested in the city exploring an ordinance that bans AI data centers altogether. I have serious concerns about data centers. I think that they use far too much energy and that energy use has dramatic impact on residential rates and that's not something that I support. Their water use is also, you know, is very questionable to me and I think also impacts not only our water supply but also our water rates. And I also believe that there are serious concerns on the impacts of AI data centers on people's jobs prospects, people's job prospects here in Modesto. And so I just think that we need to be proactive. We need to listen to our community and we need to work to protect our community. Thank you, Mayor.

You're welcome. Next, Councilmember Wright.

Thank you, Mayor. I, too, wanted to just thank everybody who came out to National Night Out in my district. And there was, I think we had 10 different parties going on, and I wasn't able to get to all of them. But it was a great night. Weather was actually cooler than I thought it was going to be, which was nice for all of us. One of the things I want to talk a little bit about tonight is all the residents that came out speaking about data centers. It's always been my priority to protect their residents here in Modesto, our quality of life, our environment and our water, and we do what's best for our city. And I think those are the key factors that all of us here on this council look at and that we want to do what's best for this city. Water is important. The city of Modesto has done a great job. We've cut our water use by 40% over the last 20 years, and that is fantastic. Our reserves and our groundwater is one of the highest levels that you will see anywhere in California. Our electric rates are some of the lowest here in the in California so those are items that we really need to look at to protect and So those are the areas that I look for when anything comes to this council no matter what it is Making sure that our residents are protected our waters protected our quality of life here is protected and also What can we do to bring more? quality jobs to this area. Anyway, thank you, Mayor, for letting me speak. All right.

Yes. All right. I see some more names, again, repeating. Nick Bavaro.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to, I was originally gonna talk about my write out with the police department, my quarterly write out, and also, you know, national night out. I'll save that for the next meeting due to time. But I just wanted to say a few things about the data centers. And quite honestly, the council works in the beginning of the year, January, February, city management, will listen to the council on what our priorities are and our vision on how we're going to move forward with the City of Modesto. And you know we talked about the priorities this year were the general plan, homeless shelters, dealing with the homeless shelters in our city, the public safety, negotiating a new service agreement with the garbage haulers and making that more transparent and as well as the landscaping contract. So there's a lot of things on our plate this year that the city council has worked hard and kept very busy. So when the data centers came up in my email couple, maybe a week and a half ago, this was really like kind of caught me off guard and like where is this coming from? And so really don't have a background. I have not done any due diligence. I haven't really had any in-depth staff briefings on data centers and so, You know, somebody came up to speak, a gentleman back here a little while ago, said that he apologized that he wasn't prepared with his comments. And, you know, I am not prepared to make any votes on data centers at this time. I have to do my due diligence. You know, my district that I represent expects me to do my job and to do it thoroughly without knee-jerk reaction. and whelm of people bringing arguments to a council pro and con about a topic. So I really need to be prepared. And I also need to listen to our staff, our city management, who really gets in the weeds on the due diligence. But the bottom line is that I agree with what was said tonight by a lot of people. But, you know, we need to make sure that the most important thing is that our quality of life vision is not disrupted. We need to make sure that we maintain the course, and this stuff takes time. There is not an application for data centers. I have not been contacted by anybody to lobby me or talk to me. And whoever, I meet with everybody. Even if I disagree with them, I'm going to meet with them. That's my job. And so I would support a moratorium only if the data center companies were pushing back and challenging the city's position that it's not allowed because it's not in our municipal code at this time. So if that was challenged, I would say, yeah, let's move forward with the moratorium. But this council does not, or any council, really, does not vote the next meeting on a knee-jerk reaction. Everything is thoroughly vetted and we are then meet with our constituents in our districts and get feedback. So that's my position. And like I say, I just need to do the research necessary to make the right long-term decision and on my vote. Thank you, mayor.

You're welcome. Council member Alvarez.

Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate that, Council Member Bavaro, that very, very thoughtful summary. I have done a relatively thorough research on this subject over the past several years, called it a millennial thing. But I'm very in tune with AI's progression, data centers, water consumptions, closed loop water systems that are proposed that are just, they're not reusing millions of gallons of water over and over, or they're using millions of gallons of water over and over and not. NEW ONE MILLION HERE TODAY, ANOTHER MILLION TOMORROW. THEY'RE USING THE SAME CLOSED-LOOP SYSTEM. AND DESPITE THAT, I THINK THAT'S THE BIGGEST FACTOR ARE THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS. DESPITE THAT, I WOULD BE SUPPORTIVE WITH WHAT MY COLLEAGUE, COUNCILMEMBER RICKY PROPOSED, WHICH IS A POLL BAN ON DATA CENTERS IN THE CITY OF MODESTA BECAUSE I JUST DON'T THINK EVEN IF THE RESEARCH IS CONDUCTED. I DON'T THINK THAT THE COST BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE COST HERE. JUST FLAT OUT AND SIMPLE. I DON'T THINK THAT THAT IS THERE. WHEN I WEIGH THE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS, I THINK THERE'S MORE COST TO THE RESIDENCE OF MODESTO'S QUALITY OF LIFE THAN THE BENEFITS OF A DATASET ARE BEING STOOD UP by an out of the state corporation, period.

Thank you, Mayor.

You're welcome. Vice Mayor Williams.

Thank you, Mayor. I wholeheartedly agree with everything that was said here on the council, my colleagues. 100%, the fact of the matter is, as has been stated two weeks ago or so, this was dropped on our laps as council people, and to represent you, we're still trying to get Head to I'm trying to still get my head wrapped around the whole situation. However, I California is a big place in my opinion. There's other places it can go There's other places it can flourish maybe even better Hopefully better than here due to the fact that we know nothing about I know nothing about it And I appreciate those who have already looked into it. I appreciate each and every one that have come here tonight and to voice their opinion. I would ask respectfully, though, that you at least could have been a little more kind towards us, because we don't know any more than what you know, but the point of it is that I'm trying to say is I'm hoping that there's another place for the data center other than Modesto, and that's all I'm saying. Thank you, Mayor.

You're welcome. Any other comments at this time? All right, I'll end with my remarks. A lot of things were said this evening, and much was discussed about losing trust in our council. Recently, I've been accused of secret meetings, so I thought that I would share a little bit about my schedule. because there have been no secret meetings on any topic that was discussed this evening. So I thought I would share a little bit about on Wednesday, July 22nd, I attended the California Bioeconomy Innovation Campus Open House, which was discussed tonight being circular. It is an incredibly exciting opportunity for our community. And I encourage everyone that was involved here tonight to learn much more about it. I attended the Steve May End of Watch Memorial flag raising, honoring one of our police officers that lost his life in the line of duty. I attended the Gifted Little Ones play in sensory grand opening, ribbon cutting, an exciting place where children with many special needs will have a play place. to go and love in our beautiful city. I attended a Sister Cities barbecue with two young students from Laval, France that were enjoying Modesto and everything that we have to offer here. Participated on July 29th in the Women's Council of Realtors called Pumps and Politics Panel. It was incredibly inspiring to be in a room full of dozens and dozens of women that are interested in local politics. Thursday, July 30th, I met with Carson Wells, our new reporter from KCRA3. She graduated from Grigori High School. a college graduate that is now working for Channel 3, and I've seen her on the news many, many times since, an inspiring young woman. We heard a lot tonight about including young people. I went on a Modesto City Schools facility bus tour and saw all the incredible work that's been done on our schools. That was Monday, August 3rd. That same day, I went to Johansen High School with Mariana Nunez to do a podcast called Be the Change. Be the change. Another inspiring moment with young people in our community. Tuesday, August 4th, Crystal Creamery celebrated its 125th anniversary employee appreciation event in our city. It was so exciting to be there to help them celebrate. Also that day met with Sammy Easton, field representative for Senator Adam Schiff. to discuss our priorities in the city of Modesto. August 4th, that was mentioned, National Night Out. What a beautiful evening in Modesto to celebrate all the neighborhood parties and family celebrations and neighbors just enjoying being together. August 7th, the Mary Grogan phase two ribbon cutting, which is just a dream 40 years ago for our city. And now that beautiful play structure and those soccer fields are used with thousands and thousands of children enjoying soccer tournaments. just today tuesday august 11th gallus center for the arts had a volunteer appreciation lunch with 175 volunteers some of them individually donate thousands of hours at our center for the arts to improve our community i'm so inspired every day by this city and today was no exception thank you as i mentioned at the beginning we always welcome the community's comments and appreciate everyone who's taken the time to share their thoughts Tonight, we were accused, some of us, of not writing our comments down. Do you know at these very meetings, I've been blasted for writing comments. Tonight, we were accused of not writing them. Every one of these comments will be noted in the minutes. They're tracked and they're in our minutes for anyone that wants to read them. That's all in the spirit of transparency. If I heard correctly, there may have been a little threat of violence to us or to our families. We hear you. I served eight years on the Modesto City Schools Board of Education and five and a half years on this council. That's 13 and a half years of participating in meetings just like this. And I guarantee you, if a comment is made on any item that is not on an agenda, that that is a slap in the face of transparency and public trust. Because the whole community has not had the opportunity to hear these discussions tonight, nor even see an agenda item. And that is by law the essence of public trust and transparency. That's the reason why I do what I do. So I hope that we can restore public trust if there's any that has been lost. It is my great desire to have trust in our community, and I feel that this council has done a really good job of establishing that trust, and I want that to continue. Thank you so much for your engagement tonight. Do any of the council members have any other further comments or reports? Seeing none, does our city manager have any comments or reports?

My first update is that the city is hosting a community meeting on the Pelindell Streetscape Improvement Project. It will be Thursday, this Thursday, August 13th at 6 o'clock at Mildred Perkins Elementary School. My second update is the recent fatal collision involving an EBOC rider is a heartbreaking reminder of how essential it is for everyone to prioritize safety on our roads and trails. Our community continues to grieve this loss and C remains committed to taking meaningful steps to help prevent future tragedies. In response to growing safety concerns and the increased use of bicycles, e-bikes, and other similar modes of transportation, the city has been working to strengthen our municipal code. We are finalizing the proposed updates, which include clear guidelines, restrictions, and regulations in certain areas, and increased penalties for violations. We hope to bring this to the council in the very near future. Mayor, if you don't mind, I think I will weigh in a little bit on the data center just to provide some clarity of what has actually transpired. We do not have an active application for a data center in Modesto. It was a general inquiry. The city has not been asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement. We haven't even been presented with one. One hasn't even been contemplated in this situation. We've had maybe one to two calls even inquiring about what a data center, if a data center could come to Modesto. Our response remains the same. Our code does not allow for data centers in the city of Modesto. With that being said, we can, and we are exploring what a moratorium would look like. However, if the code is silent in this situation, they're not allowed anyway, and it would require a code amendment for a data center to be brought to Modesto. So if our goal is ultimately to ban data centers here in Modesto, we can simply update our code to make them prohibited in city limits outside of doing a moratorium. That's not saying that we may not do a moratorium, but we're determining the necessity of a moratorium because it's not allowed anyway. And so any changes that would need to occur would require the same kind of code amendment, whether we ban or have them. And clearly we're hearing loud and clear from our community this evening. We're hearing loud and clear from the Mayor and City Council on their positions with respect to data centers. We'll continue to do our due diligence and see the steps we need to take to best protect our community. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for your comments. Are there any matters too late for the agenda? Seeing none, I'm calling this meeting of the City Council be adjourned.