New Brunswick, New Jersey, pulled off a quick win. A developer wanted to put a 27,000-square-foot data center at 100 Jersey Avenue in a 22-acre redevelopment zone.

Residents got wind of it and showed up in force—hundreds packed the city council meeting on February 18th. They were worried about skyrocketing electric and water bills, massive energy use for cooling servers, and the strain on a working-class Black and Brown neighborhood.

The council listened, voted unanimously to yank data centers from the permitted uses, and brought back plans for a public park instead. The site’s still getting about 600 apartments, some affordable, plus startup spaces—but no data center.

It’s one of those rare cases where a community moved fast and actually stopped it. Want me to dig into the specific concerns or how they organized?

They found out just nine days before the February 18th council meeting — word got around fast in the neighborhood. Hundreds showed up, way more than the room could hold, with people outside chanting.

The council saw the turnout and, before public comment even started, announced they were pulling data centers from the plan and putting the park back in.

The big worries were sky-high electric and water bills — data centers suck massive power and water for cooling — plus it hitting a working-class Black and Brown community hard. Folks from the NAACP, Rutgers students, and local activists all spoke up, framing it as environmental justice.

The site’s still getting about 600 apartments, some affordable, plus startup spaces, but no data center. It’s a rare quick win where showing up actually changed the plan.