{"id":8000,"date":"2026-08-30T12:06:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T12:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8000"},"modified":"2026-08-30T12:06:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T12:06:35","slug":"billionaire-backed-data-center-proposals-cause-rift-in-oakland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8000","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire-backed data center proposals cause rift in Oakland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OAKLAND \u2013 Hundreds gathered recently in Oakland\u2019s Fruitvale neighborhood to voice opposition over plans to build new data centers in the city. By the end of the night, a rift was exposed between a progressive Oakland councilwoman and leftists who want a ban on the controversial facilities.<\/p>\n

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During an Aug. 21 meeting organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, members said the environmental and economic harm data centers, which help power emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, pose would continue Oakland\u2019s history of actions negatively affecting the working class.<\/p>\n

For weeks, the group has been organizing a \u201cNo Data Centers In Oakland\u201d petition it says has garnered over 6,700 signatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cShut it down,\u201d protesters shouted repeatedly during the meeting at the Oakland Liberation Center.<\/p>\n

As tensions rose, Oakland Councilwoman Carroll Fife spoke up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rhetoric that is happening online is going to get this organization labeled as a terrorist organization because people in the comments are talking about burning down buildings and killing people,\u201d Fife said.<\/p>\n

For an hour, Fife\u2019s team and party members argued over whether the political organization had instigated a firestorm online against the councilwoman after inflammatory comments on its social media claimed she was in favor of data center development \u2013 which Fife has denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this fight is going to continue and grow into a movement, then you\u2019ve got to be precise,\u201d Fife said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Companies backed by tech billionaires Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Colin Behring, chief executive officer of the Behring Company, recently announced plans to build data centers in Oakland.<\/p>\n

Prometheus, an AI startup co-founded by Bezos and former Google executive Vik Bajaj, recently signed a lease for 100,000 square feet of space in the American Steel Blocks building on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland, according to the San Francisco Business Times. Tesla also signed a lease for another 40,000 square feet in the same building.<\/p>\n

The Behring Company, which describes itself as a \u201cvertically integrated real estate development and private equity platform,\u201d also recently announced plans for a new 20,000-square-foot data center in a former Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory facility at 415 20th St. in the Uptown neighborhood. Because the building was previously used for supercomputing work, the company said its project should be able to skirt some permit requirements.<\/p>\n

Prometheus and Tesla did not return requests for comment on this story. The Behring Company stated it chose its site because of its energy delivery potential, the building\u2019s former capabilities and its close proximity to BART and nearby housing developments.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is fair to ask what a building like this means for jobs in Oakland. The honest answer is that the future use of 415 20th Street has not been decided, so any specific jobs figure for it would be a guess,\u201d the company stated online.<\/p>\n

Hiu Yung Wong, a computer science expert and professor at San Jose State University, acknowledged that little is known about the types of facilities that Prometheus, Tesla and Behring Company are planning. But in general, he said, most data centers \u201cconsume a lot of power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with power, data centers typically also need water for uses such as cooling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith some big data centers, they\u2019re consuming 100,000 to 1 million gallons of water every day,\u201d Wong said. \u201cThat\u2019s equivalent to about 10,000 to 100,000 people\u2019s daily water usage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Data centers nationwide have been criticized for displacing minorities and working-class families, and causing disruptions to utilities such as electricity and water. In Georgia, the state\u2019s electric utility company, Georgia Power, is forcing families to move from their homes to make way for a new power line meant to predominantly serve new data centers, according to CBS News.<\/p>\n

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With that in mind, the socialist party is taking a hard line against such facilities in Oakland.<\/p>\n

As vitriol locally against data centers has spread, so have \u201cattacks\u201d against Fife, the councilwoman said. Fife said she received death threats after she appeared beside the Behring Company\u2019s CEO at an Aug. 14 news conference.<\/p>\n

Adi Varshneya, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, told Bay Area News Group the death threats were \u201cunacceptable\u201d and said the organization was not behind those who made them.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarroll Fife is not the enemy and we don\u2019t see her as such. We would love for her to be an ally in this fight. I know she\u2019s championed causes in the past against Flock. And we believe she\u2019ll be an ally against the data centers in Oakland,\u201d Varshneya said.<\/p>\n

Fife said she has been working on a proposal for a moratorium on data centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t approved nothing. It just got in front of the planning department,\u201d Fife said. \u201cThe tactics when you are attacking your allies are wrong. I\u2019ve got y\u2019all, I do. But y\u2019all have got to do it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other local lawmakers have their own thoughts on the tech industry\u2019s foray into Oakland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want to see right now is more transparency on what is being proposed. I think in order to assess the merits of the project, more information needs to be available,\u201d Councilwoman Charlene Wang told Bay Area News Group. \u201cI want to make sure that as AI has the potential to proliferate here, we really do have the safe guards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Rowena Brown in November 2025 championed legislation that brought \u201cResponsible AI Activation Zones\u201d to Laney College, Mills College at Northeastern University, and the Unity Tech Hub.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal isn\u2019t to tell Oaklanders they should use AI. It\u2019s to make sure they have the knowledge, skills, and access to make that choice for themselves,\u201d Brown said. \u201cChoosing not to use AI should be an informed decision, not the result of never having had access to the tools, education, or opportunities in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oakland Rep. Lateefah Simon told Bay Area News Group she is in communication with Prometheus and is \u201ctracking\u201d the Behring Company project.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike many people across the nation, I am concerned about the proliferation of data centers and their impacts on our communities,\u201d Simon said. \u201cI will do everything I can to ensure that community voices are at the table and that we are centered in these developments and get the transparency and protections we deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venture capitalist Drew Glover said the conversation around data centers should be deeper than a straight denial.<\/p>\n

Glover is the co-founder of Fiat Ventures, a San Francisco-based firm that invests in tech and AI companies. He said he grew up in Oakland around High Street and MacArthur Boulevard before moving to Marin over a decade ago, but regularly brings his family to visit his mother, a retired Oakland Unified School District principal who still lives in Oakland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to say I\u2019m supportive, but what I am supportive of is us underwriting properly every opportunity that shows up at our front door like this,\u201d Glover said. \u201cAt the end of the day, this is an opportunity for us to be included in the AI zeitgeist, the AI culture, the AI boom. And I think that\u2019s worth a greater conversation than people just saying no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers for the Party for Socialism and Liberation disagree.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI data centers have been appearing across the country, predicting massive profits for the ultra wealthy, while promising pollution, water contamination, and displacement for surrounding working-class communities. When the ultra-wealthy invest in AI, it is always with the goal of increasing their profits by eliminating jobs,\u201d the party said in a statement Friday. \u201cThis fight is about more than just one data center, it\u2019s about who decides the future of Oakland.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hundreds recently voiced opposition over plans to build new AI data centers in Oakland, causing a rift between a progressive Oakland councilwoman and leftists who want a ban on the controversial facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBillionaire-backed data center proposals cause rift in Oakland - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Billionaire-backed data center proposals cause rift in Oakland - 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