{"id":338313,"date":"2026-09-04T19:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/338313\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T19:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:33:14","slug":"opposition-to-data-centers-makes-little-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/338313\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition to Data Centers Makes Little Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nForwarded this email? Sign up<\/a> for free to have it sent directly to your inbox.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"City<\/p>\n

Good morning,<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nToday, we\u2019re looking at\u00a0the value of data centers, the shortage of teacher aides in New York, the divide within Islam, and housing prices in Maryland.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nWrite to us at editors@city-journal.org<\/a> with questions or comments.<\/p>\n

\"Construction<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo credit: Photo by Joe Doll\/City Journal<\/p>\n

In just four years, spending on data-center construction has grown by about seven times. Among the five biggest companies building the centers, total capital expenditures could reach nearly $700 billion this year.<\/p>\n

\nWith this exploding spending and construction has come heated opposition. It\u2019s perplexing, Judge Glock argues, considering that data centers stand to bring in massive tax revenue and jobs, just like any other development project. And data centers pose lower fiscal costs than other projects and produce little pollution, making them \u201cone of the better deals around,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

\nRead on<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nIn July, the New York City Council unanimously passed a law to make $10,000 supplemental payments to public school paraprofessionals (non-teacher aides), ostensibly to address a shortage in those roles.<\/p>\n

\nCouncil Speaker Julie Menin argued that filling these roles will help the city reduce its ballooning costs relating to due-process claims and settlements of Carter cases, which arise when parents who believe the public schools can\u2019t support their children\u2019s special educational needs put them in private schools and ask the city to reimburse their tuition costs. The city currently spends $1.5 billion annually on these cases.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cA one-time $10,000 check for paraprofessionals won\u2019t solve the city\u2019s budget-busting Carter case costs,\u201d writes Jennifer Weber. Nor will it do much to help fill open paraprofessional roles. But it will benefit the city\u2019s powerful teachers\u2019 unions, she argues.<\/p>\n

\nRead here<\/a> for more on how New York City can hire more paraprofessionals without lining union coffers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nPost-9\/11, much of the Middle East and Asia has turned toward normalization, pragmatism, and acceptance of Western preeminence. In the West, however, Islam has become intertwined with postcolonial theory and Third-Worldism, which view Western imperialism as evil.<\/p>\n

\nExamples abound. Anti-Israel sentiment, once limited to Islamist organizations, is now pervasive within progressive politics. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed as the city\u2019s chief counsel Ramzi Kassem, who represented Ahmed al-Darbi after his conviction for the al-Qaeda-linked MV Limburg bombing. Iranian-aligned networks in places like Dearborn, Michigan, firmly oppose American influence. University encampments promote decolonization.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe version of Islam that has emerged within Western universities, activist groups, and progressive politics clashes with both the Western societies in which it operates and the Middle Eastern governments now abandoning revolutionary politics,\u201d Zineb Riboua writes.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nLocal government leaders across the country are rushing to address the problem of housing affordability. Unfortunately, as Adam Millsap notes, they frequently adopt \u201cquick fixes\u201d that fail to address the core problem\u2014or even make things worse.<\/p>\n

\nConsider Montgomery County, Maryland, where median home prices are five times the county\u2019s median income. To address this problem, lawmakers are considering the Anti-Algorithmic Price Fixing Act, which would restrict landlords from using software to help them determine rental rates\u2014a form of \u201ccollusion,\u201d proponents argue.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cPrice collusion is a legitimate concern, but it\u2019s not the primary driver of high housing costs,\u201d writes Millsap. \u201cThe real problem: years of underbuilding, caused by state and local policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read here<\/a> to see how overregulation is suppressing new housing construction and keeping affordability out of reach.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\u201cExcellent piece of investigative journalism. Funny how the pattern so closely matches the fraud uncovered in Minnesota. An especially nice touch was the \u2018lawyer\u2019 responding to questions about the company by alleging the reporters were \u2018homophobic.\u2019 In Minnesota, any questions about the Somali fraudsters were immediately countered with accusations of \u2018racism\u2019 and anti-Muslim animus. There\u2019s a certain consistency that indicates the Medicaid fraud in California will make the Minnesota-grown schemes seem small-time and insignificant in comparison.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 Manhattan Institute, All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forwarded this email? Sign up for free to have it sent directly to your inbox.\u00a0\u00a0 Good morning, \u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-338313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}