Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti this week said if a company wants to call Lackawanna County home, residents should see the benefit, not just the corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cData centers should be built on brownfields and former industrial sites, not areas that could be used for housing, schools, or parks,\u201d Cognetti said.<\/p>\n
Cognetti\u2019s administration has taken proactive steps to regulate any potential data center development within city limits.<\/p>\n
Last week, Scranton City Council introduced proposed amendments to Scranton\u2019s zoning ordinance that would define data centers, set stringent regulations for them, and change the zoning map to establish an overlay district called a \u201cTechnology and Energy Overlay.\u201d<\/p>\n
To date, the Cognetti administration has not received any indication that data center development within city limits is being sought.<\/p>\n
Cognetti is also aware of the number of proposed data centers throughout the 8th Congressional District, noting that she is the Democratic nominee for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Dallas Township.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are dozens of data center proposals across Lackawanna County,\u201d Cognetti said.<\/p>\n
Cognetti said she has been attending meetings and talking to folks across the community about these proposals, and she wanted to take a moment to share how she\u2019s thinking about the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis technology is moving fast, but our responsibility to our neighbors has to move faster,\u201d Cognetti said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be afraid of innovation, but we must be firm on the \u2018how.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Bresnahan campaign statement<\/p>\n
Chris Pack, spokesperson for the Bresnahan campaign, issued the following statement when asked for Bresnahan\u2019s position on data centers:<\/p>\n
\u201cUnlike Mayor Cognetti, who has flip-flopped her position on data centers multiple times in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding with labor unions, Rob Bresnahan has been consistent that if data centers are built, those decisions should be made by local elected officials, and local labor must be used on those projects. That\u2019s why local union organizations like LIUNA and IBEW are supporting Rob over Mayor Cognetti.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cognetti\u2019s \u2018non-negotiables\u2019<\/p>\n
Cognetti said, for her, \u201cdoing it right\u201d means a few non-negotiables:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Local union labor: These projects must be built by the men and women who live right here in our community.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Paying their own way: Big tech companies shouldn\u2019t get a free ride on our infrastructure. They need to provide their own water and electrical resources \u2014 not strain yours.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Everyone at the table: We need the tech companies, local leaders, and labor unions in the same room. No \u201cshrouded in secrecy\u201d deals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about technology \u2014 it\u2019s about our water, our utility bills, and our community,\u201d Cognetti said. \u201cMy job is to make sure we aren\u2019t just reacting to growth, but shaping it to work for us. That\u2019s how I\u2019m thinking about data centers. I\u2019ll keep showing up to these meetings, advocating for our communities, and keep everyone posted on what I hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amendments to address data center development<\/p>\n
Cognetti said that by taking these proactive steps, the city will be in the driver\u2019s seat on the rules that the potential data center developers must follow. The administration is grateful for the City Council\u2019s support on this important issue, and Scranton\u2019s government will continue to work together to craft comprehensive regulations that ensure that the health and well-being of our residents and neighborhoods remain a top priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Administration has proudly encouraged business development in Scranton and welcomes investment that makes our community stronger, safer, and better,\u201d Cognetti said. \u201cBut Northeastern Pennsylvanians are a proud people with a long history of being taken advantage of by big companies. For generations, we\u2019ve heard big promises, been let down, and been left to pick up the pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cognetti said she has attended meetings on data centers, and her city team has been researching them and gathering information since last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear people\u2019s concerns in the grocery check out, at sports events with my kids, and when I attend public meetings,\u201d Cognetti said. \u201cAnd what I\u2019ve heard and what I personally believe is clear \u2014 if you want to build here, you have to be honest, respect, and listen to our communities, and any development in the city has to benefit Scranton families. You have to use union labor based here in Northeastern Pennsylvania, foot your own power bill, and not uproot our neighborhoods and quality of life. Under no circumstance can you pass the cost onto the nurses, teachers, small business owners, and laborers who are already struggling with rising prices.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve fought back against greedy utility companies looking to jack up electricity, water, and gas bills, and I\u2019ll fight just as hard against any data center builder who tries to shift the cost onto working families. We should focus on areas like brownfields and former industrial sites that cannot be built for housing or schools or recreation, and we need to make sure the process is transparent and gives residents time to weigh in. We also have to make sure any new development would not exacerbate stormwater issues or negate the progress we\u2019ve made protecting our neighborhoods from extreme weather and stormwater runoff.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti this week said if a company wants to call Lackawanna County home, residents should…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-146860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}