A group of more than 100 City of Bloomington Township residents unanimously expressed their desire for a moratorium on large-scale data centers Monday night, and voted overwhelmingly to ask that Bloomington's 1% grocery tax be repealed.
The pair of issues — along with a measure to ban the transfer of weapons to a "dictatorship, apartheid state, or major violator of human rights" — were agenda items at a special township meeting.
The group spreading throughout the main floor of the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts was composed of registered voters in the township, verified upon entry. Their votes mean the three issues will be certified by township officials at an upcoming meeting and will appear on the November ballot.
The measures are advisory or non-binding, meaning the outcome simply expresses voter intent. It doesn’t mandate elected officials to act in accord with voter wishes.
Despite that, Zach Gittrich, one of the petitioners who submitted agenda items, said the township referendums are a way to make sure public officials know the will of the people — possibly at the same time as they’re facing an election themselves.
“So that when we do pick our United States representatives and we do pick our United States senators that absolutely decide this, they will know unequivocally what tens of thousands of Bloomingtonians thought about this question," Gittrich said.
Data centers
At the outset of the data center discussion, township clerk Leslie Yocum noted the Bloomington City Council passed a six-month moratorium on large data centers on May 25. But Sonny Garcia, the Central Illinois outreach coordinator for Faith in Place, said he doesn’t fully trust public officials.
“We want to make sure those elected officials on the city council level, on the county level and on the state level understand that the people in this community do not want data centers here that are unregulated, that don’t have any guardrails; that don’t have any guarantees that they are going to protect our water; or that our electric rates won’t go up; or that our air won’t be poisoned.”
Numerous voters who spoke agreed, expressing worry about resources such as water and power.
“Three months ago we didn’t have water,” said one speaker, identified as voter 213 to the group.
Most speakers were identified by registration number, not by name.
Others echoed Garcia’s suspicion that public officials might do an abrupt about-face when the six-month term expires. The wording of the amendment doesn’t specify a time frame for the moratorium, but several suggested it should run longer than six months.
Still others worried the centers help power AI’s push into the job market, threatening everything from art to music to even the medical field.
“I do not want to see my future being stripped away,” said another voter.
The vote was 111-0.
Sales tax
The group also voted overwhelmingly for a measure asking to remove the 1 percent grocery tax the city approved last year, saying the tax has a greater effect of people who make less money.
The tax replaced a state tax that lapsed at the end of last year, and city officials have said the roughly $3 million it brings in is needed for expenses such as infrastructure.
Some acknowledged the need for infrastructure improvements, but most speakers said the tax hits hard considering rising costs. Gittrich noted the war in Iraq affects both gas and fertilizer prices, two things that affect food prices.
“It’s like that Cardi B song— And it’s up, and it’s up, and it’s up, and it’s up,” said Gittrich, drawing a laugh from the crowd.
City Council member Mollie Ward, who voted against the tax last year, said she supported placing the question on the ballot, and pushed for more.
“If you really want to make a difference, the six people who were named are not going to be on the ballot in November," she said. "And they need to hear directly from you. Come to city council meetings, come to public comment, stand up, say what ward you live in, look them in they eye, and tell them that they need to change the way they voted on this. That will get their attention.”
Arms sales
The group also voted to place a referendum on the ballot asking for the federal government to ban the transfer of weapons to dictatorships, apartheid states or “major violators of human rights.”
Gittrich, the petitioner for this issue, said it wasn’t purely on moral grounds that he pushed the issue. “In the long run, we are undermining ourselves,” he said, suggesting the issue has real relevance to local residents.
"If you don’t think these issues have an effect on McLean County, I urge you to go to the gas station or grocery store and see how you’re being affected," he said.
Most were in support of the measure. Questions centered around who would define these terms, and whether the definitions would handcuff the nation in doing what needs to be done.
Gittrich countered that many policies and regulations in the U.S. and organizations such as the United Nations do define these issues. And ultimately, it was less important for the township to work out the details than to make the will of the people known.
"I am grateful we have this method of letting them know the general will of the people on specific issues,” he said.
