In Spanish and in church, Pittsburg residents press city on data center

For the past 57 years, Elvera Cerda has attended Spanish mass every Sunday at Saint Peter Martyr Church in Pittsburg. But on the evening of Oct. 28, she and about 150 local Spanish-speaking residents filled the pews for a different kind of gathering: a formal community meeting with Pittsburg city officials about the 300,000-square-foot data center set to be built in their city.

“It interested me because my children are here, my grandchildren — my whole family is here [in Pittsburg],” Cerda, 78, said in Spanish about the meeting. “And I worry because they could develop things like asthma, lung cancer, and so on because of the data center.”

Since June, residents have flooded city council meetings to express their opposition to the construction of a data center by developer AVAIO Digital, which is set to be the first phase of Pittsburg Technology Park — a three-part development project that the Pittsburg City Council approved in 2024 with a unanimous 5-0 vote.

“Help us remember that every person has sacred dignity, and that all technological progress must serve life, justice, and the common good,” said Father Jesus Nieto-Ruiz in Spanish as he led the opening prayer at the Oct. 28 church meeting. “Today, we place our concerns regarding the construction of the data center in Your hands.”

Nearly one in three Pittsburg residents are Spanish-speaking, and approximately 43% of the city’s total population is Hispanic or Latino. In late July, Father Jesus as part of Faith in Action East Bay, approached the city about potentially hosting a meeting in Spanish with residents to address their concerns on the data center project — many of whom say they were left in the dark during its approval process.

“What we proposed to the city manager at the time is we need a space where the Spanish-speaking community can go to a place they trust and feel comfortable with and you’re able to provide a safe space where people can hear this information,” said Maria Reyes, a 20-year Pittsburg resident, parishioner, and participating member of Faith in Action East Bay. The city was responsive, she said, and began planning the meeting in late August for an October session.

Just two days before the gathering, the city council voted in a special meeting to approve a 45-day moratorium on all future phases of the AVAIO project, as well as on new data center development. The decision followed months of pressure from residents, who launched a petition earlier this summer calling for a moratorium on the construction of the data center that garnered almost 30,000 signatures.

While the moratorium applies to phases two and three of the AVAIO project, it excludes phase one with the data center’s construction, which is set to begin in 2027. Following the vote, many residents, including some who attended the church meeting, expressed their frustration with the moratorium because it will not halt construction of the data center.

Residents heard from Pittsburg City Manager Darin Gale, and Jordan Davis, Director of Community and Economic Development, as well as two city officials who interpreted for them in Spanish, during the Oct. 28 meeting. Community members gave testimony about their own health issues, and shared concerns about the data center’s impacts on their health. Dr. Laura Díaz and Dr. Zoel Quiñonez from non-profit Environmental Justice Forward were invited to the church to break down the environmental impact report of the project in Spanish for attendees.

“I am a daughter of this community — of Pittsburg and Antioch. Although I no longer live here, Pittsburg is the reason I research environmental toxins,” Díaz said in Spanish to the crowd.

Their presentation highlighted Pittsburg as an environmentally burdened community with high rates of asthma, diesel particulate matter, cardiovascular disease, and poor air quality, and the potential impacts of those factors.

“We are in a disadvantaged community,” Díaz said.

Afterward, city officials addressed questions that were submitted ahead of the meeting. The inquiries ranged from potential impacts to the community, water usage monitoring, and why the project can’t be stopped.

Gale said the city had already gone through the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process and that phase one for the initial data center will continue as planned. They told residents that the moratorium on future data center projects could be extended beyond 45 days, and Gale addressed the group in broken Spanish, saying, “I want to share everything about this project in this city even though it has already been approved,” he said. “We cannot change things, but we are trying to negotiate with the developer more and more each day.”

Claudia Mata, a longtime Pittsburg resident who has been following the data center plans after she learned about it this summer, attended the church meeting. She said she appreciated that it was held in Spanish.

“It is better when you hear information in your own language, without translation, because sometimes — especially when technology is involved — the translation is not accurate,” Mata said in Spanish.

She came into the meeting with one main question: How will the construction of the data center affect residents? She said she didn’t know until the church meeting about the potential impacts to respiratory problems, the heart, and more.

“I was surprised when they said that Pittsburg is one of the most polluted cities in the area,” Mata said. “So my thought was, ‘Well, if this is already happening, what will it be like once they build the data center?’ In other words, everything is going to get worse, and the situation will become even more serious.”

In the past month, other Bay Area cities have passed moratoriums on planned or existing data center projects. The Hayward City Council approved a 45-day moratorium on the consideration and approval of new data centers, and the Richmond City Council voted to extend its current moratorium for more than 22 months.

“As a city, we believe that people who are fearful and misinformed are the most easily manipulated,” Zuna Barker Portillo, Environmental Health and Safety Officer for the city said in Spanish to attendees toward the end of the meeting. “Therefore, we want to open those doors to provide information.”

Cerda balked at Barker Portillo’s statement and city officials’ responses during the meeting. “It feels like they’ve already made up their minds to go ahead with it, but they should have consulted the public first,” she said. “They only let us know once everything was already set up. To me, that’s an abuse of the people.”

Maria Reyes said this gathering is just the beginning, and that she hopes Spanish-speaking community members remain engaged about the data center and its potential impact.

“One possibility is meetings with the city council, meeting with the mayor,” Reyes said. “If there’s new city council members joining, being able to meet with them and understand [their stance] around the data center, are part of some of the upcoming next steps.”

Mata said she still wants the city to put a stop to the data center and she will continue to stay active by remaining involved with community organizations.

“We’re talking about people, not buildings,” Mata said in Spanish. “We are human beings who breathe the air that will be in this space, and it will affect all of us. Honestly, I don’t want them to open it.”

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