San José already has about 20 data centers up and running, and city leaders are working to bring in many more — including a cluster of new projects in the small Alviso neighborhood that, together, could use more electricity in a day than an entire city its size normally does. City officials have offered developers streamlined help and guaranteed power hookups to attract this growth, even though a single data center permit can be approved by a planning director alone, without ever going before the City Council.

Meanwhile, residents living closest to these projects are raising alarms. Ken Thompson, who lives near a data center proposed for Silver Creek Valley Road, worries about the diesel backup generators, constant low-frequency noise, and toxic emissions that could land right next to homes, a park, and a hiking trail. Ellina Yin, who has tracked the region's data center growth closely, says nobody has studied what a buildout at this scale will do to public health, water supplies, or the power grid over time.

We're not against technology or jobs coming to San José. We're asking the city to hit pause: stop approving new data center permits until independent studies are done on air quality, water use, electricity demand, and noise — and until residents get a real voice before a project is approved, not after.

Decisions about our air, water, and power shouldn't be made quietly at a planning director's desk. Sign the petition to demand San José pause new data center approvals until the risks are fully studied.