This morning, I am going to reveal something to you that no one else has been talking about. And let me put it out there with the hopes that good people in good places around Oregon listen to me and take action. Not just any action, but equitable and meaningful action. We are being fleeced as a Hillsboro community, as a County, a Region, and a State. In the ultimate shell game, we have allowed Data Center developers to take our best land, our water, and our power, to fill their pockets with all the money flowing out of the State. Who are they? Major private equity firms and investment groups, like BlackRock, own most of them, and their money isn’t staying in Oregon.
Data Centers Are Like Hotels-
Every day and every night, hotels in Hillsboro welcome travelers, hire housekeepers, staff their kitchens, and contribute to our community. For that privilege, they pay a 13.5% Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) on every room rented. That money has been earmarked for projects like the Hillsboro Hops’ new ballpark and local tourism. People rent rooms, cash flows into the economy, and Hillsboro is very much like an equity or silent partner. It’s a win-win!
Now compare that to the data centers rising all over our city. They consume staggering amounts of land and power, ship in hundreds of millions in tax-free servers and equipment, and leave behind noise, emissions, and infrastructure costs. Companies like T-5 have built massive structures along NE Huffman and Starr Street, which they, in turn, rent to companies like Flexential – a Co-Location agreement.
A retail colocation agreement is very similar to renting a hotel room , as companies lease specific spaces (racks) within a shared facility to house their equipment (servers). Both models provide guests/users with the necessary infrastructure (power, cooling, security) and amenities (connectivity, amenities, offices, meeting rooms, lounges) without requiring them to own or maintain the entire building, allowing them to focus on your core services rather than the underlying hardware…