Cleveland City Council is preparing to extend the city’s moratorium on data centers for another three months. Council Member Brian Kazy said he plans to introduce legislation on Monday to continue the pause.
Passed this summer, the moratorium was meant to give City Hall time to draw up regulations for the centers, which have become central to the artificial intelligence boom.
Kazy, the chair of council’s Utilities Committee, convened a trio of public meetings on the topic. Council members also toured two local data centers, he said.
He took away from the hearings that most people oppose the “hyperscale” centers that require large amounts of energy to power AI. He drew a distinction between those centers and small and medium-sized facilities that form part of the infrastructure of the internet.
Now the city needs 90 more days “to assure that we get this thing right,” Kazy told Weekly Chatter.
Democrats try to rock the southwest suburbs
Strongsville is a Republican stalwart in strongly Democratic Cuyahoga County. But Democrats hope to unseat the suburb’s longtime County Council representative this fall.
Council Member Mike Gallagher faces a Democratic opponent for the first time since 2010, when he originally won his seat with 59% of the vote. Democrats have already flipped the other two GOP seats on the 11-member council.
Democratic challenger Courtney Scheff, an attorney and former prosecutor, has the support of County Executive Chris Ronayne, who has accused Gallagher of trying to “thwart progress.” A critic of the administration, Gallagher has embraced Ronayne’s opposition.
Despite Ronayne’s support, Scheff told Weekly Chatter that she “absolutely” could serve as a check on the Democratic executive.
Asked about the county’s budget troubles, she suggested consolidating programs and holding down department spending. Scheff said she wouldn’t have voted for a new building department the county created last year, for instance.
Both candidates emphasized their ability to reach across the aisle. The Republican-leaning district reaches beyond Strongsville to include North Royalton, Berea, Olmsted Falls and Olmsted Township.
President Donald Trump won the district by about 5 percentage points in 2024. Can a down-ballot Democrat win there? Scheff argued that, nationwide, voters are tiring of Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress.
“Whether that translates into the district, I don’t know,” she said. “But I believe it will. I think that people are kind of fed up with the same old thing over and over again.”
Rainbow Terrace family goes to court
The estate of Cordale Sheffield, the man who died from burns he received in last year’s explosion and fire at Rainbow Terrace, has brought a wrongful death lawsuit over the blast.
Sheffield’s estate is suing Enbridge Gas, the owner of the apartment building and others. Attorneys for the estate focused on a gas line at the site, writing that it was decades old. The suit also cites a finding by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio that, after the blast, Enbridge removed pipes in such a way that they “could not be leak tested.”
An investigation by the City of Cleveland pointed to a gas leak as the likely fuel for the explosion but said the ultimate cause was “undetermined.”
A spokesperson for Enbridge declined to comment on the suit but wrote in an email, “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragic event, particularly the Sheffield family.”
