Public opinion is tilting against data centers as more hyperscale facilities crop up to house the computing power for artificial intelligence.
On the other hand, the executive secretary of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council is all for them. After all, construction workers are the ones building and wiring the data centers.
Construction tradesmen and women filled the room at a Cleveland City Council hearing this week on legislation temporarily pausing new data centers. And trades council leader Dave Wondolowski rejected Cuyahoga County’s new guidelines for handling data center developments.
The guidelines speak favorably of local data center moratoriums, which would give cities time to update their zoning rules. “Growth comes at a cost,” the guidelines say, putting pressure on energy and other resources.
Wondolowski took issue with that idea. He wrote in a letter to County Executive Chris Ronayne that Northeast Ohio was falling behind Central Ohio thanks to “Cuyahoga County bureaucrats” and “anti-innovation” policies.
“To be clear, NO GROWTH is exacting a tremendous cost from Cuyahoga County residents,” Wondolowski’s letter read. “Just ask the thousands of working union families who are struggling to stay afloat while county bureaucrats are busy eliminating their skilled trades jobs to curry favor with wealthy elitist environmental interests.”
It’s one more front where Ronayne and Wondolowski are at odds. The building trades leader vocally backs building a new Browns stadium in Brook Park, which the county executive opposed. There’s also been conflict between the two over Wondolowski’s role as a county appointee to the Port of Cleveland board.
New contract for NOACA leader
The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency has renewed CEO Grace Gallucci’s contract through the end of 2027. For 13 years, Gallucci has led the metropolitan planning agency, which channels state and federal dollars to bridges, roads, bikeways and other transportation projects.
In early 2024, a group that included former employees wrote to the board criticizing NOACA’s work environment and other issues. The board hired a law firm to investigate and ultimately decided later that year to extend Gallucci’s contract. NOACA also formed a committee on human resources, personnel and organizational development.
Among the big items on Gallucci’s plate in the coming 18 months is infrastructure work surrounding the construction of the new Browns stadium. Cost estimates for road and highway improvements around the stadium now stand at almost $107 million, but won’t be paid with NOACA dollars.
