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The Monday, August 10 meeting of the City Council certainly didn't work out the way that everyone who spoke thought it would or should!!! Or did it? Without fail those in attendance were there to make sure that a moratorium was in place to have a check and balance for or against a data center coming to town. If I follow the voting chaos correctly, and I would be the only one, there's a moratorium in place but there won't be any opportunity for checks and balances because there won't be a 2nd or 3rd reading with public discussion. Thank you Gary for trying and shame on the ones that won't ...

A word of caution to the Marshall County Supervisors

I read that you are considering providing wind turbines to generate electricity. I read some time ago that they come from China and are known to break down and difficult — almost impossible to repair at all. They destroy topsoil, kill birds and if placed near residences, people have complained of headaches, difficulty sleeping, anxiety not experienced before the nearness of wind turbines. As a word of caution, please talk with people who lived near wind turbines before your decision is made if they haven't already moved away.

Jeff Schneider changed my mind

On August 8th, on page 10 of the Times Republican there was a very informative and well written article by Jeff Schneider about a Data Center being considered for Marshalltown and their ramifications. He not only addressed Data Center’s benefits to communities but also water usage by Data Centers. From my sources in the media I was led to be believe that Data Centers used more than copious amounts of water for cooling which led me to being really negative about them. He assuaged my concerns when he writes, “Modern data centers of any size can now be built with closed-loop ...

Thank you Jeff Schneider

Thank you to Jeff Schneider for writing the letter that appeared in the T-R on Saturday, August 8 regarding data centers and giving people the information they need to make a determination on whether a data center would be good for Marshalltown. There seems to be so much misinformation out there that naysayers are unfortunately perpetuating that it is making several citizens think data centers are horrible. I’m glad Mr. Schneider addressed the fear-mongering and laid to rest the misinformation about water, freebies and electricity shortages/costs. I hear many of these concerns ...

Listening tour

A friend told me about a group called Iowans for Decency that was going along the RAGBRAI route doing a listening tour. Intriqued, I met up with them at Marshalltown’s great public library. Peter Hedges, author of “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” had some thought provoking questions. He started by asking “How are you doing?” which provoked me to say I was mad at what is happening to my country. To best channel that anger, I’ve been going to farmer markets and county fairs in support of Chris Jones efforts to clean up Iowa’s waters. There’s so much more I could have said ...

Our community deserves answers

To the Editor, The clash between residents and data center developers has become a prevalent issue across the country as of late, and Marshalltown is no exception. Just a short time ago, many people in our community were more likely to ask what a data center is than to offer an opinion. But in just a few short weeks, that has shifted. Now, the majority are reading about, posting and talking about how data centers will affect our community. I have heard many concerns including: What will happen to our water supply? Who will pay for utility infrastructure? We don’t want our bills ...