JUST SAY NO
We should reflect deeply on this question: Do we value the people and the livelihood of our community over a Texas-based AI company that has come for our land and resources (“First data center in Sangamon County,” Oct. 23)?
If we do, then we should be saying no to CyrusOne’s proposal for the construction and opening of a data center anywhere near Springfield and its surrounding communities. There will always be other business ventures to invest in, but artificial intelligence – the thing being used to replace human workers, making life-changing decisions for humans without any other human input and replacing the human gift of ingenuity – is not one we should ever approve of or invest in. Not only is AI robbing us of our humanity, but it’s robbing us of our very lives, creating environmental hazards through sound pollution, air pollution and consuming resources such as water and electricity meant for humans.
No matter what CyrusOne does to try and convince or reassure us, the costs of having this data center are inevitably going to come back on the people who live here. It promises that the initial construction offers jobs for laborers and later for allegedly some 100 skilled workers, but the negative financial and environmental impact is going to affect all 200,000-plus of us living in the area and all generations that come after us.
And again, all to expand the power of AI – the thing designed to replace all of us and our children. Is that what we want for ourselves and our community? Is that what we want Springfield to stand for – our own destruction?
Alicia Lewis
Springfield
GOOD INVESTMENT
Let them build the data center. Sangamon County could use some forward-thinking and planning projects to build a future for its residents.
Jerry Schultz
Springfield
BAD FOR ENVIRONMENT
I find it is the height of irony that billion-dollar companies’ failure to pay taxes has placed us in desperate straits, ripe for moving in data centers that ramp up fossil fuel use and destruction of farmland.
Anne Logue
Springfield
BLAME THE EMPLOYERS
Looks like DOT Foods and JBS might just have to raise their wages enough so the jobs are appealing to legal Americans (“Immigrants helped save this Illinois meatpacking town,” Oct. 9). Why should we allow big corporations to undercut working-class wages with undocumented immigrants?
Franky Robertson
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
DON’T BLAME IMMIGRANTS
MAGA morons won’t read this story because it will contradict President Donald Trump brainwashing them to believe immigrants are the cause of their challenges, not the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1%. When their meat prices get higher, they will blame Democrats.
Evan Mahan
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
This article appears in November 13-19, 2025.
