Community Voices

The steering committee supported the design — not the project. Just the design. I want to clarify that.

We are watching nine years of careful financial planning begin to unravel in real time — without answers, without meaningful conversation, and without any acknowledgment of our concerns.

We chose this location because of the beauty that exists there — the lake, the trees, Red Mountain Park just right down the way.

This was our quiet area. For the last week and a half, I've been looking straight up from my patio at the demolition of a site.

A truck passes and it is gone. Continuous mechanical infrastructure does not pass — it remains, and it operates in place.

Once transmission towers go up, they define the skyline for generations.

GBHS is economic development. We've been serving the community for 143 years and we'll be here perhaps after AI is done, perhaps after Nebius is gone.

If on one side there is nothing but private benefit, and on the other there's nothing but public cost, that is absolutely relevant to the decision you're making.

I'm no stranger to technology, and I absolutely agree that artificial intelligence is the wave of the future. What I'm concerned about is where these AI Factories are placed.

We should be taking steps as a city to reduce pollution and increase health and quality of life — not allowing 300-megawatt facilities to come and take advantage of our land and water and air.

When we talk about compatibility, we are not just talking about land use — we are talking about whether two fundamentally different environments can coexist without harm.

Transparency restores stability. Clarity restores confidence.

I didn't buy property here to sell it in three, four, or five years. I really wanted to invest in the community.

An application for a permit does not automatically give the applicant a vested right to avoid compliance with later, duly enacted ordinances.

How can anyone approve something when they don't really know what it is they're approving?

We chose Oxmoor Corporate Park because of its beauty, because of its serenity, because we felt like it would provide a healing atmosphere for our animals.

I love walking at Red Mountain Park. My understanding is this will be a next-door neighbor — and I wonder if any studies will be done about the impact on this treasure.

I'd like to ask Nebius publicly to be a great partner for our students — to give them what they need to thrive, not just survive.

While the substation is presented as a standalone utility project, it is in fact the critical infrastructure required to power the proposed 300-megawatt AI facility. Treating them as separate projects is what is legally and practically called piecemealing.

I'm here today to be a voice for some of the most vulnerable populations that would go to school in that area — our children with disabilities, the elderly that live very near there.

The most recent kid to the party had the opportunity to choose differently — and they didn't. Instead, they want to bend the rules to make it suit them.

There is a place there that's so serene. It adds value to our property. It adds value to our lives.

To pretend that this is not a stepping stone to the greater issue of an AI Factory is frankly naive. You guys are the gatekeepers.

If Alabama suddenly added the equivalent of four new Birminghams worth of residential electricity demand, does anyone realistically believe power rates would not be affected?

My heart breaks for the two schools in that area. My heart breaks for the Exceptional Foundation folks.

This is not about stopping progress. It is about ensuring that progress is responsible, transparent, and informed.

States like Alabama are firmly within the crosshairs of this industry — and it's not because we are so pro-business. It's because we don't have proper protections in place for our water resources.

We live between two mountains — Red Mountain and Shades Mountain — and sound travels. The site they're building on is in the neighborhood. It's not in the industrial park.

We are the closest subdivision to this project, and we have not seen any of their proposed good-neighbor flyers. No one has come door-to-door to talk to us.

Whose economic development?

A realtor recently reached out to show me a home in the Oxmoor Valley neighborhood, and I immediately shut it down. I am now debating looking outside of Birmingham — which I cannot believe I'm uttering, because it has always been my dream to live here.

Greater Birmingham Humane Society seems to set the standard for respectfully working with the community.