GoKawiilWhen the people of Monterey Park found that their local government was going to approve a 250,000-square-foot data center just 500 feet from their homes, they organized.
And within a few months, the developer withdrew their application.
Andrew Yip, an organizer with SGV Progressive Action, tells L.A. TACO that the organization’s success started with their “existing network of volunteers,” noting that “the community was able to jump in at a moment's notice.”
SGV Progressive Action was founded in 2020 to “address the Black Lives Matter uprisings," Yip says. "To support our Black community."
Then it organized local resolutions advocating for a ceasefire in Palestine, and built a lending library in El Monte called Matilija Collective, where they trained volunteers in community defense against ICE, hosted organizers, and stored 20 canopies and a speaker system.
"So that existed," Yip says.
In November, a community member who had come to a council meeting for other business saw the data center on the agenda and called on SGV Progressive Action.
"They asked if we can take a look at this," Yip says. "And see if that's something that communities should be concerned about."
All that was needed was one last council vote. But the developer requested a delay to the next meeting.
"Had they voted that day, it would have been done, right? It would have been done," Yip says. “But we found out about it, and we turned out hundreds of people to the next meeting.”
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