The Desert Sun recently ran one of the more incredible opinion pieces I’ve read in a while. And when I say incredible, I don’t mean that in a good way.
The author of the piece is Toper Taylor, the mayor of Indian Wells. The topic is data centers, and how wonderful and amazing they are. But Mr. Taylor isn’t writing about data centers in his own city, or data centers in general.
Instead, he’s weighing in … no, he’s delivering a condescending lecture on how the city of Coachella needs to “wake up” and accept the presence of a massive data canter there. Here are the first four paragraphs of the lecture:
Wake up, Coachella.
You have a weak tax base. You do not have a significant hotel corridor. No major retail. No large employer. You don’t even own the festival that bears your name: Coachella. Indio owns that festival and the millions of dollars that come annually with ticket fees and festival cost reimbursements.
The Stronghold Power proposal would span more than 400 acres and include six data center buildings, making it one of the largest developments of its kind in California. The project could generate tens of millions in new revenue for the city—that’s transformational.
This breathtaking project would bring jobs, infrastructure improvements, and affordable housing opportunities to the region. Coachella could gain critical energy independence. The land being used is fallowed agricultural farmland, which is one of the least harmful conversion scenarios imaginable.
Yes, he really called a data center project “breathtaking.”
He then goes on to say, about water concerns: “Give me a break. Hyperscale facilities increasingly use air cooling or closed-loop systems.” Other than pointing out that agriculture uses a lot of water, too, that’s all he has to say about data centers and water.
I was wondering about Mr. Taylor’s qualifications to lecture the leaders of another city on the wonders of data centers, so I went to the city of Indian Wells website to read his bio. It describes him as “a successful entrepreneur, strategist, curiositist, Emmy award winning producer, Doctor of Policy, Planning and Development, expert of intention and subtle energetic sciences, and a recently elected city councilman.”
I looked up the word “curiositist” in my Funk and Wagnall’s, and it wasn’t in there, so I googled the word. Turns out Google doesn’t really have much about it, either. In fact, that aforementioned bio is the No. 2 search result. But there was nothing in that bio indicating expertise on data centers.
The Conversation recently published a piece on the topic of data centers, and it was written by folks—three people from George Mason University—who actually do have expertise on data centers. The headline: “5 ways data centers endanger their local communities and the country as a whole.” They write: “We study science communication, climate science and public health, so we wanted to understand how data centers … affect the people who live near them and the broader public. We found that the data centers that already exist affect nearby residents and the nation as a whole in five main areas: air quality, water quality, noise levels, land use and energy costs.”
About water specifically, they write: “Data centers require vast quantities of water to cool their servers. Globally, they are projected to consume between 4.2 billion and 6.6 billion cubic meters of water annually by 2027. In the United States, data centers already rank among the top 10 industrial water users.”
Turns out the experts have a different view on the topic than the curiositist.
Data centers are a complex, difficult topic. Mr. Taylor is correct when he writes: “California desperately needs data centers to support AI infrastructure. Coachella rejecting this data center doesn’t eliminate this strategic, essential demand; rather it moves the tax revenue, jobs, and energy load to another California city—or worse, Nevada or Arizona, where it generates zero benefit for California and the Coachella Valley.”
But his attitude and sense of entitlement are appalling. In this piece, we have the mayor of an affluent, 87 percent white city telling—in a manner oozing with condescension—the leaders and residents of a less-affluent 97 percent Hispanic city that they should accept a data center, because it will bring much-needed revenue to their city … a city he feels the need to demean. And he does all of this while dismissing residents’ very real, confirmed-by-experts concerns with a glib: “Give me a break.”
If data centers are so breathtaking and transformational, Mr. Taylor should try to find a way to welcome one to Indian Wells—and he should leave the residents of Coachella alone to decide their own fate.
Note: This is a slightly edited version of the editor’s note that appeared in the July 2026 print edition. Much of this was originally published online in the June 8 Indy Digest.
Mr. Boegle, I do agree with you. If data centers are so “breathtaking,” why not build one for the City of Indian Wells? I do believe that classicism is involved, and also money interests. Mr. Taylor is lobbying in favor of a certain group. That is so low coming from Mr. Taylor, and he should write a letter and apologize to all Coachella Residents.
I agree with Mr. Taylor. I don’t find his tone condescending. I applaud him for trying to be helpful. Coachella can condition approval of the data centers on the use of recirculated water and/or an air cooled and/or a refrigerant cooled system, and insist that the centers generate their own power onsite from renewable sources like wind, solar and/or geothermal. The point is, the local residents’ concerns can be conquered with technology. Knee jerk luddites are the authors of poverty. When there is a road out of poverty, going the opposite direction is stupid.