Data Center Activists Run for Office in Los Angeles County

Community organizers Steven Kung and Amy J. Wong are running for local office in Los Angeles County after leading a successful movement to ban data centers in Monterey Park. Kung, a co-founder of No Data Center Monterey Park, is challenging incumbent Vinh Ngo for Monterey Park City Council District 5. Wong is running for an open seat in Alhambra District 1.

Their campaigns emphasize local government transparency and the environmental and utility costs associated with the AI-driven data center boom. In June, Monterey Park became the first city in California to ban data centers citywide through a public vote, which passed with 88% approval. This grassroots success followed a proposal by HMC StratCap to build a hyper-scale data center in Saturn Park.

Similar opposition has spread across the region. El Monte passed a 45-day moratorium on such facilities, and a developer in El Segundo withdrew a massive proposal due to resident pushback. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has agreed to study the health effects and utility strain caused by these facilities. This local trend mirrors a broader national debate, with candidates in Ohio and Wisconsin also calling for moratoriums.