LETTER: Officials who approved data center should be voted out

To Ozaukee Press:

I took another run on Highland Road the other day. These days, I take almost every run on that stretch, including the part of the Interurban Trail that parallels it.  It’s only a matter of days until it begins to disappear.  

For me, this is the biggest loss from the data center boondoggle. It’s one of the most beautiful stretches of land in the county, peaceful and gorgeous four seasons a year. But now it has a much different feel.  

The people who lived along Highland Road, many of whom I’ve talked to and gotten to know at least casually, are all gone, their houses empty. Now it’s the uneasy calm before the inevitable storm.   According to the mayor and our Common Council, this is an absolute necessity if we want to keep the vision of our town viable. But is it our vision of Port, or their vision? What they seem incapable of understanding is that their actions approving the data center are changing the very character of Port that they claim to be protecting.  

If you believe the mayor’s excuse for  doing this—that it is to give us a big break on our property taxes—then I hope you’re right. But I’m more likely to believe that any adjustments to taxes will be years in the future, and probably much less than promised. I’m guessing that there will always be more projects that will contend for that tax revenue before it’s deducted from our tax bills.  

Remember, if you don’t share the vision of your elected officials, it won’t change until they are no longer your elected officials. This mayor ran unopposed.  Maybe it would be good if that didn’t happen in 2027.  

Even though the mayor doesn’t officially vote, you can be sure that your seven aldermen will implement his plans or face the consequences. This data center decision is their decision, not ours. We were powerless to stop this data center from the moment it became a possibility.  

The damage is done. But if you don’t like decisions being made for you by a mayor and council that don’t seem to think that you’re capable of understanding the situation, change the mayor and council at the next opportunity. If you like where we are, and where things are headed, your vote counts just as much.  That’s the way it’s supposed to work.

Ric Probst

Port Washington