The Brief

Billions of dollars are pouring into data centers to power streaming services, cloud storage and the biggest energy monster of all, artificial intelligence.

Dozens of data centers already dot the region, from El Segundo to downtown L.A. But in Monterey Park, residents concerned about the environmental and health impacts of data centers are drawing a line.

A developer has proposed building a nearly 250,000-square-foot data center in a local business park. Last Wednesday night, hundreds of people packed City Hall to say they didn’t want it — or for that matter, any such facility.

“No data centers in Monterey Park!” the crowd chanted.

Residents’ immediate goal was to ensure the City Council approved a 45-day moratorium on data center development, an item added to the agenda after weeks of mounting public pressure.

What they got, in a meeting that stretched past midnight, was the council’s commitment to draft an outright ban during the 45-day period for a later vote. “That is more than I ever could have hoped for from this meeting,” resident Steven J. Kung said. “I am shocked and a little bit overjoyed.”

Residents organize

Hours earlier at a rally he helped lead outside City Hall, Kung had been far more cautious.

He expressed little faith in city officials, especially after learning that the project had been moving through the city’s planning process for about two years without his knowledge.

Kung said he only found out about the proposal from the Australian-based developer when his husband showed him a social media post by SGV Progressive Action last month — despite their living about 1,300 feet from the proposed site.

“I was incensed that no one had told me, especially since I lived so close,” he said.

Steven J. Kung is part of the activist and resident-led No Data Center Monterey Park.

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Kung joined a grassroots group of residents and activists called No Data Center Monterey Park, which has organized teach-ins, canvassing drives and yard sign campaigns in the weeks leading up to the vote.

Developer's promises

The developer, HMC StratCap, has said its proposed data center on 1977 Saturn Street would generate more than $5 million a year in tax revenue and more than 200 jobs during construction. It’s also promised to build a public park.

But residents said that’s not worth the tradeoff of the massive energy demand of data centers, pollution from diesel backup generators and noise from cooling equipment.

The developer counters that the generators will be strictly regulated, a “closed-loop cooling technology” will use water efficiently and noise will be “similar to a typical commercial area,” according to a handout shared with residents at Wednesday’s meeting.

Monterey Park City Hall was packed to capacity as people waited to testify in opposition to a proposed data center.

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The developer has also agreed to an environmental impact report.

Kung and others say an EIR is the least the developer should do. They say they’re also troubled by the decision to locate a data center in a city of roughly 60,000 people, more than half of them immigrants.

“They see a small city full of Asians and Latinos, and they don’t think we’ll fight back,” Kung said. “But they’re wrong.”

“People, not machines”

So many people showed up that the lobby was converted into overflow space.

Among them was Alex Leon, a mathematician who attended with his wife, a phlebotomist, and their two young daughters.

“This has kind of been our dream, living in Monterey Park,” Leon said. “I just don’t want it to turn into an industrial farm for big data.”

Alex Leon came to speak out against the proposed data center with his wife Janette and their two daughters.

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Like dozens of others, Leon wasn’t there just to watch, but wanted council members to listen. When his turn came to give comment, he met the eyes of the council members.

“Monterey Park should be built for people, not machines,” he said. “For families, not server racks. For community life, not industrial infrastructure. This is our home, and it’s worth defending.”

“Open and honest conversations”

A handful of speakers supported the project, including a representative for the developer. Laziza Lambert pivoted at the podium to face the crowd.

“We just really want to be good, long-term partners with the community and hope to have open and honest conversations,” she said, as some in the audience started to jeer.

Residents voiced concerns that once one data center is approved, the floodgates would open, noting that the developer owns another parcel on the same street.

But much of the anger that night was aimed at city leaders. Speaker after speaker said they had been kept in the dark.

Tran and

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Katherine Torres, a real estate agent and president of the Monterey Park Women’s Club, said the organization is apolitical, but she would be sure to tell the members.

“I swear, I’m going to spread the word about the data center because they need to know,” she said as the room erupted in applause.

She looked at the council members with whom she was on a first-name basis.

“I have dinner with you guys,” she said. “I go to your events. Why didn’t I know?”

A surprise shift

By the fifth hour, nearly 80 residents had spoken. Then it was the council’s turn to give comments before their vote on the 45-day moratorium.

Two members said they supported going beyond a temporary pause and considering a permanent ban. Jose Sanchez’s opposition to data centers was already known to those closely following the issue. But Elizabeth Yang’s was not.

Yang told the room that her mother and stepfather live within a mile of the proposed site.

The council meeting was preceded by a rally against data centers.

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“I’m not going to vote for something that’s going to hurt my own family,” she said.

She added she was disappointed the developer had not done more with outreach and information.

“Because of all of you feeding us good information, I’m siding with no data center,” Yang said.

The remaining residents started clapping and rose to their feet.

What’s ahead

The council unanimously approved the 45-day moratorium during which city staff will draft an ordinance that could ban data centers permanently — a proposal that will return to the council for a vote.

Outside council chambers, Steven J. Kung praised his fellow residents for speaking out and pushing the council to think bigger.

“I’m so proud of Monterey Park and our residents,” he said. “The more I’m here, the more I fall in love with the people.”

He’d celebrate that night. But then it’d be back to work, making sure the ban stands and Monterey Park keeps data centers out for good.

The developer would not be sitting back either. Lambert, the representative for the developer, said they were moving forward with plans to host a town hall with residents in the next couple of weeks.

One of Broadway’s most popular shows in years, Oh, Mary! is now at the Ahmanson Theatre through Dec. 6. It stars drag performer extraordinaire Alaska Thunderf*ck 5000, known mononymously as Alaska.

Alaska caught up with LAist host Julia Paskin to talk about taking the Tony Award-winning dark comedy on the road, how competing on RuPaul's Drag Race has changed over the years, and where to see a great drag show in Los Angeles.

A role she was made for

The list of actors who have played the titular role of Mary ranges from seasoned comedians, like show creator Cole Escola, to Jane Krakowski and Bowen Yang, the latter of whom is currently on an extended Broadway run.

Jane Krakowski during her broadway run in "Oh, Mary!"

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“It's going on my tombstone,” Alaska said. “Like, it's the biggest deal ever.”

The role not only has big proverbial shoes to fill, but also requires donning a large, heavy hoopskirt for a costume. That was not a problem.

“If you ever just wanna, like, change your entire personality, just put on a hoopskirt,” she said. “It really changes the way you move and the way you kinda act and the way you stand. That's drag, I guess, because drag is sort of transforming based on what you're putting on your body, and it really does change everything.”

The higher cost to compete on Drag Race 

Speaking of drag, Alaska initially rose to fame appearing on Season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2013 and the second season of the All Stars spinoff in 2016, which she won. Longtime fans of the reality show can confirm a lot has changed over the years with the competition becoming more expensive and queens investing in pricey, commissioned costume pieces and drag accessories.

Alaska said she’s grateful she competed when she did.

“I got in under the wire,” Alaska said. “I got onto that show back when you could show up with a bag of dirty laundry and you could do pretty well. When I went on that show the first time, I was borrowing stuff from other girls. I really just went to the thrift store and got some stuff. I had my friends make some stuff with me as well.”

She says the pressure is also more intense with the audience expecting a high production quality.

“The viewership is so knowledgeable about fabrics, and designers, and fashion, and polish and wig lines,” Alaska added. “That's good. I mean, I think that it's a pendulum, and it swings back and forth. Yes, we love to see exquisite, fabulous costumery on Drag Race. But, we also like to see some, stupid, silly drag as well.”

Where to catch great drag in LA 

Alaska recommends Meatball’s Phat Slut show at Precinct in downtown L.A., and added "anything happening at Precinct is going to be unique, fierce, fun, and just like an excellent vibe.”

Another top recommendation is “The Golden Girls Live” from drag queens Jackie Beat and Sherry Vine.

“It happens in a very small room,” Alaska said. “So you're literally sitting onstage with the Golden Girls. There's really nothing like it.”

You can see Alaska in Oh, Mary! at the Ahmanson Theatre and when her Revolution Tour stops in at Pacific Electric May 8, 2027.

Rhea Borja and her husband bought their little home in Altadena in 2022. After the January 2025 Eaton Fire, it still stood, in a pocket of other homes that also survived.

At first, that was a relief. As many fire survivors have found, though, remediating smoke damage has been nearly as daunting as rebuilding a home that burned.

That has been true for the Borjas too. They’ve been living in Northern California since the fire, while they work to get their home cleared of the toxic remnants of the smoke.

The Eaton Fire destroyed 9,414 structures, including homes and businesses. For the thousands of structures were left standing, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws in September setting new rules for smoke damage cleanup.

What has that looked like in practice? Three Eaton Fire survivors spoke with LAist recently about the challenges they’ve faced.

Remediation challenges

Rhea Borja stands in her driveway just a month or so before the January 2025 fire. All of the houses behind her across the street burned down, including all the trees and greenery.

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On the blocks around Borja’s home, the frames of homes being rebuilt are taking shape. But her home has stood empty for 22 months.

“It has been an enormous test of patience,” she said.

Her home has gone through four remediations. The lead test results after the most recent remediation cleared EPA standards. Since then, Borja has had a new HVAC system installed.

Next up, re-insulating the attic.

She’s hoping to be back in Altadena early next year but recognizes there’s still a lot to do, including remediating the front and back yards. She’ll have to pay for those projects out of pocket.

“I miss Altadena. I miss Los Angeles. I miss being by the San Gabriel Mountains,” Borja said. “So I just feel kind of removed from the area, and sometimes it almost just seems like a dream.”

A hallway in Rhea Borja’s home after it was remediated for a third time in June 2026.

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Rhea Borja removed the remediator’s tape and plastic covering over a living room window of her Altadena home in mid October.

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Simon Perry and his partner have two properties in Altadena that still require remediation.

One is their home right outside of the fire zone, and the other is a rental property right in the middle of it.

At Perry’s home of 15 years, the contamination was off the charts.

“To give you an indication of how badly contaminated it is, the attic crawl space tested at 3,391 units of lead,” Perry said. “So there's 50 times the safe level of lead in the crawl space of the attic.”

Perry had intended to retire the week of the Eaton Fire. He postponed that while he dealt with the fire’s aftermath — spending hours itemizing personal items, then throwing them away.

By the end of September, he and his partner moved for the fourth time since the fire.

Before that move, their temporary home was “full of cardboard boxes and boxes full of stuff, you know, because everything is in transition and has been in transition for 20 months,” he said.

A return home

After 19 months of being displaced, Susan Mohini Kane, husband Bernard Kane and their cat returned to Altadena.

Being displaced was unsettling, but Kane said she learned a lot.

Susan Mohini Kane shared this photo with LAist from March 2026 after most of her home’s contents were removed. The walls were cut up for rewiring.

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Susan Mohini Kane

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Susan Mohini Kane and her husband Bernard Kane began moving in over the summer. A friend gifted her hand-sewn quilt to replace one they lost to smoke damage.

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“More things happened every day that I didn't expect,” Kane said. “They ended up, basically, having to tear our house down.”

The walls of the Kane home were removed and then replaced. They filled and hauled bags of fire-damaged goods out of their home.

Now that she’s back, Kane is excited to return to her work as a voice teacher, singer and songwriter.

Susan Mohini Kane and her husband Bernard Kane are happy to be back in their home after 19 months of remediation and repairs after the Eaton Fire.

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She wants people who didn’t experience the wildfire to know what people are still going through nearly two years later.

“We're still here. We're still suffering. We're still needing so much help,” she said.

The nation’s largest physician group has backed a near complete ban on the most popular countertop material, which is linked to an aggressive lung disease disabling and killing stoneworkers in California and other states.

The American Medical Association has adopted a new policy opposing the manufacturing, importation, distribution, sale, fabrication and installation of high-silica engineered stone products across the U.S. Doctors in California hope that the declaration by the AMA, which counts more than 250,000 physicians and medical students as members, will spur greater regulation of the factory-made material and promote the use of safer alternatives.

“Workers are developing an incurable lung disease that can progress to respiratory failure and sometimes, death, often at a young age among workers,” AMA Board Member and radiation oncologist Sheila Rege said in a statement. “Silicosis is preventable, and the most effective way to prevent silicosis is to use safer countertop materials containing less than 1% crystalline silica with appropriate dust control measures.”

The move could boost a push by California regulators to phase out the use of engineered stone with more than 1% crystalline silica to make countertops and other construction surfaces. A state workplace standards board is poised to vote on a first-in-the-nation emergency regulation next month. Australia was the first country to ban engineered stone slabs in 2024.

More than 680 stoneworkers in California have contracted silicosis after inhaling toxic silica dust generated when cutting or polishing engineered stone, also known as artificial stone or quartz.

Most of them are Latino men who say they didn’t know about the hazards of handling artificial stone until they or co-workers felt shortness of breath and other worsening symptoms.

Dozens of workers have died, while 75 have undergone lung transplants since 2019, according to the California Department of Public Health. Physicians in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Texas and other states have reported cases as well, though California is the only state systematically tracking the disease in the industry.

“Having personally gone through the illness caused by artificial stone, I believe that eliminating the use of artificial stone would be a good decision,” said Lopez, a former stoneworker in the Bay Area who underwent a double lung transplant in March after years at a job cutting engineered stone into kitchen and bathroom countertops.

“Health must take precedence over commercial interests,” the father of four added. KQED is not using Lopez’s full name, as he fears losing vital medical care if arrested by immigration authorities.

Major manufacturers of high-silica artificial stone have sought to place the blame for rapidly rising silicosis cases on countertop fabrication employers who fail to follow safety precautions. Cambria, the largest U.S.-based producer of the material, has pushed for a bill in Congress that would immunize manufacturers and distributors from hundreds of lawsuits by sick workers seeking damages.

Meanwhile, the International Surface Fabricators Association, which is supported by Cambria and other manufacturers, has petitioned California regulators to require countertop fabricators to be certified to do business, instead of restricting their use of artificial stone.

ISFA CEO Laurie Weber doubted that a ban would benefit most workers, since “unlicensed, uninspected operators who cut stone unsafely today would continue to cut whatever comes next the same way.”

“ISFA respects the medical community’s concern for workers and calls for a solution that protects them now, licensing and verified compliance for every shop that cuts stone,” Weber said in a statement. “Silicosis is real, it is devastating and it is preventable. We respect the physicians and researchers who have treated these workers and sounded the alarm. Our disagreement is not with the medicine. It is with the idea that a product ban on fabrication, by itself, will protect the people doing this work.”

California, which has more protective silica regulations than federal standards, already requires fabricators to cut the material under a layer of water to reduce airborne dust, and provide workers with sophisticated masks and ventilation systems.

But the rules are expensive and difficult to implement, and Cal/OSHA inspectors have found most fabrication businesses they’ve visited had violations. In addition, mounting evidence shows that workers can get sick even at sophisticated shops complying with the current regulations. Within the next decade, between 1,000 to 1,500 stoneworkers in California could develop silicosis, leading to roughly 285 deaths, according to Cal/OSHA. The state is home to about 5,000 countertop fabrication workers, predominantly Latino immigrants.

Dr. Robert Blink, a San Francisco-based occupational medicine physician urging California to ban high-silica artificial stone, said AMA’s resolution will help increase awareness about its hazards, and increase potential regulation by federal OSHA, other states and even Congress, which is expected to tie or break a record number of physician representatives next year. The material is safe for consumers once installed.

“This is recognition by the larger house of medicine that the material cannot be safely used.” said Blink, a former president of the Western Occupational and Environmental Medical Association. “We’ve certainly been trying to raise the alarm because this is a deadly epidemic that is killing people.”