this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
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858
A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead (www.404media.co)
submitted 1 week ago by Some_Emo_Chick@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 28 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

a while back when i was a animal physio class a university, the profess told how he knew someone about to retire/Will but he wanted to donate it to STANFORD on the sole purpose of it being used as a research station in some island/country. the guy somehow heard the stanford lawyers said they were going to sell it or rent it out instead right behind his back. he gave it to Berkley university instead to be used for science.

the moral of the story make sure you have something in place so that the land/property being donated is used properly by a lawyer or a trust org.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Universities are a business and have the morals of your generic street thug. Why anyone would consider donating anything to them is a mystery.

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[–] random_character_a@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Whistleblowers with morals are also more important that people realise.

[–] CannedYeet@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

Yeah, it's a park... An industrial park

[–] neuromorph@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

was there a clause that if it isnt used as intended, it return to the owner?

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 6 days ago

I can't imagine a better way to ensure people don't donate land ever again.

[–] ptc075@lemmy.zip 14 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Stories like this always remind me of the Peter's parking deck at GA Tech. The couple that donated the land wanted it to be a park, so that the students would have a green place to play and relax. Once Tech had the land, they put a parking deck there instead. But they put a basketball court on the top level so that they technically met the letter of the law.

[–] neuromorph@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

omg, never knew about this donation. Sad, but also in the spirit of an engineer doing absolute minimum to pass compliance while achieving what you need. Whats the good word!

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[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Pave paradise and put up a ~~parking lot~~ data center

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[–] Babalugats@feddit.uk 1 points 3 days ago

I've seen this story a few times now. Is there (gonna be) a court case, or is that it?

Nobody got any fight in them anymore. Which is how they like it.

[–] Arachnidbrilliant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 days ago

She trusted the government I don’t understand what Went wrong

[–] Syrc@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Archive link to bypass login

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

404 Media is journalist-founded and supported by reader subscriptions. They are four high quality investigators doing amazing work (they work with a couple of other people on some stories).

If you can't afford it, I understand. I share archive links all the time. For anyone with a few extra bucks who cares about quality reporting by people with integrity, this is easily one of the best options around. I've been extremely happy knowing they exist. (Gets you extra content from their podcast, too.)

[–] Syrc@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I generally hate the principle of subscriptions + ads + paywalling stuff to viewers but not to crawlers, it’s pretty much double-dipping while baiting people for SEO.

On the other hand, I understand that in this day and age keeping a news outlet afloat without “outside influence” requires doing stuff like this. It’s a hard thing to balance but in either case I appreciate the insight from your comment, I admit I didn’t look them up and I figured they were just another money-hungry megacorp-owned outlet.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 days ago

And I have no problem with that. I sort of found out who they were by accident cause they had a trend of good stories getting posted here and at some point I auditioned their podcast where they mention that.

[–] NottaLottaOcelot@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 days ago (6 children)

I’m curious what would be the better approach if someone wanted to donate land to be used for a park? Give it to a charity? Or somehow find the cash and just build the park yourself and let people visit your land?

[–] ITGuyLevi@programming.dev 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)

My town had a guy that loved baseball a long time ago, he had money and wanted it local so he built a baseball field right on the river, made a big park and donated it to the city. He was pretty smart about it and worked the deed so that it would take a two-third vote of the citizens to sell it.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and the mayor petitioned the governor to change the deed under an NDA as he wanted to lease the park to a minor league baseball team. In the deal he also gave them the naming rights for the park, so the baseball team renamed the park after a local bank that gave them money.

[–] NottaLottaOcelot@lemmy.ca 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Damn, you really can’t control your legacy, huh?

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

It would be easier if you weren't dead

[–] MrNesser@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Depends how it was dontated, you can specify a loan of the land indefinetly to the city as long as its use is xyz.

If its a straight donation with no caveats attached then the city can do what it wants

My local council tried to build on some park land donated 100 years ago but the donator had specified its usage in the donation so they got shut down pretty hard.

[–] Syrc@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Unfortunately it seems like the donator specified the usage in this case as well, but the courts are straight up ignoring it.

On July 7, 1999, Bland’s descendants granted 87.97 acres of land to the “Texas Parks and Recreation Foundation, a Texas non-profit corporation, to be held in trust for future use as parkland by Williamson County, Texas,” according to a copy of the deed reviewed by 404 Media.

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[–] Cellari@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Anyone got old Indian burial grounds to donate for a data center?

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