Mayors across the country agree on this: the digital infrastructure rush we’re witnessing must respect communities’ health and safety. Cities and towns across the country are instating common-sense guardrails on data center development and creating frameworks to give community leaders a say in this unprecedented build-out. 

Like so many communities across the Southwest, Phoenix is no stranger to the data center questions now before San Antonio’s Mayor and Council. Phoenix is a proud innovation hub and hosts one of the largest concentrations of data centers in the world. But when we began to see risks to our neighborhoods and faced an overwhelming volume of new data center requests, we acted to put basic protections in place. Now, new data centers must undergo individual review and demonstrate compliance with measures to manage and mitigate health and safety concerns including those related to air quality, noise, and fire risk. 

Every community deserves these basic standards for development. That’s why I’ve worked across the Climate Mayors network of more than 350 American cities to share Phoenix’s experience, and why I partnered with the Mayor of Melbourne, Australia and mayors around the world to launch the Global Urban Data Center Pact. It’s important that we encourage a race to the top, rather than accepting a race to the bottom – and we’re setting the bar for safer, more sustainable, and more affordable digital infrastructure. 

The companies that are building data centers might be part of the most lucrative asset class out there, but this doesn’t mean they hold all the power. Much of that power rests in City Hall, where mayors and councils elected by their constituents play a critical role in shaping where and how data centers are built. Through zoning, permitting, site plan review, and conditional approvals, cities can guide siting decisions, require design and mitigation measures, and ensure projects align with housing plans, industrial strategies, and long-term land use goals. 

Residents want us to use that power. New national polling from America Is All In and Global Strategy Group finds that 67 percent of voters want more regulation of data centers, and only five percent want less. Asked what their own community should do, voters’ first choice is stronger regulation. And they want specifics: roughly two-thirds say it’s extremely important that data centers pay for the electricity and grid upgrades they require and keep those costs off household bills, and a clear majority want enforceable protections for water and air. 

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones understands this, which is why she is pushing for strong regulation to protect San Antonio while creating an economic framework in which the people in her community can thrive. 

Across the country, mayors and city councils are increasingly focused on ensuring that data center growth comes with transparency, community engagement, and environmental safeguards. Mayor Jones has emphasized that residents deserve meaningful opportunities to weigh in on projects before decisions are made, and clear information about potential impacts on energy use, water resources, and local air quality. 

Strong disclosure, public engagement, and accountability measures can help cities plan for growth, protect public health, and make decisions in partnership with residents. And no community should bear environmental or infrastructure impacts simply because it has fewer protections or less influence. As mayors, we are on the front lines of the data center and AI economy, where we have to make difficult decisions about our energy, our water, the quality of our air, and the quality of life for our residents. 

Our message to developers is the same from Phoenix to San Antonio to Melbourne: Be good neighbors and stewards of local resources. Pay your own way for energy and grid costs, protect our water and air, and be transparent with the communities you want to call home. 

The data centers that power these technologies will influence so much of our lives in the years and decades to come. I believe that they must be developed on terms that work for the cities and residents that host them, not the other way around. 

Kate Gallego is the Mayor of the City of Phoenix