While Minneapolis Bans Data Centers, It Greenlights Commercial Sex Venues — And Homeowners Pay the Price

The Minneapolis City Council, by a vote of 9-2, repealed a 38-year-old ban on commercially operated sex venues and bathhouses, while the council’s next agenda item banned data center development. At a time when Minneapolis is shifting its tax burden from fleeing businesses to homeowners, you would think the city council would avoid the obvious contrast. But sadly, there is no such thing as embarrassment in the City of Lakes.

Data centers can save tax hikes on homes

The empty office towers need to be filled with new business. That should be something everyone can agree with, right? Data centers need lots of floor plate area with infrastructure and technical office worker support. So, you would think the pitch to get these data centers as tenants would be welcome news to city councilors. But instead, the majority decided to ban the tech businesses for “further study” in a five-month ban. Councilmember Palmisano voted against the ban in part because it would “send a message to take their business elsewhere.”

That seems to be just fine with the majority. Councilmember Aurin Chowdhury noted that the “five-month pause” was “not a ban, but a moratorium” on data centers, noting “the best antidote to fear is accurate and transparent information and governance.” She also claimed each data center would use as much energy as “tens of thousands of homes” while using “millions of gallons of water.”

She had no data to back up the claims that each data center (presumably independent of size or location) would use more power and water than a mid-sized city. But what about the need for “accurate and transparent” data on the sex venues regarding their moratorium?

AIDS just an excuse to close bathhouses?

Council member Robin Wonsley challenged the motivations behind those who voted for the initial ban, claiming that the 1988 moratorium was put in place due to a “weaponization of hypersexualization” that “put a very repressive, ignorant and fear-based policy into our legal code.”

In 1988 (when Wonsley was three years old), as the AIDS epidemic ravaged the country with the deaths of predominantly gay men in the prime of their lives, almost half (46%) of all transmissions of the deadly disease were being contracted by men who primarily had sex with other men (MSM). Brian Coyle, the first openly gay member of the Minneapolis City Council, contracted HIV and tragically later died from AIDS. It was noted in the hearing that in 1988, Coyle voted for the moratorium on sex venues. Certainly neither he nor the other members who supported the ban were acting in bad faith.

Wonsley was, however, correct that part of the motivation behind the moratorium was fear. By 1990, over 100,000 mostly young gay men had died from the epidemic and there was no cure or effective treatment. Bathhouses and sex venues were closed to help contain the spread of the epidemic. Sex venues are essentially the licensing of commercial owners to build and maintain enclosures for people to rent for the purpose of engaging in consensual sexual contact. Common sense tells you that such a place carries with it the risk of exposure to serious health risks.

The health risks were real and they still are

This year, about 38,000 people will be diagnosed with HIV. About 4,000 who have lived with it will succumb to the disease, and the lifetime costs of treating HIV are over $1 million. Trichophyton mentagrophytes genotype VII (TMVII) is a sexually transmitted disease with skyrocketing numbers in the Minneapolis area, mainly affecting MSM. It can easily spread on skin and common surfaces. Councilmember Palmisano wanted to know why, then, the section of law containing this regulation would be moved out of the health code and into the licensing section. Stigmatization? That was one of the main concerns with the language of this proposed change, but legitimate health and safety concerns should be addressed and should obviously be moved back to the health committee. But it won’t.

Bathhouses will happen, data centers not so much

The policy will be developed and implemented after the details are worked out in the members’ respective committees. Councilmember Elliott Payne put it as only a Minneapolis City Councilmember could: “This is a starting point for setting the foundation for a full regulatory framework around this body of work.” So take it to the bank. Sex venues are going to happen, and they will have a fraction of the health code restrictions of a tanning bed in a laundromat.

Data centers? They will have a tougher go.