On August 27, 2026, four members of Albany UU’s Green Sanctuary Team—Chris Bystroff, Hugh Johnson, Barb Spink, and Chuck Manning—stood with about 100 people outside Albany City Hall to speak out against a proposed data center in Albany’s South End.
The rally brought together community members, environmental advocates, elected officials, and local media. State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, who sponsored legislation calling for a statewide data center moratorium, was in Albany as part of a state-wide tour urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act (A11560).
Albany UU did more than show up. The congregation provided the public address system used at the rally, helping make sure that speakers could be heard as they shared their concerns about the proposed development.
And there was a lot to hear.
Several speakers came from communities that would be directly affected by the proposed Kenwood Commons Edge development at the former Kenwood Academy site. The project calls for a large data center as part of a broader technology campus, with additional housing, research, office, and manufacturing space.
For South End residents and advocates, the concern is not simply about one development. They pointed to a much longer history of environmental injustice, and of decisions made without enough involvement from the people who live in the neighborhood. Community activist Paul Collins-Hackett described the proposed data center as part of a pattern in which Albany’s South End has carried environmental burdens while remaining under-resourced and underrepresented.
Data centers were seen by many of the speakers, and by our GST, as a local and global environmental Justice issue. Speakers such as Albany Senator Patricia Fahy pointed out that the new data centers proposed for New York state will double the state’s energy consumption, adding fuel to the fire of global climate change. Consumption of water resources was also pointed out as a source of heat pollution to our river ecosystems.
GST supports stronger safeguards before communities take on projects with significant energy, water, environmental, and infrastructure demands. The questions are not simply whether a project can be built, but who bears its costs, who gets a meaningful voice in the process, and whether the people most affected have the information and power they need to participate.
Those questions connect Albany UU to a larger movement for Equity: making sure that the burdens of development do not fall disproportionately on communities that have already carried more than their share.
The rally also demonstrated Interdependence. GST is working with a number of local organizations to bring people together around the Kenwood proposal. The next step will be a community meeting at Albany UU on October 19, where participants will hear about the project’s potential financial effects on the City of Albany and its impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. The meeting will also give local groups an opportunity to connect and coordinate their efforts.
For Albany UU, this work is part of a larger commitment to Love in action. Caring about our neighbors means paying attention when they raise concerns about the health and future of their communities, listening to people who are directly affected, and being willing to stand alongside them. Caring about our planet means sending Love to our grandchildren and their grandchildren, who without our collective efforts will be living in a hotter and most hostile climate.
The August rally was one moment in an ongoing effort. The people gathered outside City Hall came with different experiences and different reasons for being there, but they shared a belief that communities deserve transparency, meaningful participation, and a voice in decisions that shape their future.
Albany UU was there to add its voice—and to help make sure those voices could be heard.
