The late American journalist Mignon McLaughlin once said, “The excesses of love soon pass, but its insufficiencies torment us forever.” Although she never resided in Hillsboro, OR, her take on the fleeting nature of love seems to aptly describe the current state of the city’s data center relationships. For those of you who follow these things, you may remember that Hillsboro was the destination de jour for data center companies just a few years ago. Digital Realty, ViaWest, and Fortune, among others, fell hard for the area’s charms — along with its tax abatements — and city leaders seemed to share in this infatuation. But the bloom appears to be off the rose, as they say.
The driving force that brought this emerging schism to light is the city’s plan to develop a new enterprise zone to attract businesses to its sparsely inhabited northern confines. Pitched as an “urban renewal” initiative — apparently the concept of irony is the first casualty of revenue generation plans since the area designated to become the new enterprise zone is made up of green fields and unused farmland — civic leaders propose to turn these “blighted” areas into a thriving metropolis of new companies and jobs that would add “significant value to the income taxes in the state.” So far so good, but since the scheme requires that the revenues that fund the local schools be frozen so any increases over the current levels can be used to fund the development costs of the proposed zone, folks are getting a little picky about what type of companies they want to invite to the party.