Shelbyville data – A proposed $2 billion data center in Shelbyville, Indiana, has turned political—after Mayor Scott Furgeson was recorded criticizing “No Data Center” signs and dismissing residents as living in “shitty houses,” later adding that “most of them are rentals.” Resi
By the time the “No Data Center” signs start appearing around Shelbyville, Indiana, the fight is already personal.
In a video circulating after the signs went up, Mayor Scott Furgeson is heard saying, “I’ve seen a lot of these all over town, but I only see them in shitty houses,” adding, “most of them are rentals.”
The woman speaking to him pushes back immediately, saying that the people opposing the project are “working class.” Someone else jumps in to make the point more plainly—“it doesn’t matter whether they’re rentals, they’re still human beings.”
For residents, the political debate that comes with a proposed $2 billion data center didn’t stay on paper. It landed in language that many found demeaning.
Alexas Williams said Furgeson’s comments felt “kind of disrespectful” and “kind of hurtful,” speaking when asked about the incident by local NBC affiliate WTHR.
Furgeson has declined to comment further. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office, however, released a statement saying, “The mayor regrets that his choice of words may have caused offense.”
The sequence plays out like a local argument that spilled into a citywide moment: a project of massive scale, protest signs meant to stop it, then a mayor’s choice of phrasing aimed—intentionally or not—at the people showing up to object.
Shelbyville Indiana data center Scott Furgeson political controversy local government community backlash