Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams traveled to Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, this past weekend to promote a data center project to local residents. The town has a population of 18,654 people.
Adams spoke at the Wisconsin Rapids municipal library on Saturday afternoon. A video from the event shows him being heckled by community members who oppose the project.
The data center is being proposed by the PNK Group. It would be built on 209 acres of land near the Wisconsin River, on a site that used to hold the city’s paper mill. The mill closed in 2020.
Adams defended his presence at the meeting before facing objections from the crowd
At the start of his talk, Adams addressed his own reputation. “One of my colleagues sent me a post that says, ‘A high profile person is coming to your town,’ and I said, ‘Who’s that?'” he said. He then added, “Let me tell you something: My name is Eric Adams,” which was met with boos from the crowd. Adams continued speaking about his background. He said he grew up in a small area in Queens as a young man with dyslexia, and said, “I’m not high-profile.”
As Adams spoke, residents shouted objections at him. One attendee yelled, “You belong in prison!” Another shouted, “You’re here to steal our water!” Data center meetings elsewhere have also turned tense, including one where a woman was shoved to the ground during a protest in New Mexico.
Later in his talk, Adams shared a personal story about artificial intelligence. He said the technology helped a friend identify her breast cancer diagnosis. A person in the crowd questioned the story, asking, “Is this story true?”
Since leaving office, Adams has said he now works as a “business development consultant” for several “real estate-related technology companies.” He told the Real Deal that he sells products including rebar, wellness technology, and fire retardant to clients around the world. Adams also told the outlet that he has closed 80 percent of the sales pitches he has made.
Hell Gate spoke with local residents on Sunday who oppose the data center project. They said they have been confused by Adams’s repeated appearances in central Wisconsin over the past few months.
Kaitlyn Federwitz, a member of the Facebook community group South Wood County Neighbors for Responsible Development, told Hell Gate that the town does not support Adams’s involvement. “Our whole town does not want him here at all,” she said.
Federwitz also spoke about the community’s concerns regarding local resources and the local economy. “We want our resources to be properly safeguarded, our farmers to be protected, our waterways protected,” she said. Other small towns have pushed back against similar projects, including a Michigan town that blocked an OpenAI data center before facing a lawsuit over the decision.
She explained that the closing of the paper mill in 2020 resulted in major job losses for the town. “When the mill closed, we lost 900 jobs,” Federwitz said. “We’re aware we need jobs and industry in our city but we’re not willing to accept that a data center is the answer to that problem.”
The proposed data center site sits on land that once supported a major part of the local economy through the paper mill. Community members like Federwitz say they want new development, but do not see the data center as the right solution for their town’s needs.
Published: Aug 4, 2026 02:45 pm