“You belong in prison!” one person shouted as Adams faced the crowd.
Others accused the project of threatening local resources and demanded that Adams and the developers take their plans somewhere else.
For a former mayor trying to establish a new career after leaving New York politics behind, it was a remarkably hostile reception.
Adams Has a New Career After City Hall
Adams is no longer running America’s largest city.
These days, he is working with businesses and developers as a consultant and salesman.
The former mayor told The Real Deal that his work involves promoting an eclectic collection of products and projects, ranging from construction materials to international opportunities. He also recently traveled to Nigeria as part of his new business activities.
His latest assignment brought him to central Wisconsin.
PNK Group, an industrial real estate developer based in New York, is pursuing plans for a roughly 1.2-million-square-foot data center campus at a former paper mill property along the Wisconsin River.
The proposed facility would reportedly have approximately 150 megawatts of capacity.
PNK brought Adams aboard to help make its case.
The company told Inc. that Adams’ appeal came from his experience “having led one of the world’s most complex cities.”
But Wisconsin Rapids is not New York City.
And residents quickly demonstrated that Adams’ résumé was not enough to win them over.
Packed Meeting Turns Hostile
The August 1 public meeting at McMillan Memorial Library was originally expected to accommodate roughly 80 people.
That proved nowhere near enough.
Organizers ultimately shifted the gathering to the 248-seat Fine Arts Center as residents poured in to hear what developers had planned for their community.
The larger venue reportedly filled up as well.
Outside, dozens of demonstrators protested the proposal, including people holding signs declaring, “Data centers are parasites on our natural resources.”
Inside, Adams barely had time to introduce himself before residents began heckling him.
“You belong in prison!” came one shout.
Another person yelled, “You’re here to steal our water!”
Then came another message:
“Get out of here!”
And another:
“Put it in your backyard!”
Adams attempted to regain control of the meeting and make the case for artificial intelligence.
At one point, he described a colleague whose breast cancer was detected with the assistance of AI technology.
Some residents openly questioned whether his story was true.
Adams then challenged his critics.
“Anyone can heckle, but not everybody can communicate,” he said.
That did not calm the room.
It reportedly produced even more boos.
Developer Makes Stunning Admission
The problems were not limited to Adams.
PNK chief development officer Anton Voronkin also faced pointed questions from residents about the company’s experience.
One attendee asked whether PNK had previously constructed a comparable project.
Voronkin’s answer was remarkably simple.
“No.”
That response immediately produced another memorable line from the audience.
“We are not an experiment,” a woman said.
The exchange illustrated the central problem facing the developers: residents were not merely objecting to Adams.
They wanted specific answers about what the enormous facility could mean for their town.
Water, Jobs and Ownership Become Flashpoints
Water consumption was among the biggest concerns.
Voronkin said the proposed facility would rely on closed-loop cooling and was “applying for 10,000 gallons per day.”
He also said the development would not pull water directly from the Wisconsin River or discharge water into it.
Employment was another issue.
Initial projections reportedly suggested approximately 70 workers per shift.
That number drew attention because Wisconsin Rapids has a population of fewer than 19,000 people, while the physical footprint of the proposed project would be enormous.
Questions also remained over the project’s ultimate ownership and final design.
Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Matt Zacher stressed that the city had not entered into a formal agreement with PNK and that officials would need to see a completed development proposal before making decisions.
Meanwhile, the city’s planning commission was already preparing to discuss the possibility of a data-center moratorium.
Opponents clearly hope officials hit the brakes.
Kaitlyn Federwitz of South Wood County Neighbors for Responsible Development summarized the opposition bluntly:
“Our whole town does not want him here at all.”
Adams’ Political Past Follows Him to Wisconsin
The spectacle carried extra political weight because of Adams’ tumultuous final stretch in New York politics.
The former mayor was indicted on federal corruption charges involving allegations of bribery and illegal foreign campaign contributions connected to Turkish interests.
The case was ultimately dismissed after the Trump administration’s Justice Department sought to abandon the prosecution.
Adams’ political career nevertheless suffered enormous damage.
He eventually failed in his effort to remain mayor, closing a turbulent chapter that had transformed him from one of America’s most prominent Democratic politicians into a political outsider.
Now he is pitching private projects far beyond New York.
His past, however, clearly followed him to Wisconsin.
The prison heckle made that obvious.
Adams Tells Residents Data Centers Are Coming Anyway
Perhaps the most politically explosive moment came when Adams delivered a message about the inevitability of data-center development.
“Whether we like it or not, folks, data centers are going to be here,” Adams said.
That is not exactly the message skeptical residents want to hear from an out-of-state paid consultant.
The people packing the Wisconsin Rapids meeting were there precisely because they believed they should have a voice over what gets built in their community.
Many had concerns about water.
Others wanted answers about jobs.
Some questioned whether the developer had sufficient experience.
And then a former New York City mayor arrived to tell them that data centers were coming “whether we like it or not.”
The reaction was predictable.
Adams’ spokesman later told Fox News Digital that viral footage did not accurately represent the entire meeting and said numerous people privately thanked the former mayor afterward.
But the public confrontation was impossible to miss.
Adams came to Wisconsin Rapids hoping to sell residents on a massive development.
Instead, residents put Adams and the developer on the defensive.
Whatever ultimately happens with the proposed data center will be decided through the local process.
But one thing became abundantly clear during that packed meeting.
Wisconsin Rapids residents have no intention of quietly allowing outsiders to tell them what their community must accept.
