KM warns public to only trust city government for truth, but lacks clarity

By Chuck Thompson | OPINION | Shelby Independent

OPINION – In something that came across like segment from the novel '1984' The City of Kings Mountain posted on its official Facebook account, Monday, warning the public to only trust official press releases and comments made by The City of Kings Mountain and to disregard untrusted and / or unverified sources.

“The City of Kings Mountain would like to address and correct false information that has recently been circulated on social media regarding a lawsuit involving the City,” the statement said in the beginning.

“We encourage residents to rely on official city communications and verified sources to ensure they are receiving accurate and factual information,” the statement read.

What are 'verified sources'? Whatever the city says they are, which was not made clear.

However, a news story published by another credible publication outside of Cleveland County, on May 5 noted the current lawsuit which involved a company that is known to be in the business of building A.I. data centers over trespassing issues.

The news story, published by Queen City News, states, “A lawsuit that HB2K filed against the city last week states the property is approved for a 150- to 300-megawatt AI data center campus.” The article also stated, “The developer is accusing the city of trespassing, saying it’s “‘attempting to take a portion of the property without due process of law and without just compensation.’”

The social media statement by the City of Kings Mountain said, “Specifically, misinformation has been presented regarding parcel 49416, located on Gage Road. It has been claimed that a fully entitled data center project exists for this parcel. This information is incorrect. There is not, nor has there ever been, a data center entitled for use on this property.”

Kings Mountain did acknowledge their lawsuit in the social media post and said no further information could be provided at this time. They also noted the zoning change, that was made back in February of this year, from Suburban Residential to light industrial, but denied any involvement of a data center, stating, "This zoning change did not approve or entitle any specific project or use. The property may be utilized for any use permitted within the Light Industrial zoning district."

Whatever the property is to be used for, which could be anything determined by what light industrial allows, Kings Mountain suggests everyone only trust official government and verified sources. This particular news site is known to be a credible verified news agency, and The Shelby Independent believes Queen City News to deliver quality information and deems it a very credible news source; a reputable news agency that did not make any suggestions or innuendoes; only stating the facts and notable information of the situation.

However, if the social media statement posted by the City of Kings Mountain intended to quell rumors or questions posted by individual people posting on social media, and not the May 5 article, they did not clarify on the issue, but closed their social media statement by saying, “The City of Kings Mountain remains committed to transparency, responsible governance, and serving the best interests of our community. We appreciate the public’s patience and understanding as the legal process continues.”

Comments for the post were turned off.

While the City of Kings Mountain may be dedicated to transparency, their lack of clarity still requires much needed attention, as it is evident by proof of their own public meetings, such as opening a censure but not stating for what reasons a censure investigation was going to begin, back in April during a special public meeting; nor their public statements, and lastly, but not least, the questions posted on social media by residents of Kings Mountain about everything from why the water smelled, to the recent resignations, to why a censure, to what exactly was the reason to change the zoning from suburban residential to light industrial, if not for an A.I. data center, than why approve the request, to put just anything there?

The statement also said, "This change of zoning did not did not approve or entitle any specific project or use."

What?

Yep, if just changing the zoning just to change the zoning for the property owner, for no reason in particular, is what happened, ... Well, if that's not "responsible" governance and serving the best interests for their own community, than I don't know what is.

You can read the entire post here:

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