Ben West

@westbywest

Scattered minutiae about tech, plants, St. Louis, occasionally all together

195 Folgt514 Follower1.187 Posts

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Ben West@westbywest· Jul 10

These little guys totally snuck up on me

Ben West@westbywest· Jul 4

Vote YES on Amendment 1 and visit beautiful Onandaga Cave State Park. Far more stunning than the dynamited out/paved over tourist trap Meramec Cave. Also HUGE!

Ben West@westbywest· Jul 2

I feel they missed an opportunity to pick up serious Gen X ridership

Ben West@westbywest· Jul 2

Entering the "Threaten Me with a Good Time" territory from Seeking Alpha

META doesn't want to spend all its money on AI, turns out

Ben West@westbywest· Jul 1

Aww, they got engaged

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 23

Pea(No)body

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 18

SLMPD's calls for service page is *obviously missing data*. You'll get different results based on your Internet connection (e.g. cable vs 4G). I also STRONGLY doubt there were no 911 calls at all between 4pm yesterday and 8am today.

Incomplete 911 calls for service from SLMPD

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 14

Well done, St. Louis

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 12

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was this low briefly in 2023 when Biden authorized a release after the Ukraine invasion, and in 1983 when the reserve first started up. The SPR is currently in free fall.

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 11

The $2.5M events fund still exists in the current #BB22 under a different name. The funds for Downtown were ranked notably low on the survey President Green distributed, yet not one penny of those $55 million was reallocated?

Rams Settlement Fund spending survey results

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 5

When a fortune cookie attacks you personally

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 4

My phone automatically flagged his robocalls as spam. I had nothing to do with it.

Wesley Bell is in the pocket of Big Spam

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 4

So @repwesleybellmo.bsky.social, why did you remove "End the Iran war" and "Stop tax cuts for billionaires" from the list of your priorities emailed out as constituent surveys between 5/26 and 5/29? Are these actually no longer priorities for you?

Ben West@westbywest· Jun 3

I posit it's the same alternate timeline

Ben West@westbywest· May 28

Previously it was saying 2, LOL

Ben West@westbywest· May 25

They're not wrong

Ben West@westbywest· May 24

This graph showing profitability during the telco bust and current AI build-out (lucky figure #13) really captures the inflexion point we're at. AI must regain lost momentum and not falter, which current events will rightfully and deservedly make tricky. seekingalpha.com/article/4908...

Profit margins among the hyperscalers are also significantly higher than telecom’s back in the late 1990s

Ben West@westbywest· May 19

West St. Louis, Illinois, you know what to do

Ben West@westbywest· May 19

The lengths #datacenterSTL cheerleaders will go to discourage their opposition

Ben West@westbywest· May 14

I have this incredible relocation idea for the former Cheese House in Maine, hear me out

Ben West@westbywest· May 13

Contact the Planning Commission to OPPOSE tearing down historic former Charlie Gitto's at 207 N 6th St. Their circular logic dictates demo bc too expensive not to demo, and it's remained vacant likely due to the vacant hulk of the Railway Exchange right next door. www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/d...

Ben West@westbywest· May 13

Now I know why Governor Kehoe looked so familiar

Ben West@westbywest· May 8

Just another day in St. Louis, with Boeing test-flying a new F-15 over downtown for delivery to the Qatari Air Force

Ben West@westbywest· May 3

Banks are hunting for new ways to offload risks tied to a glut of data centre debt as the race to build AI infrastructure stretches financing limits among the largest global lenders.

Groups including JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and SMBC are trying to find ways to distribute portions of data centre-related deals to a broader range of investors, according to people familiar with the matter.

Lenders are exploring private deals to sell stakes in the debt as well as so-called risk transfers to reduce exposure to big borrowers and free up capacity for more lending.

The efforts showcase the unprecedented scale of borrowing that underpins the AI sector and the pressure it is putting on lenders. Oracle and CoreWeave, two data centre operators, have borrowed hundreds of billions to build sites across the US for AI labs.

“The sizes we’re talking about . . . they’re out of scale to anything we’ve thought about, ever,” said Matthew Moniot, co-head of credit risk sharing at Man Group. “Banks very quickly start choking.”

Lenders, including JPMorgan and MUFG, have spent more than six months distributing $38bn of construction debt tied to a data centre project leased to Oracle in Texas and Wisconsin, people familiar with the matter said.

Some banks sought to sell the loans at a discount to non-bank lenders to offload the Oracle-linked debt, the people said.

JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, SMBC and MUFG declined to comment.

Banks have in recent weeks sounded out investors about structures including a variant of a significant risk transfer, or SRT.

SRTs have been commonly used by European banks to reduce their capital requirements by offloading the risk of losses on part of a loan portfolio to investors such as private credit funds and insurers in exchange for a return. North American banks have begun using the instruments more in recent years.

Rather than a classic SRT that may be tied to dozens of loans, banks are exploring slicing and dicing large and concentrated data centre loans to shift the riskiest portions off their books, for example.

“Banks usually still hold a certain percentage of the exposure,” said David Lucking at law firm Linklaters, who has seen deals in the $500mn range backed by lone borrowers. “The SRT investor would like to know that banks still have a little bit of skin in the game.”

Investors expect more such moves as banks come up against risk limits that restrict their exposure to individual borrowers or sectors, and seek to free up balance sheet for more lending.

“Unlike a traditional SRT, there are limited operators, it’s extremely concentrated and there’s significant construction risk,” said Frank Benhamou, portfolio manager at Cheyne Capital. “You expect to be paid a bit more for it.”

Growing public opposition to data centres in parts of the US has also added to risks facing the projects. Lawmakers in the northeastern state of Maine passed a statewide ban in April.

“If I was a chief risk officer at a bank, and I had bankers asking for multibillion-dollar lines to individual projects, I’d be asking them about how they sell it down,” said Moniot.

Companies have already started expanding to new debt markets beyond bank lending by issuing private credit, asset-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities and privately placed bonds.

“There’s a nervousness . . . [Banks] are having to find more counterparties in order to achieve for what’s in the market and in the pipeline,” said Carlos Mendez, co-founder at Crayhill Capital.

Ben West@westbywest· May 1

Brilliant

Ben West@westbywest· May 1

Welp, residents of STL wards 3,5,6,7,8, @repwesleybellmo.bsky.social didn't show up, just sent a written statement.

Ben West@westbywest· Apr 29

1/3 Some of JeffCo's new #datacenterSTL regulations. Versus #STLBOA so far passing none. § 400.3690 Environmental & Community Impact Analysis page 587 Impact study performed at applicant’s cost by environmental engineer chosen by the county jeffersoncomo.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2080/f...

5. Any environmental impacts that are likely to be generated (e.g., odor, noise, smoke, dust, litter, glare, heat islands, vibration, electrical disturbance, wastewater, stormwater, solid waste, etc.) and specific measures employed to mitigate or eliminate any negative impacts.
The applicant shall further furnish evidence that the impacts generated by the proposed use fall within acceptable levels, as regulated by applicable laws and ordinances.
6. Said plan shall be evaluated by a certified professional environmental engineer in the State of Missouri that shall be selected by the county and all expenses incurred for said review shall be the sole responsibility of the applicant.

I. Adverse Impacts.
1. Any use or activity producing air, dust, smoke, glare, exhaust, heat, or humidity in any form shall be carried on in such a manner that it is not perceptible at or beyond the property line.

1. All principal structures shall be set back from all external property lines as follows:
a. When adjoining a non-residential property, the setback shall be 200-ft; and
b. When adjoining any residentially developed property the setback shall be 500-ft

Ben West@westbywest· Apr 27

#stlwx

Ben West@westbywest· Apr 21

Ben West@westbywest· Apr 12