The residents of the Texan town have approved transforming Elon Musk’s Starbase into an official municipality. This decision effectively detaches the area from Cameron County, which had earlier declined to construct additional accommodations for SpaceX workers.
A Texas town located in the southeast close to the Mexican border, which hosts Elon Musk’s SpaceX facility, will receive the title of Starbase after a local resident vote.
In Saturday’s vote, out of approximately 300 residents eligible to vote, 212 supported officially incorporating the community as a city, while only six opposed it.
Musk jubilantly announced on X that Starbase, Texas has officially become a recognized city.
The recently designated Starbase spans approximately 3.75 square kilometers in the vicinity of the area mentioned.
SpaceX
manufacturing plants for the Starship rocket, which is intended to journey to Mars.
Starbase, Texas: Population 500
The AFP news agency reported that around 500 people live around the base in Cameron County — on land mostly owned by SpaceX or its employees — citing official documents.
One of the landmarks in the settlement is a large bust of the tech billionaire. Residents also elected SpaceX manager Bobby Peden as their mayor.
“Becoming a city will help us continue building the best community possible for the men and women building the future of humanity’s place in space,” the new city’s handle posted on social media platform X.
Critics of SpaceX express dissatisfaction over the latest developments.
The decision to establish Starbase as an independent city sets it apart from Cameron County, which had earlier turned down proposals to develop additional housing for SpaceX staff. With this change, Starbase can now undertake and manage its own infrastructure development initiatives.
Developments aren’t going down well with some. Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, voiced concern over the environmental impact and warned of more “destruction.”
She warned AFP prior to the vote that they might engage in further unauthorized disposal of waste, intensify their hazardous missile activities, leading to increased tremors, shaking our houses, and causing greater destruction to the local wildlife habitats.
The altered city status enables Starbase to manage construction and permit procedures, bypassing additional bureaucratic hurdles, all while gathering taxes and establishing local legislation.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
Author: Kieran Burke (with AFP, dpa)
