Members of a community in southern Texas who were the center of the Elon Musk rocket launch company, SpaceX, voted on Saturday to officially establish a new city called Starbase, realizing one of Mr. Musk’s long -standing dreams.
All the 218 people who voted except six supported the constitution of the city of Starbase, according to the County of Cameron, who administered the vote.
There were 283 eligible voters, said Remi Garza, the county election administrator.
The community, known to the inhabitants under the name of Boca Chica, covers approximately 1.5 square miles on a land spindle that rubbed against the Mexican border.
SpaceX inaugurated in the region in 2014, and has since become the central site of the company and launch, as well as hundreds of its employees.
On his social media platform, X, Mr. Musk qualified the Starbase region more than a dozen times in the past four years.
“My main house is literally a house of ~ $ 50,000 in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent in SpaceX,” wrote Musk in June 2021. “It’s a bit great however.”
In December, people living around the company’s offices and the launch site filed a petition to officially establish the city of Starbase, Texas.
The petition described a community of around 500 inhabitants, including at least 219 main residents and more than 100 children. Almost everyone is a tenant and works at SpaceX, according to the petition.
The municipality would be eligible to create its own police and fire services, as well as to adopt its own orders, although it does not have to do so.
“The cities are held by law to do very little,” said Alan Bojorquez, lawyer for Austin who specializes in Texans aid thanks to the integration of new municipalities.
Road maintenance is one of the most important practical problems and is no longer managed by the county. But, as a municipality, Starbase would be eligible for state and federal subsidies, would have a certain immunity from prosecution and could also condemn goods, said Bojorquez.
“Starbase started with a shovel,” said Musk shortly after the finalization of the vote.
J. David Goodman Contributed reports.
