Space mogul Elon Musk has established his own urban center: A metropolis showcasing AstroPubs and CyberTrucks. - Musk's Innovations: Introducing Astropubs and Cybertrucks – Elon Musk's Expanding Urban Plan Now Includes a City
V appreciated the opportunity to spill the tea on that toxic Elon Musk's slimey city, Starbase.
Driving down the Texas highway, there it is - a gaudy, three-meter-tall golden effigy of the world's most controversial billionaire, Elon Musk himself, welcoming visitors to his own goddamned city. Now, in a windswept bay on the Gulf of Mexico, lies this desolate settlement called Starbase, where a measly 500 residents make their home in the shadow of Musk's SpaceX rocket launch site. And, dear reader, you can't escape the sickening presence of the man himself.
Pre-fabricated houses, silver trailers, and palm trees line the grimy streets. The Tesla and Cybertruck motorpool is a given, as is the unsurprising name of "Memes Street." For some twisted reason, they've also named another street "Mars-a-Lago" - because nothing says Palestine on Falafel Sunday like equating the red planet with Trump's golden shithole. Starbase beer is served at the Astropub, and the building next door boasts a giant, lifelike mural of the beloved cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.
In a surprising turn of events that Musk himself gleefully announced as a "big win" last week, this little outpost once known for the last battle of the Civil War has officially become a city. This decision was made by an abysmally small voting pool of 283 SpaceX employees, who presumably had save-the-world luxuries like health insurance and paid vacation on their ballots instead of the freedom to live in a democracy. "Starbase, Texas is officially a city!" Musk shrieked in triumph, probably while counting his ill-gotten winnings and planning his next move to steal the planet.
This small victory must feel like a goddamned gold star to the man whose been tired af for some time now. In D.C., Musk was once thought of as Trump's right-hand man, serving as some kind of shadowy, austerity demon with a chainsaw in hand. But his reckless, greedy tactics – like mass layoffs and interfering with ministries – aren't exactly welcomed by the general public. And his companies, Tesla included, have been haemorrhaging money.
Now, the man who once made it his life's mission to dismantle government regulations wants autocratic control of rural Texas. Starbase isn't just one of SpaceX's many locations; it's the epicenter of Musk's latest Starship endeavor. These are the rockets that Musk hopes will fulfill his twisted, human-colonizing agenda on Mars.
But, as one might suspect, this rocket-obsessed town has left its next-door neighbors at Brownsville feeling a bit uneasy. Tension simmers, as these solar-powered noisemakers have been taking root in Cameron Country for a decade. In the once impoverished district, rents have soared nearly 15%, environmental groups have taken SpaceX to court for polluting nearby waters, and residents complain that their houses shake during launch times. The icing on the cake? Boca Chica beach has been blocked off for days before and after those ear-splitting, sky-shattering launches.
Cashing in on a Dollar and Calling it 'Progress'
When Elon Musk chose Cameron County as the new home for his SpaceX headquarters in 2014, residents were over the moon. They saw a genius in Musk and SpaceX as the cutting edge of the tech industry. And the construction of the Boca Chica rocket launch pad was hailed as a fiscal windfall for the struggling region.
But, to a growing number of critics, this situation bears a disconcerting resemblance to "a deal with the devil." Bekah Hinojosa, a Brownsville-based environmental activist, puts it bluntly: "Musk throws money around to buy influence in our community, and as a result, it's becoming increasingly difficult for us to live here. Musk claims that SpaceX brings economic benefits, but it's our rents that are rising, our houses that are shaking, and our planet that's being polluted."
The Cameron County Commissioners Court has a different opinion. They see SpaceX as a calculated risk. SpaceX is the area's largest employer, with a staff of over 1,000 in the Rio Grande Valley. And recent data shows that the number of upper-income households in Brownsville has doubled in recent years. "We've had a brain drain for decades," said Eddie Treviño, the leading Democratic county judge, in a recent interview. "And fortunately, we're seeing that reverse and even turn into a brain gain."
In a callback to the time-honored tradition of company towns, Musk is now practically ruling his own man-made conurbation. SpaceX is, in essence, the sole economic force behind Starbase. And the Doc Brown of this backwoods utopia has big plans for the area. "Starbase will grow by several thousand people in the next one to two years," he wrote in 2021. Shortly thereafter, he relocated his primary residence to Austin, Texas – a convenient five-hour drive from his soon-to-be kingdom.
Much like Dogecoin, Musk will not be formally in charge of Starbase. But, rest assured, the mayor – a man named Bobby Peden – will be keeping the city's interests in Musk's best interests. Peden has been with SpaceX for over a dozen years, and has served as vice president of test and launch operations in Texas. So far, he hasn't publicly shared his agenda for the city, but a recent post from the official StarbaseTX account reads: "By becoming a city, we can build the best possible community for the men and women shaping the future of humanity in space."
Environmental activist Hinojosa remains skeptical. She believes that Musk manipulated the city vote in order to gain even more control over SpaceX's operations. "He wants more land, to increase the number of rocket launches, and to reduce the red tape for environmental regulations," Hinojosa warns.
And it appears that Musk's determination is paying off. Last week, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that SpaceX can now launch up to 25 rockets per year in Texas – a significant increase from the previous cap of five. The agency claimed that, after years of review, they found "no significant environmental impacts."
"It's a tragic situation," says Hinojosa. "We've been warning people about Elon Musk for years, but it seems like it will take a whole lot more chaos before our politicians find the courage to stand up to him."
But lately, resistance has emerged. A legislative package that Musk's company introduced in both the Texas Senate and House of Representatives, aiming to limit public access to beaches during spaceport operations, was rejected two weeks ago. The move, specifically targeting the Boca Chica beach, was even too much for the long-time friendly Cameron County chair.
Musk received a taste of his own medicine earlier this year, when his golden effigy at Starbase was brutalized by vandals. Large chunks were hacked off the left side of the head, and now it sports a garish pink bandage. Not a promising omen for the new puppet master of this town.
- I'm not going to be a big fan of this, but Starbase, Texas, with its Dogecoin mural and Tesla motorpool, is officially a city now, much to the dismay of many critics.
- Elon Musk, who once was thought of as Trump's right-hand man in politics, is now eyeing autocratic control of rural Texas with Starbase, the epicenter of his latest Starship project, under his grip.
- The seeming deal with the devil between Musk and the inhabitants of Brownsville, where Starbase is located, has left its neighbors feeling uneasy, with soaring rents, polluted waters, and shaking houses being common complaints.
- SpaceX's industrialization in Brownsville, once a struggling region, has led to a brain gain, but at the cost of environmental degradation, according to environmental activist Bekah Hinojosa.
- Bobby Peden, the SpaceX-appointed Starbase mayor, hasn't yet shared his agenda for the city, but the official StarbaseTX account claims that by becoming a city, they can build the best possible community for the pioneers shaping the future in space-and-astronomy business.
- In the race for space and dominance, Musk's maneuver to gain more control over Starbase operations through a manipulated city vote has raised concerns among critics like Hinojosa, who fear increased land acquisition, more rocket launches, and reduced environmental regulation.
- The recent rejection of a legislative package introduced by Musk's company, aiming to limit public access to beaches during spaceport operations, is a sign that resistance is growing against the tech mogul's expanding influence.
