Elon Musk now has his own city in Texas.
Spacex's private launch site in Boca Chica Village has
officially become a city named Starbase after residents voted
212 to 6 in favor of incorporation.
Nearly all voters were SpaceX employees or family members,
since the company owns most of the homes and employs most of
the people living in the area. This vote turns what was once a
sleepy coastal village into an officially recognized
municipality, LED entirely by people who work for Elon Musk.
Now this episode will cover Starbase, how Musk made it
happen, why some people are celebrating it, and why others
are protesting. We'll break down the vote, who's
now in charge and what it could mean for public land access,
environmental concerns, and how companies might take control of
entire communities in the future.
The creation of Starbase also raises a huge question.
What happens when a private corporation becomes the
government? Welcome to the Elon Musk
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Thank you so much. Elon Musk now has his own city
in Texas. Spacex's private launch site in
Boca Chica Village has officially become a city called
Starbase after residents voted 212 to 6 in favor of
incorporation. Nearly all voters were SpaceX
employees or family members, since the company owns most of
the homes and employs most of the people living in the area.
This vote turns what was once a sleepy coastal village with a
few people living there into an officially recognized
municipality led by people who work for Elon Musk.
Now, in this episode, we're going to cover what Starbase is,
how Musk made it happen, and why some people are celebrating it
while others are also protesting.
We'll break down the vote, who is now in charge and what it
could mean for public land access, environmental concerns,
and how companies might take control of entire communities in
the future. The creation of Starbase has a
big question attached to it. What happens when a private
corporation becomes the government?
Welcome to the Elon Musk podcast.
I'm your host Will Walden. Elon Musk has talked about
building a city in South Texas for years, and now he's done it.
On Saturday, voters, mostly SpaceX employees, approved
turning Boca Chica into the city of Starbase.
The town covers just 1.5 square miles, but includes the SpaceX
launch site for Starship. And that's the massive 400 plus
foot tall rocket that Elon Musk hopes will take humans to Mars.
I want to go back a few years. Right after the pandemic.
I went to Starbase and I lived there for around a year.
I was covering star base and everything happening there.
When they were building the initial Starship I was on the
side of Hwy. 4 every single day in the 110° heat filming,
videoing, live streaming them completing the first ship and
booster and putting it on the pad.
Now let me tell you this, they are far away from everything.
The closest city is Brownsville, TX, and it's about 30 minutes
away, and you have to go way down a desolate road and there's
nothing there. So building Spacex's star base
into an official city, you might have thought, well, maybe they
were encroaching on a lot of people, but they really weren't.
There are only a few people living there when they're making
this into a city. So take that into consideration
when you learn a little bit more.
But the city elected its first mayor, who's Bobby Peden, who
has worked at SpaceX since 2013. Two city commissioners were also
elected, both with close ties to the company, and all three ran
unopposed. There were no public debates, no
local forums and no traditional campaigning.
The move gives Musk more control over roads, zoning and local
services. SpaceX says this will help them
build housing and infrastructure for employees, something county
officials have previously blocked.
Now, with their own city, they can improve what they want
faster and with fewer outsider restrictions.
But not everyone supports this. Protesters have gathered at
nearby Boca Chica Beach the day of the vote.
Local activists, environmentalists and members of
the Carrizo Tribe of Texas say the beach and surrounding land
are being destroyed. Each rocket launch requires
evacuating the whole area, and residents say they're losing
access to places they've used for generations.
And Musk has not commented on these concerns, though.
But the new city is already pushing for more authority.
A bill moving through the Texas Legislature would let Starbase
officials, who are actually Musk's own employees, decide
when to shut down a public beach during the weekdays.
If it passes, SpaceX won't need county approval anymore to close
the beach for rocket tests. They can do it whenever they
want to, and this sets a dangerous precedent.
The city is entirely populated by people who depend on SpaceX
for their jobs and housing. That means the local government
serves the company, not the people.
Starbase now operates like a private company town with real
political power. And Musk is not the only tech
figure with these ideas, though. Mark Anderson and Reid Hoffman
are funding a similar project in California, and Peter Thiel once
backed plans for floating cities.
But Elon Musk is the first to actually figure this out.
He got a city recognized, staffed by employees, and
designed to serve a private company's needs.
Now this blurs the lines between private business and our
government. Starbase now controls roads,
utilities, and soon, possibly the beach.
That means SpaceX can shape the laws any way that they want.
There are transparency laws, though, in Texas, so the city
has to follow public records rules, but oversight is minimal
if there are no independent voices in power.
The big risk is that other companies could do the same
thing. If this works for Elon Musk,
it's likely others will follow. A tech billionaire could build a
workforce town, gain control of local rules, and shape the
community that exists solely to serve one business.
And now Starbase is a real city. It's run and owned and built by
the world's richest man. Let me know what you think in
the comments. If you have comments on your
podcast app. What do you think of this?
Do you think it's a good thing? Do you think incorporating the
city will help Elon Musk and SpaceX get to Mars faster?
Will they have less red tape to go through in order to test
Starship, which could push them faster and faster to building
hundreds of these rockets to get to Mars?
Let me know in the comments. Hey, thank you so much for
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