Residents of Elon Musk’s “space city” in southeast Texas reportedly complained about how the SpaceX CEO treated them as he turned their sleepy beach town into his expansive Starbase concept.
Before SpaceX stepped in, Boca Chica was a little beachside community at the mouth of the Rio Grande on the border with Mexico with only a few streets. The company promised to transform the community into a terrestrial endpoint for space passengers.
Construction of the company’s launch facility began in 2014, and rocket testing there began in 2019. A few residents reportedly held out as SpaceX progressively acquired the majority of the thirty-two residences in Boca Chica as construction on the project advanced.
“Creating the city of Starbase, Texas. From thence to Mars. And hence, the stars. Starbase, would encompass an area much larger than Boca Chica,” Musk said in a tweet back in March 2021.
Maria Pointer, who had resided in the last Texan property before the border, revealed to the newspaper that SpaceX is now using her house to store medical supplies.
She could still point out her former residence as it was, standing next to the enormous rocket assembly towers of Starbase.
Florida and Puerto Rico were the two front-runners for hosting a new SpaceX base when Musk received bids in 2012, but after meeting with Texas officials, Musk decided on Boca Chica.
The world’s largest rocket, ever constructed at Starbase, saw 31 of its 33 massive booster engines powered up earlier this month.
Musk has defended the location as essential for the survival of humans, despite reports that his plans to build Starbase had been shelved.
Musk agreed to pay $20 million to schools in Cameron County, which is where the Boca Chica is located, to sweeten the deal for potential residents and local officials.
Also, he pledged to donate $10 million to Brownsville’s “downtown revitalization,” where roughly 29% of people live in poverty.
