Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who has emerged as a new 'power player' in U.S. politics by becoming the 'First Buddy' (the president's close friend) of President-elect Donald Trump, is building his own city in Texas composed of his space company SpaceX.
According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 24th (local time), employees at SpaceX headquarters in Boca Chica, located at the southern tip of Texas, recently submitted signatures and petitions to form a new local government.
The petition submitted to the Cameron County Court, the jurisdictional court, centers on establishing a small city with the same name where SpaceX's exclusive spaceport 'Starbase' is located, and electing a mayor through elections.
The petition also includes that Gunnar Milburn, SpaceX's security officer, will run as the first mayoral candidate.
The city covers about 3.9 square kilometers and has approximately 500 residents, including around 100 children. Most of them are SpaceX employees or their families.
The petition does not state why CEO Musk wants to create the city of Starbase or what benefits he expects to gain from it. However, the NYT reported that Musk has expressed his desire to turn Starbase into a city for several years.
To create a city, a certain minimum number of residents is required, so concrete action had not been taken, but since many SpaceX employees have moved near the company, the requirements appear to have been met.
In a letter submitted along with the petition, Katherine Ruder, SpaceX Starbase general manager, stated that SpaceX currently performs public service roles such as managing public facilities, education, and medical services due to its remote location, and that creating a city would allow some of these functions to be appropriately transferred to public institutions.
The NYT stated that if all legal requirements are met, the court must approve the petition to establish the new local government.
Eddie Trevino Jr., judge of the Cameron County Court, said that a legal review is underway and that if there are no particular issues, a mayoral election could be held next year.
The NYT also noted that if the election is held, CEO Musk is expected to participate as a voter. Although Musk did not sign the petition, he has a residence in Cameron County and stated that he voted there last November.
Additionally, the NYT reported that Musk may attempt to build corporate cities in other areas. He has considered developing the suburban area of Bastrop near Austin, Texas, to house employees. This area includes SpaceX’s manufacturing plant and the headquarters of The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company. Musk’s social media company X (formerly Twitter) office is also planned to be established there.
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