Texas legislature gives Starbase power to close Boca Chica beaches
The Texas legislature this week approved language that now gives the new government of Starbase the power to close the road to Boca Chica’s beaches, taking that power from the local county.
House Bill 5246 revises the power and duties of the Texas Space Commission and the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium. A conference committee report of the bill added a section that allows the Space Commission to coordinate with a city to temporarily close a highway or venue for public safety purposes.
In South Texas, that will give the Starbase city commissioners the authority to approve those closures which would affect State Highway 4, a road that runs through Starbase and leads to the beach, as well as the beach itself.
As is usual for the particular news outlet at the link, it magnifies the opposition to SpaceX, amplifying the size of the several tiny leftist activist organizations that have been trying to shut down SpaceX at Boca Chica since the day Elon Musk announced he was now voting Republican. In reality, that opposition is nil. The region is thrilled by the wealth and jobs that SpaceX is bringing to the area, and is willing do help it grow in all ways. This action by the state legislature only reflects that support.
I must also note that the opposition in the legislature came entirely from the Democratic Party, once again taking the 20% side of an 80-20 issue.
Hat tip to radio host Robert Pratt of Pratt on Texas.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The Texas legislature this week approved language that now gives the new government of Starbase the power to close the road to Boca Chica’s beaches, taking that power from the local county.
House Bill 5246 revises the power and duties of the Texas Space Commission and the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium. A conference committee report of the bill added a section that allows the Space Commission to coordinate with a city to temporarily close a highway or venue for public safety purposes.
In South Texas, that will give the Starbase city commissioners the authority to approve those closures which would affect State Highway 4, a road that runs through Starbase and leads to the beach, as well as the beach itself.
As is usual for the particular news outlet at the link, it magnifies the opposition to SpaceX, amplifying the size of the several tiny leftist activist organizations that have been trying to shut down SpaceX at Boca Chica since the day Elon Musk announced he was now voting Republican. In reality, that opposition is nil. The region is thrilled by the wealth and jobs that SpaceX is bringing to the area, and is willing do help it grow in all ways. This action by the state legislature only reflects that support.
I must also note that the opposition in the legislature came entirely from the Democratic Party, once again taking the 20% side of an 80-20 issue.
Hat tip to radio host Robert Pratt of Pratt on Texas.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
An excellent move by the TX state legislature. One hopes it is merely prologue to a permanent closure of Boca Chica State Beach in toto.
The greenie left likes to whine about the alleged deleterious effects of SpaceX Starbase operations on the local sea turtle population while also staunchly defending the right of dirt bikers and four-wheelers to run roughshod there simply because their first priority is always to make as much trouble for Elon and SpaceX as possible, obvious hypocrisy be damned.
Once the beach is closed, the TX legislature could also make the relevant stretch of state highway 4 into a Starbase city street. That would make the only remaining problematic public use of that stretch of road be access to a minor Civil War historic site. How much should we bet that this turns out to be the only Confederate memorial the left will insist be retained?
I’d also like to see Starbase use its eminent domain power to expand its footprint. I’m not, in general, a fan of eminent domain, but there are some lefties who’ve bought up tiny land parcels adjacent to Starbase recently just to provide a legal pretext to attempt getting in SpaceX’s way. I would enjoy seeing these types be made an offer they could not refuse.
Those are ugly beaches anyway.
Come to Alabama’s sugar sands at Dauphin Island. They look like snow.
The city of Starbase should build a causeway from South Padre Island to the north of the park. Viewing bleachers, concession stands and a public beach would be great amenities for the millions of future visitors. The future of the site looks very promising. I hope that Starbase will become a full-time private port of departure to Mars for the Million planned colonists.
I always thought that Sonic and Tesla should work together–in that the way Sonic is laid out it also lends itself to each parking space doubling as recharging station…it just needs better wiring.
Heck, if you have a gaming kid in the car–he could compete against the other motorists, with the winner getting the food/recharge free.
Turn recharging from a chore to a destination in its own right.
Just so everyone is aware, if not already, Texas Tribune is quite left-wing. They are essentially an arm of the Texas progressive caucus/Jim Hightower set. That’s a small but very vocal and well-funded group. They are heavily biased.