'Go to Mars': Elon Musk's neighbors are sick of him
Tech billionaire Elon Musk announced that he would relocate his businesses to Boca Chica, Texas, and his residence to Austin in 2021. What has followed is infuriating local residents — who now want him gone.
Rolling Stone reported that there might not be many people in the town that Musk has taken over, but within a 15-mile radius of it are Texas residents and vacationers who want to enjoy their time at the beach.
Across the bay from Port Isabel and south of South Padre Island, "Starbase" sits on the edge of the Boca Chica State Park and Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area.
"Every couple of months, rocket launches shake houses within a 15-mile radius with the force of a moderately powerful earthquake, and some have burned acres of wilderness, blown out windows, and showered the region in a drizzle of melted cement," the report said.
Boca Chica is known to locals as the “poor people’s beach,” the report said, but now no one can get there without traveling on the highway controlled by SpaceX. There's also a "10-foot-tall deformed, gold-spray-painted plaster statue that guards the highway." The road is frequently closed.
The report began with a scene on the beach with local children whacking an Elon Musk-shaped piñata.
For those enjoying a day in the ocean, SpaceX "dumps hundreds of thousands of gallons of water used in launches into the neighboring south bay."
"Later tests have been less successful, though perhaps more exciting," the report said. "Most dramatic was an April 20, 2023, test of the SpaceX Starship, which melted the launchpad and showered the region as far as Port Isabel in a fine cement powder."
One man remembered "a chunk of cement crashing through a windshield on his street. The two most recent tests this year were also spectacular failures, with rockets exploding over the Caribbean, scattering debris, and forcing nearby aircraft to scramble," he told the reporter.
Rancher Rene Medrano, whose land runs along the highway, told Rolling Stone, “These guys want to go to Mars. Let them go to Mars. The people here want to enjoy the beach. Let us enjoy the beach. This should be open forever.”
The region has become polarized, with some happy about an economic investment in the area and others who want their towns back.
Rolling Stone describes billions of investments in the infrastructure, "3,400 full-time SpaceX workers" with "21,400 indirect jobs."
Homer Pompa has lived in an RV since the early 2000s. He's about three miles from the SpaceX launch site. At first, the Vietnam veteran was "enthralled" with the rocket launches, but over time, the excitement has waned.
“It’s like sex,” he told the magazine. “Once you’ve had it, you’ve had it.”
“I’m not a cultist,” he said. “I fought for America. I didn’t fight for some South African guy to come over here and tell everyone what to do.”
With the takeover of the small town, dominated by SpaceX employees, the municipal government can utilize laws like eminent domain to seize any land it desires. So, Pompa is worried that he might lose access to Boca Chica Beach, where he said he's been fishing since he was a child.
Another unusual local rule was included on Joshuah Gardner's lease when he applied for housing in 2023. The former SpaceX employee hed a provision in his lease agreement that if he was fired, he had to move out of the property within 10 days.
Such staff "purges" were "frequent," he said. Gardner recalled Musk coming to town and inspecting a row of airstream trailers. "Later that day, dozens of workers were laid off," the report said. "A firing also means an eviction."
With nondisclosure agreements, Gardner can't say more.
Many locals who were there before SpaceX have moved out, while those that are left are worried.
“These guys have deep pockets,” one man scared to identify himself said. He noted they “can make your life pretty miserable.”
He's worried with the power of a town, the company "might be able to bulldoze" those few that remain.
Read the full report of those on the ground in South Texas here.