Elon Musk’s SpaceX has acquired its own official company town.
Residents from the area around SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in southern Texas voted on Saturday to set up as an overwhelming city. According to results posted online by the Cameron County Elections Bureau, 212 votes were in favor and only opposed.
In a post on his social media site X, Musk wrote that Starbase, Texas, “is now a real city!”
The new city residents are considered primarily SpaceX employees. On Saturday, they also voted to select three current and former Star-based employees: Bobby Peden, Jordan Bass and Jenna Petruzelka.
The Associated Press reports that SpaceX does not share many details as to why it wants to include the region. The company said it already controls local roads, utilities and “schooling and health care regulations.” It also aims to move powers from the county to the new city government, closing nearby Bocachica Beach and state parks to launch.
Musk recently said he will reduce his role to “one or two” per week in the Trump administration’s controversial government efficiency – announced last year that he is moving SpaceX’s headquarters from El Segundo, California to a Starbase facility in Texas.
At the time, Musk said he “shunned violent gangs of drug addicts just to get in and out of the building,” and that “final straw” was a California bill that prohibits schools from disclosing students’ sexuality or gender identity without their consent.
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After last night’s election, the new X-Account representing the town said, “Being a city will help us continue to build the best possible community to build the future of humanity’s place in space.”