Residents of SpaceX’s Starbase launch site vote to incorporate as a city

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is getting its own official company town. Residents of an area around SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in southern Texas voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to incorporate as a city — also named Starbase. According to results posted online by the Cameron County Elections Department, there were 212 votes in favor and only six against. In a post on his social media site X, Musk wrote that Starbase, Texas “Is now a real city!” The new city’s residents are believed to mostly be SpaceX employees. On Saturday, they also voted to elect three current and former SpaceX employees — Bobby Peden, Jordan Buss, and Jenna Petrzelka — who ran unopposed to serve, respectively, as Starbase’s mayor and two commissioners. The Associated Press reports that SpaceX hasn’t shared many specifics about why it wanted to incorporate the area. The company said it already manages the roads, utilities, and “the provisions of schooling and medical care,” and it’s also looking to shift authority from ... Read full article.