Elon Musk: Altruistic Pioneer Or Self-Centered Sophomaniac?
Despite Elon Musk’s statements that the Wall Street Journal article was false… it seems there are definite plans for an Elon Musk Town in Texas. It is stated that Elon Musk is building a city for his employees to live and work, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.
According to the news outlet, these organizations have acquired at least 3,500 acres of pasture and farmland close to Austin and are attempting to incorporate a town called Snailbrook, named after the Boring Co.’s mascot.
The report states that Elon Musk wants his staff at the primary manufacturing sites for his firms Tesla, Boring Company, SpaceX, and the brand new Gigafactory, all of which are located close to Austin.
“To be able to live in new homes with below-market rents.” More than 100 homes will reportedly be built as part of the Snailbrook project, along with neighborhood amenities including a pool and a sports field.
Elon and his employees have described the future city as a “Texas utopia along the Colorado River”. Elon Musk, Kanye West and an architectural designer discussed several times last year what a Musk town would look like.
Due to difficulties with California’s Coronavirus-related restrictions, Elon Musk indicated in 2020 that Tesla’s corporate headquarters and his residence would be moving from California to Texas.
According to a claimed advertisement for employees, Boring Company employees could apply for a home with rents starting at around $800 per month for a two- or three-bedroom. But if an employee leaves or is fired, he or she must vacate the house within 30 days, the report further says.
Steve Davis, Boring’s president, has specifically purchased more than 200 acres in Bastrop County, with paperwork filed to build 110 homes. Street names have been approved by Bastrop County officials with names like “Boring Boulevard,” “Waterjet Way,” and “Cutterhead Crossing.”
It should be mentioned that the Boring Company has applied to environmental authorities on the state level to discharge 142,500 gallons of treated wastewater into the Colorado River every day, CHRON reported in October of last year.
Steve Adler served as the mayor of Austin from 2015 until earlier this year. When visiting him in 2020, Elon Musk asked for assurances that bureaucracy wouldn’t be a problem for his projects.
According to The Journal, Robert Pugh, who previously served as the director of engineering in Bastrop County, complained to county planning commissioner Clara Beckett that employees had been “regularly hounded” by staff and contractors for Boring and Starlink, which is part of SpaceX.
Mr Pugh wrote last June that they wanted the county to “expedite and approve permit applications that are incomplete and not in compliance” with regulations. He left his job that month.
The director of tourism and economic development at the county, Adena Lewis, told the paper that “they’re very respectful of us,” but she added that “they’re in a hurry”.
She said that the county being small may have appealed to the billionaire as it would give him “the ability to work with folks on a direct level, and not having tons of red tape”.
So it comes as no surprise that the residents of a small Texas town have accused Elon Musk and Space X of trying to bully them out of their homes using threats and aggressive tactics.
The tiny town of Boca Chica is at the center of an unlikely dispute that began when Tesla billionaire Musk began buying up homes and land in the area in 2015 to expand his SpaceX empire and build a test site for his Starship program.
When complete, the Starship will be a reusable heavy launch vehicle capable of carrying up to 100 people to the Moon and Mars – a ‘priority’ for Musk according to an email leaked in 2020.
Musk, who has long dreamed of creating a home for humans on Mars, also called for progress on the project to accelerate ‘dramatically and immediately’ and said in a follow-up tweet that ‘Starship is key to making life multiplanetary and protecting the light of consciousness.
Until 2015, Boca Chica was a quiet hamlet of just 35 houses and a tiny chapel, spread out along a dusty street. Space X now owns most of the town but the remaining 12 residents told DailyMail.com that they aren’t going anywhere, despite being threatened with compulsory purchase under Texas’ Eminent Domain laws.
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