SpaceX Fucking Around with Public Roads

[atomheartbevo 89844]

Had a friend down there mention it to me - people are getting really fucking pissed at them over a lot of things (not just trying to take all the land they want).

https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-road-closures-may-be-criminal-acts-authorities-warn-report-2021-6

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Local authorities have accused SpaceX of violating the law by attempting to block access to public roads around its spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas, according to the KGRW reporter Rudy Mireles.

SpaceX's security staff may have broken Texas laws against obstructing public roads and impersonating a public official — Class B misdemeanor and third-degree felony violations, respectively — Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz wrote in a letter to SpaceX, according to Mireles.

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Saenz warned SpaceX that future violations could result in individual SpaceX employees or contractors being arrested as well as the company facing criminal prosecution, according to the letter.

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The letter Mireles obtained said that when members of Saenz's staff went to investigate a complaint that SpaceX had denied public access to two county roads near State Highway 4, a SpaceX security guard "immediately approached, stopped, and detained" them and ordered them to return to the highway.

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Saenz wrote Cameron County had separately in April warned SpaceX about similar conduct, according to Mireles.

Saenz also wrote that neither the security guard, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, nor SpaceX's head of security for the facility appeared to have proper security licenses and asked SpaceX to confirm whether its security staff was properly licensed and whether its security guards were armed.

LOL, SpaceX's private security fucking stopped and detained staff members of the Cameron County District Attorney.   And the DA warned them back in April.

Plenty of people like the money you're spending down there, but your folks are definitely fucking around and going to find out if they keep stopping people from using public roads, especially the fucking District Attorney's staff.   Just get the roads privatized.

Some relevant info:

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it could be the case that any further closure of State Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach constitutes the before mentioned Texas Offense of Obstructing a Highway and any act by a Space-X employee, agent, or contractor to inform the public that they cannot use the road may constitute the before mentioned offense of Impersonating a Public Servant

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by atomheartbevo

[Nivek 16992]

Privatized roads? Shit you want them to pay for it?

[52-80 19271]

U shall not pass

[Texas Jeff 1945]

Roads?  Where we're going we don't need roads...

[ztejas 43549]

4 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

but your folks are definitely fucking around and going to find out

Yeah I'm sure the richest man on Earth is going to "fuck around and find out". Especially going up against all 12 residents of Boca Chica.

[Deej 76971]

Don't fuck around with the residents of Del Boca Chica.

 

[Hagbard Celine 10937]

elon, we will trade you 50,000 megawatts of tesla walls installed for free in the homes of all longhorn alumni, in exchange for state highway 4 and boca chica beach.

sorted.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11821]

I'm sure if they grease the right palms they can close all the roads they want.  

[Brisketexan 105451]

I gotta tell ya, if our super-duper new space plan includes "just drive there," I'm underwhelmed.

[OrangEngr 1035]

I saw another article with the names of the roads, and after some google earth sleuthing, it’s entirely possible these public roads only have spacex’s launch facilities on them. I definitely sniff some small county DA with big dreams looking for some publicity. Not that spacex isn’t doing some less than kosher stuff, but this one doesn’t quite pass the smell test to me.

[RollLeft 5045]

10 hours ago, OrangEngr said:

I saw another article with the names of the roads, and after some google earth sleuthing, it’s entirely possible these public roads only have spacex’s launch facilities on them. I definitely sniff some small county DA with big dreams looking for some publicity. Not that spacex isn’t doing some less than kosher stuff, but this one doesn’t quite pass the smell test to me.

When i drive around Boca Chica I smell skunk.

[lmao 178]

On 6/19/2021 at 3:25 PM, ztejas said:

Yeah I'm sure the richest man on Earth is going to "fuck around and find out". Especially going up against all 12 residents of Boca Chica.

I can't imagine how insignificant he thinks the people and the law there are. There will be fucking around but no finding out. 

[WhatTheBuck 28811]

On 6/19/2021 at 3:21 PM, Nivek said:

Privatized roads? Shit you want them to pay for it?

I’ll wager ten dollars that they didn’t pay as much as ten dollars in taxes last year. 

[SquishMitten 10444]

On 6/22/2021 at 9:22 PM, OrangEngr said:

I saw another article with the names of the roads, and after some google earth sleuthing, it’s entirely possible these public roads only have spacex’s launch facilities on them. I definitely sniff some small county DA with big dreams looking for some publicity. Not that spacex isn’t doing some less than kosher stuff, but this one doesn’t quite pass the smell test to me.

If that's the case, then I agree. Sure, they're technically breaking the law, but if the road dead ends at SpaceX property (and there's nothing else along the way), they are only preventing people from getting closer to their property. Technically illegal, but it doesn't hurt anyone. The article made it sound like they were forcing people to take an alternate (and presumably longer) route, which would certainly warrant legal action. But this seems more like what neighborhoods occasionally do when they temporarily block public access to the hood if there's only one point of ingress and egress. Yeah, they're public roads, but nobody else has any real reason to be on them.

[Pods 7586]

Fuck that noise. These are public roads built and maintained by taxes and every bit of them should be accessible to the public. 

A private entity should not be able to close a State Highway to benefit only said private entity. They knew those public roads were there when they chose to build there. Don't like it, build somewhere else or build farther from the road.

It's not like they don't have the fucking money. 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

I am going to relish the downfall of Elon Musk....of course, he is just the embodiment of our house of cards economy in all ways, so it will just be a part of our nation's downfall, but I will like that part of it.

[WhatTheBuck 28811]

3 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

I am going to relish the downfall of Elon Musk

You should try holding your breath until that happens. 

[0xdeadbeef 1652]

3 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

I am going to relish the downfall of Elon Musk....of course, he is just the embodiment of our house of cards economy in all ways, so it will just be a part of our nation's downfall, but I will like that part of it.

What a weird take for 2021. 

If this was 2007 or 2008 when SpaceX was unproven and Tesla was struggling to be more than just a flash in the pan, you could legitimately call Musk the "embodiment of our house of cards economy".   But this is 2021 and Musk has delivered the goods on so many fronts.   

[Wally Fairway 5590]

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

You should try holding your breath until that happens. 

Or push all your chips into the pot to call his bluff

[WhatTheBuck 28811]

8 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

Or push all your chips into the pot to call his bluff

Even if you won and doubled up you wouldn’t put a dent in his stack. 

[NoRagrets 1127]

I’ll never understand the hate. Guy built a pretty incredible group of businesses. He’s moving a lot of them to Texas. His rockets are badass and he put them in Texas.