The first proposed checkpoint would be 14-16 miles from the end of Highway 4 at Boca Chica Beach. Only government, SpaceX, or emergency personnel and property owners in the prescribed area will be allowed beyond that first "soft" checkpoint.
The general public will not be allowed beyond this soft checkpoint on launch days. This means the Palmetto Battlefield National Historic Park and the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge will be off limits during launches.
The second "hard" checkpoint will be a "no-pass" during launch. No one will be allowed beyond this checkpoint as per FAA regulations.
Some of us had assumed that the citizen barrier would be at the current Border Patrol checkpoint, but it appears a more stringent soft checkpoint will be in place approximately 1-3 miles east of the Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport and 14-16 miles from Boca Chica Beach.
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Despite the claims of Brownsville Space X boosters no one is going to come to Brownsville to see a launch, they will go to SPI where they will be within four miles of the launch site and the view will be unobstructed. It remains to be seen if this is going to be good or bad for us but you can bet it will not be what the city presented when they were spinning this to the community. They lied by omission and by commission. Or, if you want to give them the benefit of the doubt, they were ignorant regarding more then just the obvious stuff.
ReplyDeleteSo what????? Washington monuments and parks are regularly blocked for "million man marches", "roaring thunder motorcycle rides in DC" for the "USMC marathon" in DC, and regularly national parks and forests have been closed due to budget limitations........so what is the damage if local parks are closed for one or two days a year. Do you have any statistics on how many people visit these sites...daily, weekly, monthly or annually....show us the figures that justify your whining Jim. We talk about jobs and bringing new business to this area, then we take a wild liberal stance to protect an animal that we never see or a park that no one visits.....over commercial progress. We are a city of wild perspectives and a city that is going no where because of those perspectives and corruption in all out governments. Now that the Russian's have plans to cut us off in space rides, perhaps future NASA flights will take place here....even with the checkpoints. No pain, no gain!!!!
ReplyDeleteTypical of this community, we want progress and commercial development, but we don't want anything to change. We see the dusty roads of history, but can't adjust to progress. We want high tech jobs, but have a low tolerance for change. Just doesn't give us much hope for the future.
ReplyDeleteOur beach may be saved for awhile. SpaceX uses Russian made engines for their rockets and the US is still 5 years from developing rocket engines of that technology. Russia will boycott our asses to.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that all the Boca Chica beach area will be off-limits to other development? If you cannot access the beach on launch days, what if you live there. The beach property, properly marketed, is worth more than a thousand Space Xs. They will bring maybe 30 to 50 well paid jobs. How many jobs are there on SPI, Port Aransas, Galveston etc. Basically, the city is giving away the most valuable asset, beach front property, for a launch pad that can be moved at anytime at relatively little expense. How much have they invested in property, practically nothing?
ReplyDeleteWill ships carrying Liquid National Gas from the Port of Brownsville have to stop sailing down the ship channel during launch days? Otherwise these two hazards to health could collide and cancel each other out. That would solve all our problems. Forever.
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