Catching me standing in Market Square during the "State of the City" event last Thursday, Miriam Suarez, Downtown District Manager, handed me a keychain in Tony Martinez' favorite blue with the inscription "Make Brownsville Soar!" I took that as a not-so-subliminal message connecting the current mayor with the SpaceX project.
In reality, Tony had almost nothing to do with the arrival of SpaceX at Boca Chica, but, rather, it was the closest-to-the equator latitude in the continental United States, facilitating sending a rocket into orbit, cheapest of cheap land and the incentives literally thrown at Elon Musk.
Notice the words of one political observer in 2014:
"Actually, Tony had almost nothing to due with Spacex selecting Boca Chica beach as a location for a commercial launch facility. Primarily, latitude played the major role in the Boca Chica selection as well as the lack of development and remoteness. The monetary incentives from the State of Texas played a major role added to local incentives. Martinez was nothing more than a cheerleader, taking jaunts at taxpayer expense to visit launches, but not a real player in negotiations."
Yes, Elon Musk pretended to be considering three sites back in the day; Brownsville's Boca Chica, Cape Canaveral and Puerto Rico.
A nerd magazine I was reading at the time called BS on this ploy, stating that Florida was too expensive and Puerto Rico, while good as a secondary recovery possibility, represented a trajectory over far too heavily populated areas.
Still, the idea of Brownsville soaring is something we can all support. Of the three mayoral candidates, who, if any, can be instrumental in our city actually taking off?
Let's analyze that in a subsequent article.
You're too old to be a dreamer, Jim. Shit, you're almost dead!
ReplyDeleteDon’t tell that to Ana. She’ll be heartbroken.
DeleteTony got the City to pay for an event for his reelection campaign.
ReplyDeleteTony and Charlie will make Brownsville sore. Trey will make Brownsville attractive to investors.
ReplyDelete