We hate to tell you we told you do, but we told you so.
From the get-go we have said that the chances of SpaceX coming to Cameron County were long. And apparently, they getting longer.
There's no more talk from the local daily of millionaire astro-whiz Elon Musk favoring the Boca Chica site over the proposed sites in Puerto Rico and Florida. And the Brownsville Economic Development Council's Gilbert Salinas is not talking about how Musk just favors Boca Chica because it's a "Texas thing," whatever that means.
Now none other than Mr. Spacey at Cameron County, Commissioner for Pct. 4 Dan Sanchez, is the bearer of bad news by saying in open court that the BEDC and Texas have fallen behind Florida in incentives offered to SpaceX.He said that the $6 million that Texas and BEDC are peanuts compared to nthe $10 million Florida is waving in front of the millionaire's face.
What is it about millionaires that makes local yokels crazy and their response is merely to offer him more money?
“We’re behind in the race,” Sanchez said at the meeting, according to the local daily.
Reporter extraordinaire Emma Perez-Treviño, not one to take a common county commissioner's word at face value, checked with the folks at SpaceX themselves and got a rather ambiguous response, not the public affirmation that Texas was ahead of the game hawked in the week-long series in her newspaper.
“SpaceX is continuing to look at all possibilities for a private launch facility, including sites in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico," SpaceX spokeswoman Katherine Nelson told Emma."We are still in the early stages of the review process.”
Oh, yeah. Nelson told her that SpaceX “appreciates the efforts of, and support from, Texas local, county, regional and state elected officials and organizations.”
Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos tried to put on the best spin he could in the bidding war.
“There is more to an incentives package,” he said. “Our package could well exceed the amount in cash that is being talked about. We are prepared to do whatever we need to do to make it happen.”
With the county strapped for cash that it has only been able to give its employees two stipends instead of raises over the last fiver years that Cascos has been in office – one for $1,000 and the one included in this year's budget of $500 – we'd all love to see from what bhat he is going to pull out the greenbacks.
For now, the bid is in at $10 million for Florida.
"Do I hear $15 million? Going once..."
6 comments:
While the blue collar workers in the County get "small" benefits, Aurora de la Garza and other elected officials get "Dan Sanchez" sponsored political pay raises which they should turn down. The old saying "A Fish stinks from its head" is true in Cameron county....we have a lot of stinking heads who have their hands continually in the public pocket. Aurora et al are corrupt and they know it, but their lips are always on the public tit...
The proximity of Brownsville to SpaceX facilities for testing their rockets should play into our favor. SpaceX can save a great deal of money by having a facility close to the test site in Texas. They can save millions in transport and logistics costs by locating on the Texas coast. When its all about money, we never seem to win.
The notion of Space-X coming to Boca Chica is a pure hoax. They are just using the idea to drive up the incentives that Florida is willing to pay.
Our Space Nuts down here are just being used as pawns in a high dollar game and are too dumb to know it.
BEDC's Gilbert Salinas has prostituted the City of Brownsille by convincing our inept and starry eyed Cameron County Commissioners in offering Space X a $ 6 million dollar incentives package on a deal that his community cannot afford. I witnessed Gilbert Salinas' arrogant and pompous response to a well intended question by a Rotarian attending his presentation who questioned if incentives were necessary in bringing Space X to our community. He lashed out, to the amazement of the entire Rotary Club that such a question and thinking was naive. If he finds it offensive to question the dynamics of how our community can afford to finance a project of this magnitude with "incentives" then surely this clown is blind to other ill-fated projects in which dollar incentives were paid such
Titan Tire Manufactuing and Harlingen's Bass Pro Shop which has turned into a big lemon for the tax payers of that community.
The Cameron County Commissioners are offering nothing. The 6 million you are referring to is being shared by the State of Texas & the BEDC.
"The 6 million you are referring to is being shared by the State of Texas & the BEDC."
Regardless of the source, they are still tax payer dollars.
Doña Hermelinda Linda
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