Special to El Rrun-Rrun
In what is now an open secret, city and construction industry insiders say that the proposed disannexation of 444 acres by the city commission to Elon Musk Starbase will pave the way for the construction of a data center outside the jurisdiction of the City of Brownsville.
If the second reading of the disannexation passes through today's extraordinary city commission meeting, the decision to construct a data center - recently opposed by a majority of city residents -will be out of the hands of Brownsville and in the hands of Musk's company town Starbase
To add insult to injury, the water and electricity to be used by the proposed data center will be provided by the Brownsville Public Utility Board. More importantly, the city would lose any control over the construction and safety and environmental ordinances over the proposed data center.
The second reading of the disannnexation ordinance was scheduled to be decided upon at Friday's 4 p.m. meeting, but was postponed until today at 4 p.m. at City Hall.
Rumors abound that Musk's Starbase has been in confidential negotiations with city attorneys and officials to pass the second reading of the disannexation ordinance. A figure of around $250 million is mentioned as what Musk is offering the city in return.
Critics say that the annual taxable amount that the city would receive from the data center if it is eventually built is around $22 million a year. If the land is disannexed and the data center is built, that $22 million annual tax would go to Starbase with PUB and the taxpayers of Brownsville will foot the water extension costs and provide the enormous amount of water required.
A number of city commissioners like Gustavo de Leon, Linda Macias and Pedro Cardenas have been very vocal against a data center in the city citing water and electric usage and noise pollution. Will they vote to disannex anyway? If they vote to approve on the second and final reading today, they must come back during a regular meeting Tuesday to approve it officially as a city commission.
SpaceX already buys its water for the rocket launches aa dies Starbase and trucks them in from PUB. City sources say that SoaceX has promises to build a water desalination plant for the city.
"Musk is enforcing a non-disclosure requirement on the work crews at the alleged data center construction site," said a subcontractor working in another job near there. "They won't say it's a data center, but they won't deny it either."
11 comments:
It's Brownsville, outhouse of the Rio Grande Valley.
I see the pros and cons of this situation. Truth be told the tax money that could be made off this data center won’t last as the technology depreciates rapidly. So yes, it’s high yields the first 2-3 years then it dwindles down considerably low to nearly peanuts. I do think it’s not a bad idea considering the land is on a track that I believe is industrial. We’re not about to put a neighborhood there nor a shopping center so I say get rid of the land and sold some problems with the extra money they will receive. Also, I hear they’ll get deannexed anyway without the city so the city is best off just getting something out of it before they just end up paying court fees.
There you have it . Leave the door open and vermin will take over. Sad
day for Browntown.
Netflix should have a show about trillionaire that saves a country by cutting food stamps for kids, pregnant women, and then takes over a beach to launch rockets! A family movie with christian values that screams good clean fun.
The City of Brownsville is having a meeting on a Saturday. Where is our mayor? Stop this nonsense. Show us the documents that Musk signed with Trey Mendez.
Se las mentio
Sin Vaselina!
Che musk
Parese pero
pendejo no es.
Everyone needs to research data centers and their intended purpose. Centers are designed to store information obtained from the public. The government can intercept and store global and domestic communications. This includes internet traffic, emails and phone data. Data brokers purchase information from AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Comcast and Spectrum to name a few players. License plate readers and face recognition data is also monitored. This is done without obtaining a warrant. A violation of our Fourth Amendment. I'm sure that our consent is located somewhere in the fine print of lengthy contracts that nobody reads when signing up for a cell phone or internet service. I call it government overreach. Others may not feel the same way.
I don't know why people think the City Commissioners and the Mayor actually think that they care about you and us. We have by far the most crooked city goverment of ALL TIME. Brownsville is soooo screwed. You all are fools into thinking that all the idiots from these protest groups actually work. With all their AI generated speeches it is an embarressment. You all sound like robots.
One very important detail, the 444 were privately owned, they were not owned by the city, there were about 30 different owners, the real sellouts were the property owners.
Great move by Mayor Cowen and the Commisioner’s , This land was next to a landfill, And yes future tax projections are small, perfect place for this type of industry, I commend the commission and Mayor Cowen for these type of well thought decisions ,
They are all assholes and don’t care about you.-😘
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