The one I do have some sympathy for is Starbase. The only way that they have to protect their launch facilities is incorporating as a city. Otherwise, they are subject to the fairly recently minted concept of Extraterritorial Jurisdictions (ETJ). This allows the city government to have authority over places where residents have no way to combat this type of overreach. They can't vote against it. With ETJs, a neighboring city can all kinds of restrictions on property that is not within the jurisdiction of their city. It also protects them from being annexed into one of the other cities.
The cities can hold Spacex hostage on so many levels. The city can then do things like add a $1M launch fee to every launch, landing fees for every rocket (or part of a rocket) that comes in. They already do it at the airports for flights coming and going. They can also demand study after study to delay them by withholding zoning and permits, set special tax assessments, fees for "road security and closures", export fees for cargo, set up admission fees for anyone going to attend a launch, and many other things to become a near limitless cash cow for any city in the area. All they have to do is exert their "rights" through extraterritorial jurisdiction.
That is not even counting the risk of outright extortion.
This is outrageous. It smacks of real journalism...ism.
Good articles, have or will be linking both at https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
This all a part of Agenda 2030 and how they get people into Smart Cities.
Thanks for this very informative article.
The one I do have some sympathy for is Starbase. The only way that they have to protect their launch facilities is incorporating as a city. Otherwise, they are subject to the fairly recently minted concept of Extraterritorial Jurisdictions (ETJ). This allows the city government to have authority over places where residents have no way to combat this type of overreach. They can't vote against it. With ETJs, a neighboring city can all kinds of restrictions on property that is not within the jurisdiction of their city. It also protects them from being annexed into one of the other cities.
The cities can hold Spacex hostage on so many levels. The city can then do things like add a $1M launch fee to every launch, landing fees for every rocket (or part of a rocket) that comes in. They already do it at the airports for flights coming and going. They can also demand study after study to delay them by withholding zoning and permits, set special tax assessments, fees for "road security and closures", export fees for cargo, set up admission fees for anyone going to attend a launch, and many other things to become a near limitless cash cow for any city in the area. All they have to do is exert their "rights" through extraterritorial jurisdiction.
That is not even counting the risk of outright extortion.
City governments do this nonsense all the time.