San Francisco proved unsafe for the hardworking engineers who made the daily trek to the offices on Market Street. There were incidents that almost took the lives of some employees. This prompted Elon Musk to move many of his employee’s workspaces to a combination of San Jose and Palo Alto office areas. Meanwhile, Elon took the opportunity to transfer legal headquarters for X to Austin, Texas!
Let’s look at the chain of events that led to this.
Why California is not safe for families
Elon cares deeply about supporting the next generation of technologists. This is why a proclamation by California Gavin Newsom was so alarming. In California, if a small child in elementary school, even as young as age 5, wants to identify as transgender, Law AB1955 bans the public school from notifying the parents. Many parents cannot afford private school and they cannot homeschool for various reasons. This is heartbreaking. Money should never be the gatekeeper to child safety. Thankfully, there’s a different approach to families in Texas. A welcoming approach.
SpaceX headquarters will move to Texas
The first move that Elon Musk announced on July 16, was that of SpaceX moving to Texas. The new HQ will be located near the beaches of Starbase, Texas. I have been there often, and it will be a welcoming place for relocating families. The location has clean streets, hospitals, pristine grocery stores, and fairly affordable housing. It will never have the weather of California, but for what it lacks in weather, it makes up for in warmth in the hearts of the people who live there. I have realized that when you raise a family (I raised 5 kids in Texas), the kids don’t care about the number of designer stores or organic markets in a city. Kids care about the time they get to spend with their families when they are growing up. Living in Texas is just so much easier, there’s less pressure to level up and less competition among young parents. Kids are delighted to live and grow in Texas.
The second announcement: X headquarters will move to Austin, Texas
To add to the package, Elon made the momentous decision to also switch the X headquarters from San Francisco to Austin. July 16, 2024, was a great day. I live in Austin, Texas, and this news was beautiful! Austin remains my home, many years have passed since I left California for Texas myself. Austin is a place that will serve Elon and his amazing companies and employees well. So Elon will rest and relax now, knowing that both X and Tesla have their headquarters in this solid and family-friendly city in the heart of the Texas Hill Country.
Elon Musk has found a home: Austin
As busy as Elon is, working 7 days a week and rarely having time to sleep a full 8 hours, he deserves a place to finally call home. Austin is his home now and he can be sure he is welcome here, he has good friends here, and he can build up his companies here. Welcome to Austin, X!
WHAT'S UP π by Gail Alfar 