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A federal committee will consider renaming Boca Chica Beach, which is sometimes referred to as the People’s Beach, to Cyber Beach.
State Representative Erin Gamez on Wednesday sent a letter to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names’ Domestic Names opposing the proposal.
Boca Chica Beach sits at the mouth of the Rio Grande where SpaceX launches test rockets. Last year, the company successfully petitioned to have part of its footprint become a municipality — the city of Starbase.
In Gamez’s letter, she urges the committee to — at a minimum — consider postponing the proposal so that Cameron County residents have notice and so that the committee can be provided with input from residents.
“Boca Chica Beach has been known by that name for generations,” Gamez said in her letter.
The legislator said that government records record the name Boca Chica Beach back to at least 1936, “and to my knowledge the beach has never been officially known by no other name.”
Gamez said there are also practical and financial consequences, including “public roads, maps, signs, publications, and local landmarks” that reference Boca Chica Beach, including Brownsville’s busy Boca Chica Boulevard, which connects Texas’ southmost city to the beach.
“For these reasons, I respectfully urge the Committee to reject the proposed name change and retain the historic name, Boca Chica Beach,” Gamez wrote. “Alternatively, I request that the Committee defer any action until the residents and local elected officials of Cameron County have been afforded a full and meaningful opportunity to provide public input.”