By Juan "Trey" Mendez
Mayor, City of Brownsville
Thank you for that generous welcome. It is an honor and privilege to serve as your Mayor of Brownsville, Texas. I’d like to thank the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce for hosting this State of the City.
Thank you Esmy, you have a terrific team and we are honored to join the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit organization, for this important update.
Before I took the oath of office to serve the residents of Brownsville in July, I was blessed to serve on the Board of Trustees for Texas Southmost College for nine years. I am also a member of theBrownsville Community Foundation and Brownsville Public Utilities Board.
When we commit to give the best of ourselves to our families, our work, our business and our lives, it is our community that benefits and excels to a higher standard. Excellence as an elected official, and as your Mayor, has driven my first 100 days in office.
When I am not serving our community, I am fulfilling my calling as an attorney and, as of 15 months ago, a restaurant owner. Like many of you, I own and operate my own businesses and know firsthand how the process, the infrastructure, the culture and the people help support small business and contribute to our local economy.
I am thrilled today, to share with you the major milestones the City of Brownsville has reached this year. Instead of telling you, I’d like to show you with a video produced in- house by our very own Brownsville TV.
Thank you for that generous welcome. It is an honor and privilege to serve as your Mayor of Brownsville, Texas. I’d like to thank the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce for hosting this State of the City.
Thank you Esmy, you have a terrific team and we are honored to join the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit organization, for this important update.
Before I took the oath of office to serve the residents of Brownsville in July, I was blessed to serve on the Board of Trustees for Texas Southmost College for nine years. I am also a member of theBrownsville Community Foundation and Brownsville Public Utilities Board.
When we commit to give the best of ourselves to our families, our work, our business and our lives, it is our community that benefits and excels to a higher standard. Excellence as an elected official, and as your Mayor, has driven my first 100 days in office.
When I am not serving our community, I am fulfilling my calling as an attorney and, as of 15 months ago, a restaurant owner. Like many of you, I own and operate my own businesses and know firsthand how the process, the infrastructure, the culture and the people help support small business and contribute to our local economy.
I am thrilled today, to share with you the major milestones the City of Brownsville has reached this year. Instead of telling you, I’d like to show you with a video produced in- house by our very own Brownsville TV.
I want to encourage our business and development community to get engaged in the process and help us make your experience easier.
As Mayor I strongly believe that one of our many gems is the Gladys Porter Zoo. Opened in 1971, the Gladys Porter Zoo is a regional destination bringing tens of thousands of people from throughout the region to visit the 1600 species of animals on the 31-acre site. That being said, we must continue to invest in our Zoo and that is why I’m proud to announce that the City of Brownsville and Gladys Porter Zoo have entered into a partnership to develop a Zoo Master Plan that will allow for our community to envision our Zoo for the next 50 years and beyond.
The Cannery Public Market will be another exceptional addition to the Mitte Cultural District and will give Brownsville the premiere Farmers Market venue in South Texas. The estimated cost for the Cannery Public Market project is estimated at $988,575. This total includes a half a million dollar grant from the Legacy Foundation. That is one thing you can expect from the City going forward: Innovative ways to fund much needed community and quality of life projects. We need to work harder
And smarter! We don’t have the luxury of doing just one. Our Market Square Revitalization Project continues to garner awards for its impact. The Texas Downtown Association recently recognized Market Square as the Best Public Improvement for a community over 50K. Furthermore, Market Square won the People’s Choice for Best Public Improvement.
As Mayor I strongly believe that one of our many gems is the Gladys Porter Zoo. Opened in 1971, the Gladys Porter Zoo is a regional destination bringing tens of thousands of people from throughout the region to visit the 1600 species of animals on the 31-acre site. That being said, we must continue to invest in our Zoo and that is why I’m proud to announce that the City of Brownsville and Gladys Porter Zoo have entered into a partnership to develop a Zoo Master Plan that will allow for our community to envision our Zoo for the next 50 years and beyond.
The Cannery Public Market will be another exceptional addition to the Mitte Cultural District and will give Brownsville the premiere Farmers Market venue in South Texas. The estimated cost for the Cannery Public Market project is estimated at $988,575. This total includes a half a million dollar grant from the Legacy Foundation. That is one thing you can expect from the City going forward: Innovative ways to fund much needed community and quality of life projects. We need to work harder
And smarter! We don’t have the luxury of doing just one. Our Market Square Revitalization Project continues to garner awards for its impact. The Texas Downtown Association recently recognized Market Square as the Best Public Improvement for a community over 50K. Furthermore, Market Square won the People’s Choice for Best Public Improvement.
It’s great to see that other people are starting to take notice of the value that our historical assets bring to the city and just how unique we really are. I n the past year, we have seen more almost 30 new businesses open in the downtown area, and within the last 6 months, all you have to do is drive or walk around to see that many buildings are being rehabilitated and many more have been purchased.
Plans are coming along to bring those into use and begin to activate many more blocks around market square.
February 2020 will bring the first annual Crossroads Interactive Festival to Downtown Brownsville. This will bring music, arts, culture and politics together and should act as another showcase for the many assets that Brownsville has to offer.
We intend to continue our progress Downtown with the creation of a Downtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone. This will be another catalyst for Downtown Re- Development.
I have reached out to the Texas Commission on the Arts to discuss a Cultural District Designation. I will be putting together a group of Stakeholders and Entities interested in the Arts to tackle this very
important issue. We must improve our cultural offerings and this designation will open up state funding that we have not been allowed to access before. It will also bring into light the support in the community for arts and culture in our 6th and 7th street corridors and downtown. Our museum district is thriving and things are only going to get better thanks to our friend in Hollywood, R.J. Mitte and the Mitte Foundation. They have recently acquired the property from Ringgold to the Expressway on 7th Street and a couple of additional lots.
I’ve seen the Master Plan and it’s amazing. We are working with the Foundation to get things moving
as soon as possible. I have also begun to reach out the Kris Kristofferson camp to try and bring Kris home for a celebration of his love and passion for Brownsville. Stay tuned.
We are aggressively pursuing new retail and reinvestment opportunities targeting those stores and entertainment venues we all want and visit when we travel to other cities. Although we do not have
any official announcements, I can tell we will be making some announcements in the coming months.
I’m also working with Congressman Filemon Vela on the transfer of the Fort Brown Golf Course to the National Park Service adding a third component under the purview of the National Park Service. I’m scheduled to testify before congress on this very issue a week from today and I hope that we can continue to work with our federal officials to push this forward and continue to protect our very important history.
Along with the E-Bridge Center, I’m glad to announce that the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation will launch the StartUp Texas Grant to inspire entrepreneurship within our community and foster scalable business in our region. Access to Capital is extremely important and local business are what make our community special and I'm happy to support them.
Access to Broadband will determine our future, which is why we have started to work with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas to bring important stakeholders together to see how we can close the digital divide. I’ve heard many stories that the future leaders of our community struggle with not having access to internet, whether its because of affordability or just lack of infrastructure to their homes. This is unacceptable. Discussions are underway with organizations in Washington, D.C. to see how we can tackle this issue. I’m glad to announce that by May of 2020 we should have a Strategic Broadband Infrastructure Plan in place and work towards implementation.
On the higher educational front, UT-RGV continues to make gains and is attracting top notch faculty and researchers to the university and the medical school. It currently has an enrollment of over 28,000 students, about 6,000 of them at the Brownsville campus. We are fortunate to have them as community partners. Meanwhile, Texas Southmost College is at an all time high enrollment in its 90+ year history, eclipsing the 7,000 student mark last year. The board, at my last meeting in June, lowered tuition for the second time in 6 years and approved a multi-million dollar investment in facilities for targeted workforce training.
The $2 million Battlefield Trail Extension towards Los Fresnos is currently out for bid and we have a completion date of May 8, 2020 in order to celebrate the 174 th Anniversary of the Battle of Palo Alto.
Special thanks goes out the Legacy Foundation for 100 % of the funding of this effort.
2020 will also see significant advances in the West Rail Trail development. city and county officials continue to work on designs and funding strategies to get this project off the ground and get this 8-
mile hike and bike trail built and in use.
And if you aren't excited by any of these items, I'll end with these two items:
Because of the RGV MPO Merger, the East Loop is closer to becoming a reality than it has ever been. It is my understanding that we are months away from approval from the Texas Transportation Commission allocating $64 million dollars for the East Loop Project.
Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to thank the Brownsville Housing Authority for their tremendous efforts leveraging funding to develop high quality affordable housing for those who need it the most. With all the due diligence complete as of last week, I’m very excited to announce that the Brownsville Housing Authority will be closing in the next 45 days on the Former El Jardin Hotel. This exciting news will allow for us to control our own destiny with regards to the future of that property and I look forward to the day when the Ribbon is cut on that project and we can put this very special building back into use. The possibilities are endless. Housing units, mixed use, retail and office space.
In Closing, as you can see the State of the City is Strong but I’m excited for what the next year has in store for us. This will be a city-wide effort and I need everyone to join the team. In the end, if we are going to build a better Brownsville for all, its about the “WE”- not the “ME.” In a little more than a year, we will be cutting the ribbon for our all new Airport terminal, which will connect us to the rest of the world and will allow us to once again be the crossroads of the hemisphere.
as soon as possible. I have also begun to reach out the Kris Kristofferson camp to try and bring Kris home for a celebration of his love and passion for Brownsville. Stay tuned.
We are aggressively pursuing new retail and reinvestment opportunities targeting those stores and entertainment venues we all want and visit when we travel to other cities. Although we do not have
any official announcements, I can tell we will be making some announcements in the coming months.
I’m also working with Congressman Filemon Vela on the transfer of the Fort Brown Golf Course to the National Park Service adding a third component under the purview of the National Park Service. I’m scheduled to testify before congress on this very issue a week from today and I hope that we can continue to work with our federal officials to push this forward and continue to protect our very important history.
Along with the E-Bridge Center, I’m glad to announce that the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation will launch the StartUp Texas Grant to inspire entrepreneurship within our community and foster scalable business in our region. Access to Capital is extremely important and local business are what make our community special and I'm happy to support them.
Access to Broadband will determine our future, which is why we have started to work with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas to bring important stakeholders together to see how we can close the digital divide. I’ve heard many stories that the future leaders of our community struggle with not having access to internet, whether its because of affordability or just lack of infrastructure to their homes. This is unacceptable. Discussions are underway with organizations in Washington, D.C. to see how we can tackle this issue. I’m glad to announce that by May of 2020 we should have a Strategic Broadband Infrastructure Plan in place and work towards implementation.
On the higher educational front, UT-RGV continues to make gains and is attracting top notch faculty and researchers to the university and the medical school. It currently has an enrollment of over 28,000 students, about 6,000 of them at the Brownsville campus. We are fortunate to have them as community partners. Meanwhile, Texas Southmost College is at an all time high enrollment in its 90+ year history, eclipsing the 7,000 student mark last year. The board, at my last meeting in June, lowered tuition for the second time in 6 years and approved a multi-million dollar investment in facilities for targeted workforce training.
The $2 million Battlefield Trail Extension towards Los Fresnos is currently out for bid and we have a completion date of May 8, 2020 in order to celebrate the 174 th Anniversary of the Battle of Palo Alto.
Special thanks goes out the Legacy Foundation for 100 % of the funding of this effort.
2020 will also see significant advances in the West Rail Trail development. city and county officials continue to work on designs and funding strategies to get this project off the ground and get this 8-
mile hike and bike trail built and in use.
And if you aren't excited by any of these items, I'll end with these two items:
Because of the RGV MPO Merger, the East Loop is closer to becoming a reality than it has ever been. It is my understanding that we are months away from approval from the Texas Transportation Commission allocating $64 million dollars for the East Loop Project.
Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to thank the Brownsville Housing Authority for their tremendous efforts leveraging funding to develop high quality affordable housing for those who need it the most. With all the due diligence complete as of last week, I’m very excited to announce that the Brownsville Housing Authority will be closing in the next 45 days on the Former El Jardin Hotel. This exciting news will allow for us to control our own destiny with regards to the future of that property and I look forward to the day when the Ribbon is cut on that project and we can put this very special building back into use. The possibilities are endless. Housing units, mixed use, retail and office space.
In Closing, as you can see the State of the City is Strong but I’m excited for what the next year has in store for us. This will be a city-wide effort and I need everyone to join the team. In the end, if we are going to build a better Brownsville for all, its about the “WE”- not the “ME.” In a little more than a year, we will be cutting the ribbon for our all new Airport terminal, which will connect us to the rest of the world and will allow us to once again be the crossroads of the hemisphere.
Thank you for allowing me to be your Mayor and thank you to the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce for hosting this event.
I urge you to think not only of the present or the future, but think beyond. Beyond Normal, beyond what you think your limits are and beyond what you ever thought would be possible for our great city. We are about culture, we are about innovation and we are about people.
Viva Brownsville!
Viva Brownsville!
25 comments:
And you people that are homeless screw you
And you people that have a low wage paying job screw you
And you people that are unemployed screw you
And you people that live in a flooding zone area screw you
And you people that have cars with suspension falling off and flat tire due to potholes screw you
And you people that use the bus service and have to stand under the 100 degree sun screw you (use the bike trails).
And you people that can't afford to be here screw you
And I leave you with this message screw all of you if you don't buy and eat pizza...
AND MY NAME IS LA BANDEJA AND SCREW YOU
Giving Fort Brown Golf Course to the Park Service for what? Are they going to make it into a refuge?
Of course what else rent it to the feds make money for more bike trails what else...
After reading this and the article in the Herald, it appears that this should have been called the "State of the Downtown" because it appears that the rest of the city was left out of this presentation. What about businesses in other parts of the city, what about activities in other parts of the city, what about all the tax dollars that come from other parts of the city. Mendez seems to be continuing the Tony Martinez effort to disregard all of the city except Downtown. Doesn't give the majority of the citizens of Brownsville a good feeling about how our money is being spent. While developing the Downtown is important, it is not so important that the rest of the city is left out. Perhaps because Mendez has focused his attention on TSC and his restaurant downtown that he doesn't know what is going on in the rest of the city. Come on Trey, let's be fair and take interest in the entire city. For one, I have no confidence in a mayor that gives all his attention to one tiny part of the city.
@ October 23, 2019 at 8:42 AM
If you haven't driven by the old golf course, I suggest you do so, it is in a sad state. The golf course is completely overrun by weeds and the buildings are abandoned. The golf course was the site of the original Fort Brown. The National Park Service could conceivably turn it into a National Park like Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. They could pump money into the area and rebuild the original earthen mound and presidio-style walls that the first fort had, and they could build a museum center where people could learn about the role Fort Brown played in training cavalry soldiers.
This event should be called "The State of Downtown Brownsville" because it seems that the rest of the city is left out. Seems like Mendez is following along in the footsteps of Tony Martinez and only thinks about downtown, not the rest of the city. Perhaps his connection to TSC and his pizza business is the reason for his focus....to make his endeavors more profitable. Too many of out tax dollars are being used to rehabilitate the downtown, to the detriment of the majority of the tax payers.
A big bullshit mayor for the rich bike trail idiots. The businesses are leaving Brownsville and now Sear's is leaving too. He talks about downtown and bike trails but no help for small businesses, fixing our streets, fixing corruption in the city of Brownsville. The truth hurts more than telling a lie. This mayor is full of Mexican beans and it's all coming from his ass.
Hard working citizens should be asking the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce where the $13,500 ($45 per person- 300 attending) gained for hosting the event will be applied? Will that money go back to the community at large to help hard working citizens or just for their own future business client events?
Will the BCoC provide SBA training for free in the near future? Will they offer grants to students seeking a business degree?
They used the mayor to make money off citizens. Will he allow himself to be used by other non-profits in the same way? If not, why not?
Inquiring minds do give a damn!
I agree with all the above comments! Me, Me, Me! Just like Tony! And even the blue jeans to match. Whatever happened to list we made about 10 years ago at the Events Center where we wrote things that needed immediate attention. I can not remember who came down to show us how to fix Brownsville and get community support and I am still waiting for those improvements. What about Library services that are atrocioua - Every book I go look for is never in our library and so I drive to Harlingen and there it is. What about a book store like Barnes and Nobel so that people don't have to drive to McAllen. Some of us are not into this balony of social media and buy stuff with credit cards or through social media and we still love to hold a real book to read. It is not all about downtown Brownsville for night life and drinking. And we call it culture? Culture de borachines?
When is the first chancle going to be held at the new fine arts building where Valentins used to be? How long have we been fixing El Jardin Hotel?
Ya no nos piquen los ojos! And please, mayor, don't show up with those torn blue jeans people so proudly walk around in; one we would not be caught dead wearing when we were kids. Out of necessity, our parents would patch up the knees and we were so embarrassed to wear them?
Obviously you did not watch the first 8 minutes of the video. Also the mayor also announce he met with the buyers of the Sears space and that project is set to move forward after Sears moves out in December. Just because you ignore reality does not make it go away.
Bobby WC
This guy is full of shit! 30 new business, downtown. That is all the buildings in downtown Brownsville.
Hell, you know business is bad in downtown, when all the working girls are gone.
Stop eating pizza served on a dirty trey.
Eat some 1848 bbq served on a silver platter. FUCK you dirty pizza trey,see all of Brownsville.
WHAT? GIVING golf course away. Dumb fuck did not think about extending downtown. There contracts are 100 years. Did not think about Building school, hospital, state offices, hotels. Downtown Brownsville will never grow. Fuck trey and your pizza sucks.
When will these fools realize the majority of their tax money comes from the north side of town not from $15 pizzas in a homeless infested downtown. People applaud as if the El Jardin deal is a good thing, do they not realize they are only bringing more poverty into their pet project downtown. For lack of a better explanation the El Jardin deal is basically a project (housing) home for lower income families who currently have no where to waste their WIC anymore. Why can’t these goons see that not even a multi-billion dollar company like HEB who has money to to throw wouldn’t re-invest into downtown Brownsville, why, simply because the numbers aren’t there. Why can’t they understand that people from other parts of the Valley don’t even bother to visit North Brownsville, chances are even slimmer that they even think to go to downtown Brownsville. Downtown Brownsville is not the key, never has been, and will never be what it once was. They need to realize the same group of 45 people are the only ones that support it, there is no crossroads to downtown, and there isn’t anything anyone needs from downtown (in regards to non-Mexican shoppers). When will the eyes of these fools open to realize the future of Brownsville is not in a sports park, not in a homeless infested downtown, but sits at the corner of Pablo Kisel and Morrison rd. This city needs to capitalize on keeping the spending of cents and dollars to (North) Brownsville and preventing loss of capital from weekend outings in McAllen. Do that and maybe we can foresee true progress, maybe.
I used to run around that golf course and hundreds of folks did the same it is a 2 mile run what better place to improve and develop but NOOOOOOO for some other reason (money) it was not developed. The only vision they see is "where is my cut" what am I going to get out of this, self serving idiots ONLY IN BROWNSVILLE
All of you insurable bastards do is complain. For fuck’s sake, you morons think you could do better? Run for office then… Get on an advisory board and do you part for the city… People like you disgust me… Do nothing but complain… GTFO here with this bullshit… That include you, Juanito
9:47 don’t get your flabby backside hurt because people on this blog post an inconvenient truth. There is no progress, keeping on falling for the smoke on the mirrors, Brownsville is the exact same place it was 10 years ago. The day you accept the truth and get out of your fantasy world, change will occur. I understand you live in a world of mediocracy, do yourself a favor, stop settling for it. By the way, I am And have served on advisory boards that are powerless, Sombrero Festival gets more done in a year then this city does.
Le dolio al pinche hillbilly
I’ve been following Brownsville politics for a while now. I worked there for about 6 years some time back. This is my assessment. The people of Brownsville that do get involved in politics are, for lack of a better term, “wannabees”. They have the wherewithal to travel and see other places. Other cities. Austin. San Antonio. Houston. NYC. Perhaps out of state. Out of the country. They see what other cities are doing with their downtown areas and envision that for Brownsville. Let me state that this will ever be possible in your city. Why? The simple reason is that you have a 3rd world country right next door. And people from that 3rd worked country are of low socio-economic status. They will never patronize the trendy chic places that these “wannabees” envision for the city.
Fix the economy. Fix the infrastructure. Fix the flooding problems. You want to attract business and industry? One thing to consider is this…do you think spouses of company CEOs will ant to move to “fucking Brownsville?!! With its flooding problems, its potholes. Its lack of infrastructure that feeds the intellect? You have no fucking bookstores in Brownsville. You have no leadership with a practical vision. You keep electing the same people over and over. More later…
@12:51 Stop commenting pinche Coco hillbilly jotito parrot! You are a racist Biden /Sanders bitch! I hope Clinton decides to run for president, so that your lovers Biden /Sanders could disappear!
This idiot things he's in russia 4:09am..."Stop commenting" have you heard of freedom of speech? Your are what you spout your lengthy, declamatory, and unreflecting views are useless here!
I heard some gringo say "He my boy" how true "pinche coco".
El chango at 4:09am is hungry come get your banana idiota chango.
Freedom of speech is for American human beings and not for racist Coco hillbilly parrot! You belong to the animal kingdom! Go suck your lovers Biden /Sanders dead worm penis! Lol
Must be a gringo with their racist rants at 12:35pm, and a republican at that. In the gringo race hillbilly is the lowest scum there is and this moron thinks he's a white human,"Freedom of speech is for American human beings" at October 25, 2019 at 12:35 PM. go look in the mirror chango and see yourself as you really are a scum hillbilly chango pendejo
verdad booby
verdad bro
In support of castro he's wearing jeans maricones
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