trey mendez

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - On Wednesday, April 19,  Mayor Trey Mendez hosted his final State of the City Address. 

In his fourth State of the City Address, Mendez shared an update on the accomplishments of the City of Brownsville, including the practical strategies taken towards new innovation and growth for the future of the City.

The event, held at the Brownsville Events Center, was hosted by the City of Brownsville and the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce.

The attached podcast features highlights from Mendez's State of the City Address. The podcast includes reaction to the State of the City from Brownsville City Manager Helen Ramirez, Port of Brownsville Director Eduardo Campirano, Brownsville Chamber of Commerce CEO Esmy Villarreal, and Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation's Nathan Burkhart. 

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The official Grand Opening of the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization is scheduled for Thursday, March 9 beginning at 3:00 PM, sponsored by PNC Bank.  

The Center is the culmination of over three years of design and construction efforts in partnership between the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC), the City of Brownsville, the Lower Rio Grande Valley Economic Development Council, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and UTRGV Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center (UTRGV ECC).

“The best way to stimulate job growth and create new opportunities in industries is to find the people who are already doing amazing things in our community and support them,” says Cori Peña, President and CEO of BCIC. “We are committed to strengthening our entrepreneurial ecosystem by supporting local talent our community already has, and helping them grow through meaningful collaboration.” 

Peña said the 36,000 square foot facility aspires to be the “entrepreneurial bridge” for startups and legacy businesses to grow and commercialize their service or product on a larger scale. 

She said the center consolidates all the foundational resources necessary for entrepreneurs to start their ventures, obtain capital, scale their businesses, and reach new markets. 

The eBridge Center will be having an open house for the community, potential members and collaborators to tour the space as well as register for membership for the UTRGV ECC Incubator on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 7th & 8th from 10 AM to 4:00 PM.

On Monday, Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez got a sneak preview of the center. In the attached audio interview, The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service asked Mendez what he thought of the facility.  Also interviewed is the director of business development for BCIC, Nathan Burkhart.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - On Tuesday, July 29, the Brownsville City Commission unanimously agreed to enter into a public-private partnership with Lit Communities for the design and construction of a citywide broadband fiber network. 

But who are Lit Communities? The attached podcast sheds some light on the company as we interview the group’s chief strategy officer, Rene Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was present at the recent Broadband Signing ceremony. Those signing the agreement included Lit Communities CEO Brian Snider, Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez, and John Bruciak, the general manager of Brownsville Public Utilities Board.

The network Lit Communities will build includes a 93-mile middle mile backbone with design to last mile fiber. It will connect 32 anchor institutions including city facilities, Police, Fire, EMS, and public parks.

Through the agreement, Brownsville residents and business owners will have the infrastructure in place to provide a minimum broadband capacity of 100 megabits city-wide.

“Today was a historic day for the City of Brownsville and one that will have a multigenerational impact. We have effectively taken the first and most important step to eliminating the digital divide in Brownsville through an innovative public-private partnership with Lit Communities and our local stakeholders. Very soon, residents will have accessible and affordable broadband right here in Brownsville,” said Mayor Mendez.

Mendez said the city will be utilizing $19.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for the approved middle mile fiber network, allowing for public-private partnerships to deploy last mile services. 

Snider said Lit Communities will contribute an additional $70 million to execute the last mile infrastructure.

“It is such an exciting day to complete this partnership and make it official.  The City of Brownsville has inspired us, and we continue to see the values and beliefs that we have as a company as well. Because of that, we were able to create a unique partnership that will set the example for future municipalities across the country. While it is an exciting day, the job still isn’t done, and we are now looking forward to getting engineering and construction started,” Snider said.

According to a news release from the City of Brownsville, the city was, in March, named the winner in International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Government Insights’ Fifth Annual Smart Cities North America Awards for Digital Equity and Accessibility for its comprehensive planning efforts to increase broadband accessibility and speed. 

In December of 2020, Mayor Mendez was awarded the “Change Maker” award by New Century Cities for his work in addressing the digital divide in Brownsville.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - On Tuesday, July 29, the Brownsville City Commission unanimously agreed to enter into a public-private partnership with Lit Communities for the design and construction of a citywide broadband fiber network. 

But who are Lit Communities? The attached podcast sheds some light on the company as we interview the group’s CEO Brian Snider.

Snider was present at the recent Broadband Signing ceremony. Those signing the agreement included Snider, Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez, and John Bruciak, the general manager of Brownsville Public Utilities Board.

The network Lit Communities will build includes a 93-mile middle mile backbone with design to last mile fiber. It will connect 32 anchor institutions including city facilities, Police, Fire, EMS, and public parks.

Through the agreement, Brownsville residents and business owners will have the infrastructure in place to provide a minimum broadband capacity of 100 megabits city-wide.

“Today was a historic day for the City of Brownsville and one that will have a multigenerational impact. We have effectively taken the first and most important step to eliminating the digital divide in Brownsville through an innovative public-private partnership with Lit Communities and our local stakeholders. Very soon, residents will have accessible and affordable broadband right here in Brownsville,” said Mayor Mendez.

Mendez said the city will be utilizing $19.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for the approved middle mile fiber network, allowing for public-private partnerships to deploy last mile services. 

Snider said Lit Communities will contribute an additional $70 million to execute the last mile infrastructure.

“It is such an exciting day to complete this partnership and make it official.  The City of Brownsville has inspired us, and we continue to see the values and beliefs that we have as a company as well. Because of that, we were able to create a unique partnership that will set the example for future municipalities across the country. While it is an exciting day, the job still isn’t done, and we are now looking forward to getting engineering and construction started,” Snider said.

According to a news release from the City of Brownsville, the city was, in March, named the winner in International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Government Insights’ Fifth Annual Smart Cities North America Awards for Digital Equity and Accessibility for its comprehensive planning efforts to increase broadband accessibility and speed. 

In December of 2020, Mayor Mendez was awarded the “Change Maker” award by New Century Cities for his work in addressing the digital divide in Brownsville.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - NewSpace investor J. Brant Arseneau says there is no reason Brownsville, Texas, cannot become the Silicon Valley of the space industry.

“I would like to be the first finance person to be in Brownsville when this becomes the Silicon Valley of Space. We can say, hey, we went there, first,” Arseneau said.

Arseneau os founder of 9Point8 Capital, a group of companies that supports the space industry with end-to-end financial products. He spoke at a recent news conference held at the Brownsville Event Center. Other speakers included Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez, and Helen Ramirez, assistant city manager of Brownsville and executive director of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation.

The news conference was called to announce 9Point8 Capital’s arrival in Brownsville.

Ramirez said Brownsville is often considered the third city for space after Cape Canaveral and Houston in the U.S. and is well on its way to becoming the Silicon Valley of Space because of its ties with SpaceX. 

Their innovative agile approach to the space industry is considered more effective than what traditional space companies have seen in the past, Ramirez explained. Additionally, the city continues to attract space companies to the region, and with the addition of 9Point8, it adds local financial infrastructure to help these companies grow. 

Arseneau said 9Point8 Capital’s vision is to support space companies from their earliest to latest stages, with private equity to public credit, for investment capital to working capital. He said that after nearly 25 years on Wall Street, he had decided to chase his lifelong dream of being a part of the growing commercialization of the space industry and a new founded movement called NewSpace.  

Editor's Note: To read the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian website.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Helen Ramirez, deputy city manager of Brownsville and CEO of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, says there are some specific reasons Paragon VTOL Aerospace chose to relocate to her city.

“Brownsville was selected from over 50 cities in Texas because of our attributes - our open mindedness, our innovation, and because of you, the community,” Ramirez said, at a news conference.

VTOL stands for vertical take off and landing. Ramirez said Paragon VTOL will be “safely testing new urban air mobility and transportation, beginning with drones, and eventually producing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.” 

Ramirez said that because of the state-of-the-art technology it utilizes, Paragon VTOL could have a big impact on Brownsville, the region, the state of Texas, and nation. “We are going places,” she predicted.

Paragon VTOL Aerospace was founded by oil executive and Jamaican native Dwight Smith to produce a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. At the news conference, Smith said his company plans to build a manufacturing hub on designated industrial land at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport, with operations starting next year.

He said the company is also planning to develop a “vertiport” for vertical liftoffs, landings and service. The company has acquired a capital commitment of over a billion dollars just for the micro grids that will power the vertiports, Smith said.

“The reason I selected Brownsville is because of the community,” said Smith. “Look at the people of Brownsville and you feel the sense of opportunity to build together.”

Smith laid out the strategy for his company in Brownsville. He said it will begin with working out the bugs of a drone package delivery. “We will start with small drone delivery based on a crawl, walk, and run strategy,” he said. “We will begin with meals, mail, and medicine drones in Brownsville.”

Under Paragon’s walk strategy, Smith said, the company plans to initiative a heavy load vehicle that will eventually carry passengers.

Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez enthusiastically welcomed Paragon VTOL to his city.

“Once again, Brownsville is making history and pioneering aviation,” Mendez said, referencing the first international airmail flight piloted to Brownsville by aviator Charles Lindbergh on March 10, 1929.

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” Mendez said, borrowing a famous line from the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part 2.

“The relocation of Paragon VTOL furthers the creation of our infrastructure as a commercial NewSpace ecosystem,” Mendez said. “The City of Brownsville and its partners are committed to continuing to activate our economy through space industries.”

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez spoke about SpaceX and New Space in his recent virtual State of the City address.

“2021 will be an exciting year for Brownsville and a year that we will begin to see the fruits of our labor. SpaceX has ramped up operations and the impact is very visible. So visible that we now have the attention of the world focused on Boca Chica," Mendez said.

"On Tuesday, March 30th, SpaceX launched its fourth high-altitude test of Starship from Brownsville. We understand that SpaceX continues to have expansion plans at the launch site and we look forward to working with them.”

Mendez said the City of Brownsville is actively building a New Space ecosystem in Brownsville to attract more space-releasee companies. 

“New Space is projected to be a trillion-dollar industry by 2030 and Brownsville will position itself as a city that welcomes this industry and fosters innovation,” he said.

Mendez said the arrival of Space Ventures in Brownsville is an “early win” in this effort. He said the company continues to expand its footprint in the city. 

“Space Ventures is a technology platform where new space companies can raise up to $5 million for their startup operations. They have hundreds of companies interested in the platform and we anticipate being able to bring some of those to Brownsville,” Mendez said.

“If they start here that means they grow here and they are more likely to stay here for the longterm, bringing further capital, development, and workforce to our city. We look forward to our partnership with Space Ventures.”

Mendez also made news in his State of the City address by announcing the arrival of the Space Channel.

“Continuing the space front, I am excited to announce the City of Brownsville has entered into an economic development agreement with a space channel. Space Channel is the world’s only media channel dedicated to space news and entertainment. Space Channel has agreed to build its broadcasting studios in Brownsville, hire Brownsville talent and broadcast Brownsville to the world. We are excited about the decision to make Brownsville their home base,” Mendez said.

Mendez noted that on March 30 a tweet from Elon Musk “caught worldwide attention.” Mendez explained:

“Elon Musk tweeted that he was donating $20 million to Cameron County schools and $10 million to the City of Brownsville for downtown revitalization. More and more companies have shown interest in our city and we believe that the interest will continue to rise as more companies see the value of Brownsville.” 

Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian website to read the full story.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.