ARLINGTON, Texas - City of Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr., recently appeared as a panelist at a YTexas summit.
YTexas is an elite Texas business network for companies relocating, expanding and growing in the Lone Star State. The organization is the premier go-to resource for the most current insider information about Texas’ community, commerce and culture.
There were five mayors on the panel, including City of Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza. The other three were Arlington Mayor Jim Ross, Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez, and Round Rock Mayor Craig Morgan. These five were chosen because each of their cities are fast-growing.
Here are the remarks Mayor Cowen made.
Introducing himself, Cowen said:
“Thank you, Ed. Again, my name is John Cowen. I'm the recently elected mayor for the City of Brownsville. I was elected in May, and what makes Brownsville special is, as you know, we are a border city. We are close to South Padre Island and we have four international bridges. And we are right next to a deepwater port that is probably the biggest economic driver in our region. There's just so many multibillion dollar projects happening there that are transforming Brownsville. That is really the future, along with what's happening with SpaceX with their launch facility at Starbase. They have 2,000 employees. It really provides that innovation driver for our region, as well. So just the opportunities for our local talent to come home and have careers and really decrease the brain drain that our region has traditionally had. I think that the future is so bright for our region.”
On the question of collaborating with key stakeholders, Cowen said:
“That's a great question. Recently, the City of Brownsville along with our economic development arm, GBIC, hosted a career fair that advertised over 3,000 jobs. So we're helping bridge the gap between employers that are looking for labor, that are looking for skilled people, with the people in our region that are searching for jobs. So, we're constantly trying to bridge that gap and making sure that we have apprenticeship programs that are getting our young kids from our ISDs interested in the careers that are available, so that they know that they can they can build successful careers in our region. So I think it's just being able to collaborate, making sure those lines of communications are always open with all our stakeholders. I think that's our challenge as leaders.“
Asked to elaborate on how he communicates with stakeholders, Mayor Cowen said:
“I have quarterly meetings with our superintendent, with our port director, with our UTRGV president. So I think it's just making sure that everyone's on the same page with regards to our pain points, and collaborating, making sure that we're we have a path forward and how to solve these problems.”
The panel moderator said that in his opinion Brownsville is an amazing place. Cowen responded:
“I agree. We are the second most historic city in the state of Texas behind San Antonio in terms of historic buildings. It's a rebirth downtown and there's a lot of great things happening. But also we're really focused on increasing and diversifying our tax base. We're mostly a residential community. In order to really pay for our services we need to have more commercial industrial investment and so we're really focused on that. So I am currently the chairman of the our EDC, the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, and we are developing a 700-acre industrial park on the north side of town to take advantage of all the opportunities going on at the port and with SpaceX. SpaceX had a supplier conference with 75 companies that supply them. I think we'll be able to attract a lot of that base and also all with everything that's going with nearshoring, I think being on the border is a great opportunity to attract a lot of those companies as well. So it's our job as the city to plan for that growth. And using those funds wisely to really maximize our opportunity.”
Asked what his key tasks are, Mayor Cowen said:
“That's a great question. I think we wear a ton of hats as mayor, right? We are firefighters, we are policemen. we are mediators. But, at the end of the day, we are in charge of customer service to our community, right? We're making sure we're getting the job done as a city. And of setting that vision, it's our job. We're the biggest cheerleader for our city. We're making sure we're marketing our city appropriately. But I think, for me, it's about creating a better place for future generations and having that vision, setting the city on the right path. And I think that's the challenge, getting all our stakeholders in line. Because we're used to operating in silos at times, and it's breaking down those barriers and I think… using our leadership to do that. I think that's that's my biggest role.”
Asked for some closing remarks, Cowen said:
“I think to reiterate Mayor Ross said, talking about how this the state is continuing to take local control away from cities, making our job harder. I think that's, to me, a real threat to how cities can take control of their own destiny, right? And so putting restraints on us will continue to make our state less competitive and that, I think, is the real challenge for us. To make sure our state reps, our state senators know how we feel as a city and the cities are what makes up Texas, right? I mean, we're the ones getting the job done. So I think we need to continue to have this conversation and unite and have our voice heard.”
Editor's Note: Click here to watch the full panel discussion.
