I had a chance to visit with Mayor Mendez in Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley not too long ago, and some of his city council and members of his city management team. And I was absolutely blown away their leadership.
Mayor Adler was just talking about businesses, and jobs and job creation. That is the focus of the mayor and the city council of Brownsville. And it is not just talk. They are investing close to $20 million to build out the middle mile of broadband internet in Brownsville. And they will take this community from being one of the least connected in the United States of America, and for me that means one of the least competitive because how are you going to finish your education or find a job or start a business if you can’t get online? They are going to go from one of the least connected to one of the most connected cities in America. And that has everything to do with local leadership.
In addition, following the power grid failure in February, Mayor Mendez and his team said, look, we need to be more resilient, that was the word that came up on our call with the mayors, by the way. And we need to invest in and think about some solutions if we cannot depend on ERCOT and the electricity grid and the leadership in Austin. And so they are piloting some innovative micro-grid projects, including one at the airport in Brownsville that again may become a standard across the state of Texas. We love to see the innovation, the leadership coming from Mayor Mendez in Brownsville.
Editor's Note: The above guest column is based on commentary given by former El Paso congressman and Texas Democratic Party candidate for governor, Beto O'Rourke on a webinar he hosted with Texas mayors. One of the mayors was Brownsville's Trey Mendez. We will post Mendez's commentary in a separate guest column.
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