Cowen discusses SpaceX announcement at Coffee with the Mayor event

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Space X’s proposed relocation to Starbase, the drought, LNG, the Games of Texas and the new Metro Smart Card are some of the developments taking place today in Brownsville and there are still more things to come.

That is how Mayor John Cowen is showcasing the Rio Grande Valley’s largest city, of which he also said it’s having the highest job growth in the entire state.

During a “Coffee with the Mayor” gathering held Wednesday, July 17 at the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport, Cowen said Space X’s planned relocation from California to Brownsville is a great thing for the city.

“We don’t know all the details,” he said, “but this will give us a bigger presence in the area.”

SpaceX owner Elon Musk announced on Tuesday he was relocating the rocket manufacturer’s headquarters and his social media company, called X, to Texas in response to a new law signed by California Gov.  Gavin Newsom concerning a gender-identity policy.

Cowen said Space X is already having a big impact on the local economy.

“This could mean more growth for us and for the region,” he said. “Having a company like this rocket manufacturer in our backyard is amazing.”

Brownsville Mayor John Cowen took questions from the audience at a Coffee with the Mayor event held July 17, 2024. (Photo credit: City of Brownsville)

The mayor also spoke of the Number One concern people are having, not only in Brownsville but all-over South Texas – the ongoing drought.

He said while it has been raining here and in other Valley cities, the Falcon and Amistad dams up the river are at their lowest capacity, or at 18 percent.

“People need to be aware and conscious of the situation,” he said. “We are at Stage 2 of water conservation and Stage 3 is rapidly approaching.”

Cowen said Brownsville PUB, or the municipal-owned utility company, has a desalinization plant that produces 30 percent of the water the city uses but there is a need for more.

“We need to double the capacity,” he said, “My Number One project as mayor is to get this project moving as fast as possible.”

Increasing output at the PUB plant is, however, a $240 million project that will require grants from the state and the federal governments.

Cowen recently visited Washington, D.C., to see if he could secure federal funding for the desalination plant project from the Bureau of Reclamation.

The “Coffee with the Mayor” event was attended by about 30 people and some of them grabbed the occasion to express their concerns.

Angelina Aguilar said the sandbag distribution campaigns the city had recently were a mess and she asked for better coordination among city employees in charge of that.

Jason Medina, with South Texas Metal Trades, said he has been noticing on social media that a number of companies, some as far away as Chicago, are posting job fairs for people willing to work in Brownsville.

“What about the people from here who need jobs?” he asked.

When asked by a Rio Grande Guardian reporter how the growth taking place in Brownsville will impact today’s skyrocketing property taxes, Cowen said that is a complex question that needs to be addressed.

The post Cowen discusses SpaceX announcement at Coffee with the Mayor event appeared first on Rio Grande Guardian.