Mayor Cowen unveils Brownsville’s legislative agenda

As the 89^th Texas Legislature gets underway, Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr., will travel to the State Capitol to address some of the city’s needs.

He, along with a group of area representatives from the private and public sectors are scheduled to be in Austin on Jan. 29-30 for “Brownsville Day at the Capitol.”

Cowen said he has a list of items he will bring up before the legislators meeting them.

Three are at the top of the list.

“There has been a history in the last couple of sessions of increased legislation against cities and we want to ensure we take care of our own,” he said. ”That will be my number one concern.”

Cowen also said he will try to get more funding for the expansion of what is known as the Joint Tactical Center to train the different branches of law enforcement, including police, Border Patrol, DPS and Customs and Immigration.

The last one, he continued, is to try to get more money allocated to alleviate the ongoing situation with water – a chronic issue impacting not only Brownsville but the entire Rio Grande Valley.

He aired his comments during a brief interview following the first “Coffee with the Mayor,” event of 2025, held Jan. 15 at the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization in downtown Brownsville.

During the morning meeting with dozens of local people, Cowen mentioned a list of achievements reached in 2024 and which are expected to continue this year as well.

Among them are economic development, job creation, a lower unemployment rate, work on infrastructure such as street and drainage projects and the creation of the city’s Public Safety Complex.

The nearly $6 million facility will house the police department, fire and ambulance administration, emergency operation and information technology/cybersecurity offices.

He also mentioned improving the metro bus shelters, adding 18 new stops and making improvements at city’s animal shelter.

Cowen also said beautifying the city will be another goal in 2025.

The mayor said Brownsville is the least synchronized city in the Valley when it comes to city lights.

This is another chronic issue the city has been experiencing for decades, particularly at some intersections such as the Central Boulevard, FM 802 and along Alton Gloor.

City Manager Helen Ramirez came to the rescue of the city lights situation, saying it will take some $7 million to fix all the unsynchronized lights.

Due to that, it has been a normal routine to see countless numbers of motorists running red lights at all times of a day and more during morning rush hours.

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