BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A $22 million grant the City of Brownsville received from the State of Texas will help bring lightning fast fiber optic broadband to 17 surrounding cities and communities.
That is the claim of Jorge Cardenas, Brownsville’s chief information officer.
The $21.9 million fiber broadband grant came from the Texas Broadband Development Office.
“As the chief information officer for the City of Brownsville, my mission has been to expand and expand our footprint of fiber optics. We have already accomplished 100 miles, but we just received a grant of $22 million that going to give us the opportunity to extend,” Cardenas said.
“We will add an additional 130 plus miles of fiber optics, hitting 17 communities, 17 cities around Brownsville and Cameron County. So for me that is a very proud moment. Because now we're bringing internet connectivity, fast, reliable, affordable internet connectivity to those locations that… without this grant, it would be very hard for those cities to get their own private network. It would be very hard. It requires a lot of money, a lot of work, and now we have the money, and we have the plan.”
Asked what response he has received from those neighboring 17 cities and communities, Cardenas said:
“You know, we reached out to those communities when we first started the application for the fiber broadband grant, and they showed interest. For a lot of them, they don't know exactly how all this is going to work and how much work it is going to be for their community. But the interest was there. They were like excited to get fiber because they had a lot of questions. How is this going to benefit me? Is this going to mean more affordable internet in my area? The answer is yes. Brownsville is leading that way on enabling those cities to catch up. The leadership in Brownsville has taken the step to be the leader, not to just do it for Brownsville.”
The RGG Business Journal caught up with Cardenas at an event he hosted. It was titled "Smart City Innovation: AI Solutions Transforming South Texas" and was held at the Brownsville Events Center. The idea was for IT professionals in other cities to learn best practices from Brownsville.
“Today was an artificial intelligence event where we wanted to bring together local governments in the Rio Grande Valley area, and show them what we are actually doing here in Brownsville. We want to make sure that they understand how Brownsville is working now, leading the way with technology, from connectivity to artificial intelligence, and how we can work together to really make things more impactful for the region.”
When asked if he was pleased with the turnout, Cardenas said:
“The turnout was great. We had over 150 people here. One individual came from California. We had people from the Dallas area, San Antonio, Laredo, obviously the whole Rio Grande Valley. We got McAllen, we got the school districts, we got the college, UTRGV. STC was here. I think it was a great turnout. We shared our information and there was a lot of collaboration, a lot of discussions, because every city has the same challenges. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that we work together, that we are sharing each other’s pain points.”
Asked what his message to is to municipalities that are not yet incorporating AI to its fullest extent, Cardenas said:
“I think my message to municipalities is to really learn AI, understand how it really works. AI is not that complicated. Indirectly, we've been using AI for a very long time, but people just hear the word AI and make things harder than they really are. AI is nothing but data that is already available. It's this information that is already in your city. Most cities, municipalities have information that is public, that is available. So, really, we are just centralizing all that information and putting it on a platform that can be harvested in one location instead of going to multiple locations.”
Asked to elaborate on this point, Cardenas said:
“I think my advice and recommendation for anybody that fears AI, because there's some people that really fear AI, is that AI… your phone… when the smartphone came out in 2008, the first iPhone, it was already using a form of AI. I remember when I was in the military, the Marine Corps, in 2005 in the combat zone. I would call my family once a month, right. And at that point I went, man, I wish a phone can actually do a video call. That was a wish, right. The smartphone in 2008 made that possible. And then, after that, it's like it started evolving. Now we call it AI, but that back then we were actually using AI. AI is nothing but an application collecting data from multiple forces and putting it in a single application, so a video call is connecting your camera, connecting your audio, connecting phone lines on the other end, connecting to the internet, that's AI. It is really putting everything together, and now it's just like we're getting to a point where it can do a lot more because the technology is more advanced. So, yes, my advice is learn, ask questions and don't be afraid.”
Asked if he had any wrap-up remarks, Cardenas said: “Brownsville is here to help in any way possible. We have great resources, we have great staff that will answer questions that people might have out there.”
A few days after the "Smart City Innovation: AI Solutions Transforming South Texas" event, Cardenas posted his review on social media. He wrote:
The Future of City Operations Is Here: Brownsville Is Leading the Way
This week was a proud moment for Brownsville and the entire Rio Grande Valley.
More than 150 leaders, innovators, and public sector professionals came together to talk about one thing: how AI is transforming the future of city operations.
We officially launched Brownsville’s Intelligent Operations Center (IOC), a major step forward in how cities can use technology, data, and AI to operate smarter, serve residents better, and make faster decisions.
Thank you to our Mayor John Cowen and City Leadership for your vision and support, to the incredible Brownsville IT team for making this possible, and to our amazing partners Centific, SHI Public Sector, Lenovo, NVIDIA, for helping bring this vision to life.
Most importantly, thank you to everyone who attended and shared your ideas, perspectives, and passion for innovation.
This is just the beginning and our goal is to make these conversations happen more often as we continue building the future together.
