Brownsville Went For It And Lost Big Time...Good!!!...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | So, a lot of people in Brownsville are down in the dumps after news reports arrived here detailing no gain from its love affair with billionaire Elon Musk and his SpaceX venture.

Why?

Yes, there were dreams that went to a collective enrichment, what with new companies and more people coming to town. It didn't pan out. Not yet, anyway. And there are no signs that it will, but you never know.

Rockets have left the launching pad in nearby Boca Chica, pleasing Musk.

According to multiple news reports, The City of Brownsville has lost cash kinda bankrolling some of these businesses that promised to help in the effort to piggyback with SpaceX's success. Was it all for naught? Is it a lose-lose eventuality.

Not really.

But Brownsville is a town full of Big Dreamers. Some want this scrappy bordertown at the end of the Rio Grande to be another partying New Orleans (not happening), while still others say the future here is in a tiny junior college (Texas Southmost College). A few more say the best is yet to come. They cite a largely-useless international airport and what it could mean if it ever gets off the runway.

Let the space industry critics howl all they want. It was good for Brownsville to seek improvement and especially in its business model. Selling used clothing (Ropa Usada!!!) downtown has not meant for much. What's the sales tax revenue on a pair of ragged blue jeans, on weathered shoes or a stained coat?

Nothing much.

Dare to go on with life, Brownsville!

Defeat, you know. All you have left is the decision to keep going, to never look in the rear-view mirror of the old Buick, to keep stepping into the ring. Every loss improves your odds for winning the next one.

No money in SpaceX-related businesses?

It was - and still is - a shocking development, but why cry about it at this point. The local critics will hang you by your fingernails and the bloggers will blame the mayor and his friendship with Musk and his effort to himself draw from the city's business-supporting entities. Well, let them.

Let them keep blaming you, keep yelling at you from the sidewalk as you make it up the streets.

Losing is not losing until you give up, until you shut it down and never again take the field. The Rio Grande Valley is so down because it simply will not take chances in the business world. McAllen does better than the other RGV cities, but it, too, could do more.

My friend Carlos Cascos, the former county judge and Texas Secretary of State, noted on his Facebook page that this (Brownsville's painful acknowledgement that SpaceX has not benefitted it) is what happens when you don't properly vet vendors and companies in these sorts of efforts.

The thing is Brownsville, like many in the RGV, was giddy at having Elon Musk and his space company in town. Vetting? Ha ha ha. Why Maria, we're going sky-high with SpaceX! We're along for the ride. How high will we fly?

As high as SpaceX, for sure!

It didn't happen. Big bucks were misused, thrown away essentially. That's never a good thing and never in a winning business plan. Do hand out the blame. There is quite a bit, enough for more individuals other than Mayor Juan "Trey" Mendez, however. The former mayor is shown in photo atop this story.

But be glad you could go for it.

You know every other city and town in the Rio Grande Valley would have done the same...

-30-