Traffic, parking top list of issues in downtown Brownsville master plan

Since solicitation for public input on the Brownsville Downtown Renaissance Master Plan kicked off in August, city officials and the consultant hired to assist with the effort have gotten a ton of feedback.

Downtown Manager Allan Garces and Caitlin Admire, of Freese and Nichols urban planning and design group, brought the mayor and city commissioners up to speed during a presentation at the commission’s Tuesday regular meeting.

Garces said six meetings with downtown business and property owners, nonprofits and other stakeholders have taken place so far, with more planned. In addition, public input has been solicited at special events such as First Friday, Boo at the Zoo and the Brownsville Farmers’ Market.

“Instead of having your typical town hall meeting where people come to us, we’re going and reaching out to the public where there’s already things happening,” he said.

So far the master plan, expected to be complete in spring 2026, has received input from nearly 900 survey respondents, though Garces said he expects that number to increase as more feedback is gathered and more discussions with stakeholders take place.

Admire ran through the plan’s SWOT analysis of downtown — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats — noting that many respondents counted downtown’s burgeoning restaurant and cultural scene as a strength.

“A lot of people are very positive about the changes they’ve been seeing,” she said. “And we’ve heard a lot of just keep doing what you’re doing.”

A number of people identified downtown’s history and bi-cultural heritage as also among its strengths, Admire said.

In terms of walkability, downtown has potential in that department but still has a ways to go, according to respondents, many of whom also called for greater reuse of vacant buildings (especially upper floors), more arts events and festivals, more housing, and mixed-use development — residential upstairs and retail downstairs, she said.

“And the leveraging of tourism and that bi-national identity: Those are the big overall things we’ve heard from the community,” Admire told the commission.

In the weakness/threat category, respondents highlighted as concerns cleanliness, safety and lighting, lack of shaded seating and a “general lack of public amenities,” she said.

Respondents also dinged the complexity of the city’s permitting process, traffic congestion and lack of parking downtown, Admire noted.

“The risk of gentrification and displacement is really important,” she said. “We heard a lot about that in our stakeholder meetings last time we were here. … As downtown revitalizes, how do we make sure we’re not losing the people and the businesses that make downtown what it is today and what we love about it?”

Concerns likewise were expressed over out-of-town property owners, and high rents potentially displacing nonprofits located downtown, Admire said, noting that some issues will be easier address than others.

“Some of them are harder to fix, like gentrification and displacement, but some of them are relatively easy fixes, like cleaning up, adding more lighting, adding more benches, things like that,” she said.

At every public meeting, at least one participant brought up a trolley that once ran downtown, suggesting that it be brought back, Admire said.

Market Square and Washington Park were identified as underutilized “jewels of downtown,” she said, while many respondents called for more retail and dining options, incentives to improve storefronts and bring more diversity of businesses, and improve Americans With Disabilities Act access.

Part of the master plan focuses on downtown’s main connectors, including Palm Boulevard, which the plan considers part of downtown. Besides preserving the boulevard’s existing palm trees, accentuating the thoroughfare’s character was also a priority among those offering input.

Admire said there were also calls for improved trail crossings, consistency of sidewalks along Palm Boulevard, and “traffic calming measures, getting people to slow down and pay more attention.”

For East 6th and East 7th streets, the main east-west corridors downtown, planners are contemplating multi-modal connectivity (cars, bikes, transit, etc.), enhanced landscaping, traffic calming, more crosswalks and possibly lower speed limits, she said.

East Elizabeth and East Washington streets need more “public realm” enhancements: cleanliness, beautification and maintenance, security, seating and effective traffic flow, according to feedback, Admire said.

Doing something with vacant storefronts along Washington and Elizabeth and making the two streets feel “really vibrant and really active and full of life,” were also priorities, she said.

“We heard a lot about people wanting street festivals — seasonal flare, on these two streets specifically,” she said.

The public can get a firsthand look at feedback generated so far for the master plan at 4 p.m. Friday at the Convention and Visitors Bureau complex, 1312 E. Adams St.

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