Brownsville City Commission

New requirements for vape retailers

The city commission discussed on Tuesday the first reading of a minimum distance requirement for electronic- cigarette retailers and an update about downtown Brownsville concerns.

Minimum distance requirement for vape shops

Guillermo “Will” Trevino, city attorney, presented a first reading on Ordinance No. 2025-235.110 to adopt a minimum distance requirement for retailers that sell e-cigarettes, these include any kind of vaping devices.

He said the distance would be 300 feet, and essentially a school or a church can request a minimum distance to 1,000 feet.

“This came about because we noticed that there was a few schools that did have a vaping location right next to it,” Trevino said.

He said this would only apply to new e-cigarette retailers and it would not be applicable to retailers whose gross receipts from the sale of e-cigarettes are less than 50%; convenience or grocery stores would not be affected.

Martin Vega, senior planner, said there are 21 vape shops within city limits and the average distance between these is 2,954 feet, and within the city limit there are 77 public schools.

Jessica Gonzalez, Brownsville Independent School District board member, spoke during public comment and said vaping is the No. 1 issue at the district, according to the Texas Academic Performance Reports.

Ana Lincoln Rodriguez, a parent of a BISD student, said when she was on her way to drop off her son at Dr. Juliet V. Garcia Middle School she saw a vape shop close to the school.

Rodriguez said they gathered signatures and reached out to District 2 Commissioner Linda Macias for guidance.

 Pedro Cardenas, district 4 commissioner, said he prefers if they stayed 1,000 feet and include vape shops that sell gummies.

The city commissions will also amend the Unified Development Code for consideration to direct the 1,000 feet, include gummies in the restrictions, and straight-line measurements and motion for a second reading.

Brownsville mayor John Cowen thanked the community for advocating for the ordinance and commissioner Macias for spearheading.

“This is how you create positive change in your community so thank you,” Cowen said.

Downtown updates 

Allan Garces, downtown revitalization manager, brought up concerns raised by downtown visitors and business owners in regards to individuals offering car washing services on city property, vacant lots and city roadways.

“These individuals tend to get a little bit aggressive when they’re denied the service of being, you know, of allowing someone to wash their vehicles,” Garces said.

He said when this happens, vehicle owners tend to worry about what is going to happen to their vehicles.

Garces said downtown business owners have stated that they tend to walk or escort their employees, especially female employees, to their vehicles just because they have safety concerns.

He added about the water runoff from car wash services leaving residue behind on the sidewalks and entrances of their locations, and instances of catcalling.

“We obviously don’t want that,” Garces said. “We want downtown visitors, business owners or employees to feel safe in the downtown.”

He said existing ordinance section 86-7  prohibits the sell of items on city property, city lots and vacant lots.

Garces said this section ordinance lists specific streets that already cover downtown, all streets located in an area bordered on the north by East Madison Street, and on the south by the city limits, and between Palm Boulevard and International Boulevard.

“With the assistance of the [Brownsville Police Department] and code enforcement and assistance from the [Engineering/Public Works] we’ve already kind of been implementing this the last two weeks,” he said.

Garces said individuals who are offering car wash service in these areas are being notified that this is a violation.

Felix Sauceda, Brownsville police chief, said they have teams ready and prepared to begin and continue the enforcement that was started two weeks ago.

De los Santos said he wanted to keep these updates on downtown enforcement on the agenda for the next two meetings to see gains on safety.

“I also know businesses that are installing doorbells and are going to be operating only with locked doors because they don’t feel like they can keep their doors open even during the day in downtown Brownsville and that’s a problem,” he said.