An interview with Rene Gonzalez, chief strategy officer with Lit Communities
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BROWNSVILLE, Texas - On Tuesday, July 29, the Brownsville City Commission unanimously agreed to enter into a public-private partnership with Lit Communities for the design and construction of a citywide broadband fiber network.\\xa0
But who are Lit Communities? The attached podcast sheds some light on the company as we interview the group\\u2019s chief strategy officer, Rene Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was present at the recent Broadband Signing ceremony. Those signing the agreement included Lit Communities CEO Brian Snider, Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez, and John Bruciak, the general manager of Brownsville Public Utilities Board.
The network Lit Communities will build includes a 93-mile middle mile backbone with design to last mile fiber. It will connect 32 anchor institutions including city facilities, Police, Fire, EMS, and public parks.
Through the agreement, Brownsville residents and business owners will have the infrastructure in place to provide a minimum broadband capacity of 100 megabits city-wide.
\\u201cToday was a historic day for the City of Brownsville and one that will have a multigenerational impact. We have effectively taken the first and most important step to eliminating the digital divide in Brownsville through an innovative public-private partnership with Lit Communities and our local stakeholders. Very soon, residents will have accessible and affordable broadband right here in Brownsville,\\u201d said Mayor Mendez.
Mendez said the city will be utilizing $19.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for the approved middle mile fiber network, allowing for public-private partnerships to deploy last mile services.\\xa0
Snider said Lit Communities will contribute an additional $70 million to execute the last mile infrastructure.
\\u201cIt is such an exciting day to complete this partnership and make it official.\\xa0 The City of Brownsville has inspired us, and we continue to see the values and beliefs that we have as a company as well. Because of that, we were able to create a unique partnership that will set the example for future municipalities across the country. While it is an exciting day, the job still isn\\u2019t done, and we are now looking forward to getting engineering and construction started,\\u201d Snider said.
According to a news release from the City of Brownsville, the city was, in March, named the winner in International Data Corporation\\u2019s (IDC) Government Insights\\u2019 Fifth Annual Smart Cities North America Awards for Digital Equity and Accessibility for its comprehensive planning efforts to increase broadband accessibility and speed.\\xa0
In December of 2020, Mayor Mendez was awarded the \\u201cChange Maker\\u201d award by New Century Cities for his work in addressing the digital divide in Brownsville.
To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.
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