"Downtown Manager for the City of Brownsville working to accelerate the revitalization of the city's urban core. Ready and willing to work along side all stakeholders to implement quality of life as the downtown revitalization theme: building a lasting constituency for downtown; recruiting investors, retailers and tenants while supporting those …
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"Downtown Manager for the City of Brownsville working to accelerate the revitalization of the city's urban core. Ready and willing to work along side all stakeholders to implement quality of life as the downtown revitalization theme: building a lasting constituency for downtown; recruiting investors, retailers and tenants while supporting those already downtown; making downtown clean, inviting, and attractive; and promoting downtown Brownsville as the place to live, work, and play.
I was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas. I was able to join the City of Brownsville in 2020 and had the opportunity to serve my hometown on a few projects such as a new Unified Development Code (UDC), a new zoning map, and now Downtown Management.
I have over eight years of experience in Urban Planning. Some of projects include the Entertainment and Cultural Overlay District (ECOD) and the annexation, zoning, and subdivision process of Tres Lagos and Texas A&M in McAllen, TX.
I possesses a degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Texas A&M, received The American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certification in 2020 from the American Planning Association (APA), and recently graduated from the National Consortium of Certified Public Managers (CPM) with UTRGV."
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"Helen Ramirez is the City Manager for the largest City in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) with over 186,000 residents. She is the first female City Manager in Brownsville's 170 year history, ranked the 18th largest city in the State of Texas.
Prior to being named City Manager on January …
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"Helen Ramirez is the City Manager for the largest City in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) with over 186,000 residents. She is the first female City Manager in Brownsville's 170 year history, ranked the 18th largest city in the State of Texas.
Prior to being named City Manager on January 9th, Helen was serving our community as the Interim City Manager. She did so for six months. She was initially hired by the City of Brownsville in March of 2019 to serve as Deputy City Manager and for a period, served as the Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC), Type A Economic Development Corporation. Prior to joining the city, Helen served communities in both Central Texas and Southern California.
Helen brings more than 20 years of experience in municipal government, urban planning, and economic development, including 10 years of experience working in the private sector.
In her service to the City of Brownsville, Helen has been instrumental in accelerating economic growth, downtown redevelopment, overhauling development codes, preparing the city’s first mobility transportation plan and strengthening the organizational culture of the municipality.
Helen earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in City & Regional Planning from California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. She earned an American Institute of Certified Planners Certification and is working towards an Economic Development Finance Professional Certification.
She is a member of the Texas City Managers Association, is a member of the International City County Management Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners. She formerly served on the Technical Advisory Committee of The Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (RGVMPO) and CAMPO in Central Texas."
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