Galveston State of the City 2022

Enough is Enough: Please Watch

Join Me in Standing Up for Galveston

Some of you may have noticed the signs popping up around the Island blocking ours or the mailers continuing a politically manufactured attack on our City Government. What you might not know is that these attacks are paid for by outside political part

Real Solutions for City Finances

As we approach Early Voting, I’d like to share some good news about the Current Financial state of the City. This time I will not share my own Optimism but the outlook and opinion of Fitch Ratings, a nationally recognized rating organization. While t

Real Solutions for Fiscal Responsibility

“Fiscal responsibility has been my top priority and will continue to be for as long as I am your Mayor. It took real solutions to adequately fund all of our reserve accounts, for the first time in many years, while offering an unprecedented six-cent

Real Solutions for the Pelican Island Bridge

Pelican Island is an untapped resource when it comes to Economic Development. One of the reasons this development has been slow coming is because of the need for a new Bridge. There has been an ongoing discussion about building a New Bridge for years

Real Solutions to Drainage & Flood Control

Flooding is one of the most pressing issues our community faces, and for years our City has struggled with the issues of drainage and flood control. Galveston is a barrier island that is just seven feet above sea level, and as such, our problems are.

Cutting Edge Water Meters will Help Alleviate an Age-Old Problem

Clean, fresh water is something that most people don’t think about regularly. But as we saw during the winter storm, water leaks and outages can cause significant problems, particularly in an emergency. As part of our meeting with the White House aft

Dreams and Teams Work Together

Recently, there was much discussion concerning Galveston’s Little League Fields, and rightly so. Quality Sports Facilities of all types, for adults and children, are an integral part of creating a better quality of life for our residents and are a me

Black History is Essential to Galveston’s Story

Black History is Essential to Galveston’s Story – Few cities have a more deeply meaningful historical connection to the black community than Galveston. From Juneteenth to contributions to medicine by pioneers like Mary Madison and the Sta

Real Solutions for Winter Storms

With colder weather approaching, many of us are reflecting on the events of almost a year ago when Winter Storm Uri debilitated our community. Many reasons were discussed as to the cause, with much finger-pointing at the State. Regardless of the caus

The Future of Stewart Beach Park

Stewart Beach was formally dedicated in 1941 and has become iconic as Galveston’s premier family beach park. The current pavilion was built in 1984 with a life expectancy of approximately 30 years. Since it is at or beyond its life expectancy, the Pa

Re-Elect Craig Brown and Let’s Continue Our Progress

Today I am formally announcing my candidacy for Mayor of Galveston in the May 2022 election. It has been an honor serving you during the past two years as Mayor and in the previous six as councilperson for District 2. I have been fortunate to be...

Campaign Update: “Vote Local” Galveston

Labor Day weekend and Hurricane Laura are both behind us and our collective attention has turned towards the election. I thought this might be a good time to update you on what we are doing to help voters make this critical choice.   We have...

Leadership

Positive Leadership is vital for any community to grow but in these unprecedented times it is more important than ever. As Galveston deals with the effects of CoVid-19 the qualities of professionalism, transparency and inclusiveness are more importan

Health & Safety of Citizens

As your Mayor, the safety of our community is always my top priority. I will continue my weekly conferences with the Galveston County Health Director and the President of UTMB for the most up-to-date information on fighting this pandemic. The key to

Economic Recovery

As your Mayor, I will continue to focus on Economic Recovery for Island businesses affected by the Coronavirus. Working with the City’s Industrial Development Corporation, the Chamber of Commerce and the Galveston Economic Development Partnership, di

Environment

Developing a city-wide oversight and master plan for protecting the natural resources of our Island from the West End to the East End Lagoon needs to be accomplished. Ecotourism has become an integral part of our economy and protecting and promoting

Permits

Remodeling, new construction, or just minor DIY projects should not be a dreaded task when it comes to planning and permitting. As Mayor, I will call for the evaluation of the permitting, inspection and application process to make it as efficient as

Drainage

There are three points about Drainage that seem to ring true here in Galveston. The first is that Drainage repair is an ongoing project that will continue for many years to come. Secondly, no matter what the approach, it is a very costly proposition.

Quality of Life

As Mayor I will continue to support upgrading the quality of life in our neighborhoods with additional Green Space, increased Public Safety and   Infrastructure Improvements to name just a few. Galveston offers a small town atmosphere with Big Town a

Housing

One issue that has been discussed for years is the need for more affordable housing on the Island. There is not one solution to Housing concerns, but requires multiple solutions. Evaluating our Zoning Regulations, working with Public/Private Partners

Economic Development

As your Mayor, I will continue to increase the Economic Development structure of the City, such as organizing a workable Land Bank, that would set aside portions of land, purchased by the City, for specific types of development such as affordable hou

Communication

Communication – As your Mayor, I will continue to serve Galveston by building relationships and improving communication with all entities that shape the economic forces on the island, as well as our residents. Decisions made by the City, Port a

Join Our City Boards

As challenging as these times are, it has given many of us time to reassess what is a “want” and what is a “need.” At the City, we have re-evaluated many processes to be as flexible as possible. We want to not only meet current...

Critical Safety Nets

As your Mayor, I will keep critical safety nets in place, like our $50 million emergency line of credit, set aside to deal with storms and other crises. These funds allow us to immediately deal with emergencies like storm debris, which can be extreme

Speaking to WIGIPOA

By CRAIG BROWN August 20th, 2020 I recently spoke at the West Galveston Island Property Owner Association to provide an overview of City activities. We discussed the City’s Budget, Beach Closures (there are no current plans for future closures), and

Hurricane Preparedness

By CRAIG BROWN August 20th, 2020 Within the last few days, I met with the District Coordinator for the Texas Division Of Emergency Management (TDEM), the City’s Emergency Management Director, and the City’s Fire Chief to discuss Hurricane preparednes

Testing the Rail Trolleys

By CRAIG BROWN August 20th, 2020 I just received word that the first of the Rail Trolleys ( #501 ) is being tested on the streets of Galveston. Acceleration and braking, as well as computer synchronization, will be fine-tuned for the next few weeks u

City Flag

CITY FLAG Calling all artists, the City of Galveston is accepting submissions for designs on a new city flag. My sincere thanks to the Cultural Arts Commission, who will be reviewing the submissions and presenting the final designs to the public for

Campaign Kick-Off Event

“A Big Thank You to everyone who attended my Mayoral Campaign Kickoff Thursday evening. What a wonderful event and the turnout was fantastic! The energy created from the event was a perfect beginning for my Campaign. I would also like to especially t

National Night Out (Oct. 2019)

It was such an honor and a privilege to visit with so many of you last night at the National Night Out. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to all of the gatherings, but I would still love to hear from you. Your participation is vital...

Join Our Amazing Volunteers

Email or Call Your Friends – One of the first things we would like volunteers to do is to email or call your closest friends who live nearby and tell that you are volunteering for Craig. You don’t have to ask them to support the...

Fire House #1 Dedication

“This structure means more than just a new facility for our firefighters. It represents the revitalization of our community after Hurricane Ike. It also represents our city’s commitment to our firefighters and citizens to provide the best services po

Thank You from Craig

Thank you, to all of you who have expressed support since we launched our campaign earlier this month. Since that time, I have had a chance to speak to several of you about the issues, Galveston’s future, and how we can get there together. If..