Well, almost: More than 50 Texas schools currently bear the names of Confederate soldiers, writes Drew Blackburn in Texas Monthly. The interactive map above was included in yesterday’s article, which pairs the location of each school with a demographic breakdown of its student body. Back in January, HISD announced its decision to rename 4 of 7 schools in the district named for Confederate figures (including Dowling Middle School, missing from the map); 2 weeks ago, the school board voted to go ahead and rename the other 3 as well. Dallas and Austin have also begun renaming schools.
- Texas Schools Are Getting Serious About Erasing Confederate Names, But Is That The Right Move? [Texas Monthly]
- HISD votes to rename 3 more schools named with Confederate ties [ABC13]
- HISD board votes to rename 4 schools named after Confederate loyalists [Houston Chronicle]
Map of Texas schools named after Confederate figures: Texas Monthly
Civil War Battlegrounds
“Get rid of the downtown tunnels? It seems that the purpose of increasing walkability is to improve the quality of downtown life. Forcing people outside into hot and humid summers will do little to improve life quality. The author could have as nonsensically suggested the banning of cars in the downtown area to improve walkability.” [
“What Downtown really needs is repeat performances for park spaces like Discovery Green and Market Square. Tranquility Park is a dud. . . . Jones Plaza is also a misfire in that all the activity inside the plaza is invisible from the street. The city should snatch up a parking lot or two over by Minute Maid as another amenity for all the new multifamily going in over there and new office construction. The same goes for the southern part of Downtown near where the twin Skyhouses are. Parks get people out and moving around downtown. It is too difficult to redo all the ground floor development in Downtown to make it more street friendly — it is what it is. But a couple of really nice parks can really help push more ground floor development, and help support existing ground floor retail/restaurant development.” [
“Amazing how that works – we demolish houses and businesses next to schools to make way for parking, meaning there will be fewer homes and errand stops within walking distance of the school. Meanwhile, the Red Line is only a few blocks away, which could’ve meant fewer employees and students needing to drive there. So now we have HISD paying more money it doesn’t have on acquiring land and building parking infrastructure while simultaneously devaluing a public transit asset and decreasing the school’s user base in the area. Great recipe for success, here!” [
