- Spear Street, Transwestern To Break Ground on The RO Next Year at Former Exxon Campus [HBJ ($); previously on Swamplot]
- CoreLogic: Number of Underwater Mortgages in Houston Decreased in the First Quarter [Houston Chronicle]
- With El Rancho, Houston’s Hispanic Grocery Sector Might Have Hit Peak Saturation [HBJ ($)]
- Part Retailer, Part Tasting Room Cobble & Spoke Heading to Spring Branch [Eater Houston]
- New Fundraising Campaign Wants To Create LBJ Statue and Monument in Little Tranquility Park [Realty News Report]
Photo of Galveston: Ruben S. via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Re: LBJ Monument
Johnson has few connections to Houston other than the Space Center (already named after him). To lionize him in the city core makes no sense at all …. if you just have to have another memorial to him, put it to Clear Lake, as the only thing Johnson gave the city is the byline “Houston, we have a problem.” and that is used more to denigrate the city than anything else
I just thought we were well past this whole naming public structures after and erecting public monuments for specific individuals.
@WR: LBJ gave Houston the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
@Meme …. while I applaud the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that act wasn’t Houston-centric …. I stand firm on my statement that Johnson did little or nothing for Houston., and even the Space Center was in another city at the time. Put it there.
@WR: The CIvil Rights Act of 1964 wasn’t Houston-centric, but Houston can have statues honoring people who did stuff that wasn’t Houston-centric. We have a statue of Gandhi. Should we move that to India?
This thread reminds me of these Previously on Swamplot related stories:
http://swamplot.com/former-lbj-stomping-ground-knocks-off-50k/2011-06-15/
http://swamplot.com/the-plan-to-flip-houstons-lbj-house/2012-07-25/
http://swamplot.com/taking-a-few-more-shots-at-houstons-lbj-house/2013-02-06/
http://swamplot.com/price-grows-again-on-lbjs-montrose-crash-pad-newly-planted-with-fake-grass/2016-09-19/
LBJ did not give anyone the Civil RIghts Act in 1964. Congress did that. LBJ only signed the bill. He spent the first 20 years of his time in Congress voting against such bills. It wasn’t until he was in a position to be president (in the mid-late 50’s) that he began to advocate for such legislation. He got swept aside in his quest to be president by JFK. He pushed for the Civil RIghts Act after JFK was shot by advocating that it would be good to push forward the act as a way of honoring the memory of JFK and to help insure an LBJ election in 1964.
LBJ’s time in Houston was short, Oct 1930 to about Jan 1932. He taught public speaking at Sam Houston High School. He could not get out of town fast enough after Kleberg hired his to be a legislative secretary.
Thanks shrub, case in point.
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Was wondering what the connection was between Brown foundation & LBJ was but guess it goes back a long longtime……..”Brown led Brown & Root Inc. to become one of the largest construction companies in the world and helped to foster the political career of Lyndon B. Johnson.”
@Shrub: Without Johnson there would have been no Civil Rights Act of 1964. He spent considerable political capital pushing it through congress.