- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Houston and help keep the future of Houston Press free.
Eleanor Tinsley, who served on the City Council for 16 years, has died.
She was big on two things -- getting Houston's billboards taken down, and trying to stop cigarette smoking anywhere and everywhere, it seemed.
The elegantly coiffed Tinsley -- she always looked like the Dallas-native Baylor alum she was -- is perhaps best known now as being the namesake of Eleanor Tinsley Park near downtown.
We seem to recall drunk smokers coming up with obscene lyrics to "Eleanor Rigby" at bars around town when Tinsley was pushing to ban cigs, but those lyrics have been lost to time.
Maybe someone should knock down a billboard in her honor today.
-- Richard Connelly
Keep the Houston Press Free... Since we started the Houston Press, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Houston, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Houston with no paywalls.