Trump Order Ends Tribute to Buddy Holly
This photo provided by City of Lubbock on Friday shows the Buddy Holly Crosswalk. (City of Lubbock via AP)
Fans of the Buddy Holly crosswalk in Lubbock, Texas—a downtown landmark featuring a painted depiction of the rock ‘n’ roll legend’s signature glasses—will soon have to bid it farewell. The decision comes as city officials prepare to remove the crosswalk, which has been a popular local attraction since its installation in 2020 near the Buddy Holly Center museum.
City Council members said this week that the removal is required to comply with a directive from the Trump administration and Republican officials urging the removal of political messages or artwork from public roadways, according to the AP. Other municipalities in Texas and across the U.S. have taken similar actions.
In Laredo, a mural protesting the border wall was removed in October, and in Florida, a rainbow-colored crosswalk near the Pulse nightclub—where 49 people were killed in a mass shooting—was taken down in August.
“It’s such a tasteful cross section and people like it. But what do you do?” said City Council member Christy Martinez-Garcia, questioning the necessity of the removal.
Lubbock officials received a letter from the Texas Department of Transportation warning that failure to remove such artwork could risk the loss of state or federal funding for road projects, David Bragg, the city’s interim division director of public works, told council members.
“This was a very broad letter. I don’t think it was intended to target, say, the Buddy Holly glasses. Unfortunately, it did,” Bragg said.
Gov. Greg Abbott emphasized that “Texans expect their taxpayer dollars to be used wisely, not advance political agendas on Texas roadways.” Lubbock Mayor Mark McBrayer said the city has little choice but to comply.
“Probably everybody here got some communication from people wanting that not to be the case,” McBrayer said. “But I don’t really feel like we have the wherewithal to do anything about that without litigating it, and there’s no appetite for that here anyway.”
Bragg added that the crosswalk’s removal is planned during routine maintenance next year. Holly, a native of Lubbock, died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 3, 1959, a day now famously remembered as “the day the music died.”
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