Joseph Jay Pastoriza
American politician (1857-1917)

Joseph Jay "J. J." Pastoriza (January 8, 1857 – July 9, 1917) was a printer, real estate investor, and politician in Houston, Texas. He served both as Houston's Tax Commissioner and Mayor. Pastoriza was the first Hispanic mayor of the city of Houston. Pastoriza was orphaned and adopted as a young child in Houston. He started working in the printing business at about age twenty before establishing his own stationery and print shop.
Pastoriza took an interest in public policy and politics after he retired from the printing business. He joined the Houston Single Tax League, and later traveled to study tax policy. Between 1911 and 1917 he served as Houston Tax Commissioner, establishing the Houston Single Tax Plan in 1912. Houston voters elected him Mayor of Houston in 1917. He served only three months before dying in office.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joseph Jay Pastoriza” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.