Phoenix Council votes unanimously to strip Cesar Chavez name from streets, parks, holiday

PHOENIX — The Phoenix City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to remove Cesar Chavez’s name from 51 city-owned properties and rename a holiday after sexual abuse allegations against the labor leader.

The March 31 holiday in the city will now be known as Farmworkers Day.

The following city assets will be renamed or have Chavez’s name removed:

• Cesar Chavez Park, community center, dog park and amphitheater in Laveen, which will go to the Parks and Recreation Board to begin the renaming process tomorrow.
• Cesar Chavez Plaza outside city hall, where signage will be covered immediately; future council action will determine a new name.
• Cesar Chavez Library, which will defer to council guidance for renaming.
• All 43 ceremonial street signs along Baseline Road from 75th Avenue to 48th Street, which will be removed within a week.
• A planned senior center in Laveen that had been designated as the Cesar Chavez Senior Center will now be referred to as the Laveen Senior Center in working documents until the council decides on a permanent name.
• Public art referencing Chavez, including a bronze sculpture at the park that will be covered while it goes through the city’s deaccession and recontextualization process, which will go through the Arts and Culture Commission’s process, including consultation with the artists as required by the federal Visual Artists Rights Act.

The plaza signage and bronze sculpture will be covered immediately following the vote, said a city official.

The council could choose to install new ceremonial street signs or leave the streets unnamed.

Council members talk about bigger picture

“For many in our communities, Cesar Chavez was a symbol of the farmworker movement,” Councilwoman Laura Pastor said in a statement following the meeting.

Pastor, who said she was part of the farmworker movement during her college days and worked closely with Chavez, emphasized the city should honor the workers themselves rather than an individual.

“We need to honor those who make it possible for us to bring food to our dinner table every night, who went to work injured, who didn’t have access to health care, who split a single (paycheck among) multiple people as a family and who (came) together to make ends meet,” she during the meeting. “As a society, we idolize individuals who are part of a collective when we should be looking at the bigger picture.”

Councilwoman Anna Hernandez spoke about the broader issue of sexual violence.

“Silence silences victims and protects powerful people,” she said, calling for resources to address violence and hold abusers accountable.

The vote follows a New York Times investigation published last week detailing allegations that Chavez sexually abused multiple women, including United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta and the minor daughters of fellow organizers.

Cesar Chavez name removed around the state

Last week, the state won’t Cesar Chavez’s Day on March 31. Tempe will vote tomorrow night to rename its holiday away from the Chavez name.

Chavez, who was born in Yuma and died in 1993, was long celebrated for improving conditions for farmworkers.

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