The Santa Barbara City Council officially started the process of renaming both Cesar Chavez Day and Calle Cesar Chavez, requesting that city staff start the necessary steps to replace the holiday and work with community members to select a new name for the street.
Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez was among multiple elected officials to call for the change following recent reporting that revealed Cesar Chavez was accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen women and teenage girls during his rise as the leader of the farmworker labor movement.
The council did not discuss details of the plan on Tuesday, though there was unanimous support to begin the process of renaming both the street and holiday. Councilmembers wanted to make sure that the decision to rename the holiday was approved through all labor union contracts, and that the new name of the street reflected input from affected business owners and community leaders.
Councilmember Gutierrez said he wanted the street renaming to be done “as quickly as possible,” and suggested reverting the street back to the original “Salsipuedes Street” as an easy fix. He urged caution about renaming the street after an individual, but said he was supportive of the plan to gather input from the community.
