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The San Antonio City Council will vote Thursday morning on whether to change César E. Chávez Boulevard back to its former name, Durango Boulevard.
The move would need at least six affirmative votes and is expected to pass. The shift comes after growing scrutiny of Chávez's legacy, following sexual abuse allegations detailed by Dolores Huerta.
The roadway runs about 5.3 miles from the Alamodome on the city’s East Side, through downtown, and deep into the West Side. It’s broken up into segments in some areas and ends at Old Highway 90.
The city council in 2011 voted to change the name to honor Chávez, a leader of the farm labor movement, who for decades had received accolades. There were workers' rights marches in his name, and recognition on streets, buildings and statues across the country.
However, that honor turned into infamy after Dolores Huerta, who co-led the movement, and other victims detailed years of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and rape allegations against Chávez in a New York Times investigation released in March. The response and calls to remove Chávez's name was immediate.
In April, District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, who represents the West Side on the council, issued a council consideration request (CCR) to ask that the name be changed. The CCR is a mechanism for council members to introduce new city policies. It received the support of council members Phyllis Viagran, Edward Mungia, Sukh Kaur, and Ric Galvan.
In June, San Antonio's planning commission approved changing the name back to Durango leaving only final council approval which is set for Thursday.
Castillo told TPR on Wednesday that residents in her district wanted the name to be restored to Durango.
“My expectation and responsibility is to honor those who live on the street, and I value the input of others in terms of what we should explore,” she said.
Restoring the Durango name would also honor the history of San Antonio’s predominantly Latino West Side, which includes streets named for other Mexican states.
“There's Tampico, Veracruz, so on and so forth, and Durango within that intersection, so there's a very historic tie to the history of Mexico in the historic West Side. So it's going back to those roots, which the residents who reside in that area have requested,” she added.
Other names had been suggested, including those to honor farm workers, and activists like Emma Tenayuca and Jovita Idar. Castillo said there are memorial way designations already in some cases, and suggestions could be considered for new streets in the future.
Changing existing street names is no small task. It takes the coordination of the city, county, maps systems, U.S Postal Service, council school districts, Texas Department of Transportation, and the Bexar Metro 911 system.
The cost is anticipated to be $374,700. The change would impact 295 addresses and require the changing of 58 mounted street signs, 31 streetlight signs, 15 highway signs, and one access road sign.
If approved, the change would be the second time in 15 years that San Antonio has restored the former name of a major street.
In 2015, council members at the time approved renaming Old Highway 90 to Enrique M. Barrera Parkway after a former city councilman and received much pushback from residents in the area. An entirely different council reversed the decision in 2022.
In addition to the name change, the City of San Antonio removed a city holiday named after Chávez that was held on March 31. The State of Texas also removed the observance of the holiday named him.
The annual César Chávez March in San Antonio that was organized by the now-defunct
César Chávez Legacy and Educational Foundation was cancelled indefinitely.
