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Editor's note: This story has been updated.
The San Antonio City Council voted unanimously Thursday to change César E. Chávez Boulevard back to its former name, Durango Boulevard.
The change comes after renewed scrutiny of Chávez’s legacy following sexual abuse allegations detailed by Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Chávez. Changing the street signs is expected to take two to six months, while replacing highway signs could take six months to a year.
The roadway stretches about 5.3 miles from the Alamodome on the city’s East Side, through downtown and into the West Side. It is broken up into segments in some areas and ends at Old Highway 90.
In 2011, the City Council voted to rename the street for Chávez, a leader of the farm labor movement who had received decades of accolades. Workers’ rights marches were held in his name, and streets, buildings and statues across the country honored his legacy.
But that honor came under scrutiny after Huerta and other victims detailed years of sexual harassment, sexual abuse and rape allegations against Chávez in a New York Times investigation published in March. The report prompted an immediate response and calls to remove Chávez’s name from the boulevard.
In April, District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, who represents the West Side, submitted a council consideration request asking that the street be renamed. A CCR is a mechanism council members can use to introduce new city policies. The request was supported by council members Phyllis Viagran, Edward Mungia, Sukh Kaur and Ric Galvan.
In June, the San Antonio Planning Commission approved changing the name back to Durango, leaving final approval to the City Council.
Castillo told TPR on Wednesday that residents in her district wanted the name 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 said.
Other names had been suggested, including names honoring farm workers and activists such as Emma Tenayuca and Jovita Idar. Castillo said some streets already have memorial way designations, and those suggestions could be considered for new streets in the future.
On Thursday, District 6 Councilman Ric Galvan said there are other ways to pay tribute to the labor movement.
“We can still honor the legacy of folks coming together to push for civil rights here in our community, push for labor rights here in our community, not only in San Antonio but throughout the country without focusing on this one individual, that's not what movement politics is,” he said.
Changing an existing street name is no small task. It requires coordination among the city, county, mapping systems, U.S. Postal Service, school districts, Texas Department of Transportation and Bexar Metro 911.
The cost is estimated at $374,700. The change would affect 295 addresses and require replacing 58 mounted street signs, 31 streetlight signs, 15 highway signs and one access road sign.
The changes are not expected to affect residents during the November election, city staff told council members Thursday.
This is the second time in 15 years that San Antonio has restored the former name of a major street.
In 2015, council members approved renaming Old Highway 90 to Enrique M. Barrera Parkway after a former city councilman but received significant pushback from residents in the area. A different council reversed the decision in 2022.
In addition to the street name change, the city of San Antonio removed a city holiday named after Chávez that was observed on March 31. The state of Texas also removed its observance of the holiday named for Chávez.
The annual César Chávez March in San Antonio, organized by the now-defunct César Chávez Legacy and Educational Foundation, was canceled indefinitely.
