Months after shocking sexual abuse allegations against deceased labor leader César Chávez came to light, the city of San Diego replaced signs on the former César E. Chávez Parkway with new ones reading Chicano Park Boulevard.
City Transportation Department crews completed the street sign installations on Monday. In planning for the new signs, the city coordinated with Caltrans to ensure freeway signage would be updated at the same time.
"Street names help tell the story of our city," said Mayor Todd Gloria. "By renaming this roadway Chicano Park Boulevard, we are recognizing a place that represents the history, culture, resilience, and pride of Barrio Logan. I'm grateful to the community members whose voices helped shape this decision and ensure the name reflects the neighborhood it serves."
The street name change comes after Gloria issued an executive order on March 20 directing city departments to "complete a comprehensive effort to remove references" to Chávez from city programs, facilities and public assets.
In April, the San Diego City Council officially removed the name of César Chávez from a city holiday and the street in Barrio Logan, as well as approving an amendment to the San Diego Municipal Code to rename the March 31 holiday to Farmworkers Day.
Community meetings were held to gather input about the name change. The Barrio Logan Community Planning Group, Barrio Logan Association and Chicano Park Steering Committee all expressed support for the proposed renaming.
"For more than 30 years, the Chicano Park Steering Committee has fought to correct the name of the street that borders the heart of our community," said Tonantzin "Cina" Sanchez, vice chair of the Chicano Park Steering Committee. "Chicano Park Boulevard is more than a street name — it is the recognition of our history, struggle, and the generations of people who refused to let Chicano Park and Barrio Logan Heights be erased.
"This victory did not happen overnight. It was earned through decades of organizing, persistence, and unwavering commitment by community members who understood that our story deserves to be recognized, remembered, and respected."
The holiday and street were just several of the institutions, parks and public spaces in San Diego County renamed following a New York Times report in March that Chávez allegedly sexually assaulted female followers as young as 12 in the 1970s and raped United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, now 96, in 1966.
Both the San Diego Community College District and San Diego Unified School District renamed facilities named after Chávez.
The Times story was published one day after the UFW and the César Chávez Foundation announced that they were abstaining from honoring the late labor leader on this year's state holiday on March 31, citing "disturbing allegations." Many governments around the state celebrated the day as Farm Workers Day instead.
The Times said its story was based on interviews with more than 60 people, including top Chávez aides at the time, his relatives and former members of the UFW.
The story quotes a woman who says Chávez took her into his office when he was 45 and she was 13, kissed her and pulled her pants down. She said dozens of sexual encounters followed over the next four years, though she says none involved intercourse.
Another woman says she was 12 when Chávez groped her breast, and 15 when he arranged to have her stay at a motel during a march through California and had sexual intercourse with her.
Both women were the daughters of organizers who had marched in rallies alongside Chávez, according to the Times. The story claims that Chávez used other women in the farm labor movement for "sexual gratification."
Huerta, who turned 96 on April 10, told the newspaper that Chávez drove her to a secluded grape field in Delano, California, in 1966 and raped her in the vehicle. She said she never reported the attack out of concerns for police hostility toward Chávez and the labor movement, and because she feared she wouldn't be believed.
"Unfortunately, he used some of his great leadership to abuse women and children — it's really awful," Huerta told The Times.
Chávez died in 1993 at age 66.
