Santa Maria Residents Push Back Against Renaming Cesar Chavez Drive

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - Residents of Santa Maria who live on Cesar E. Chavez Drive are pushing back against the City Council’s decision to rename the street.

The surveyed residents unanimously voted that they don’t want the street to be renamed.

In March, the New York Times published an article posthumously accusing the late Cesar Chavez, historically a champion of farmworker rights who died in 1993, of sexual misconduct.

Last month, the Santa Maria City Council voted 4-0 with one council member absent to change the name of Cesar E. Chavez Drive in north Santa Maria.

The decision joins a nationwide movement to change the names of places that were dubbed in honor of Chavez, in the wake of the New York Times’ investigative report.

Directly adjacent to Tommie Kunst Junior High School in North Santa Maria, Cesar E. Chavez Drive is a small stretch of residential road with no more than sixty homes.

Residents say the $26,000 estimated to cover the name change could be better utilized enhancing practical safety measures on the roads near the school, such as speed bumps.

Some of the neighbors have questioned why the rapid decision was made by City Council in light of posthumous allegations, as well as the neighborhood’s resounding refusal.

Public Works officials with the City of Santa Maria say the change still has a lot of process to go through, and public input will be welcome at a traffic committee meeting on July 22nd.

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