Community meets in Santa Maria to discuss renaming Cesar Chavez Drive
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - A community meeting was held in Santa Maria on Wednesday evening to discuss the proposed name change of Cesar E. Chavez Drive.
Santa Maria has chosen to make the move following allegations earlier this year of sexual abuse that were made against the famed labor and civil rights activist.
"They will change the name," said Brett Fulgoni, Santa Maria Public Works Director. "They have made the motion to change the name and what they've asked us to do is get feedback on what that name should be. We'll take that back to council and propose that."
The meeting took place at nearby Grogan Park and offered the community an opportunity to offer input on the potential change.
"I support that because all the things that are going on, all the allegations that it came out this year," said Santa Maria resident Pilar Andrade. "I believe it's time for a change."
The City said that community feedback will help inform its decision-making process as staff evaluates options and next steps.
"They want to make sure that we got feedback from the community on what that road name should be changed to," said Fulgoni. "We'll take that information and provide it to City Council and they can make a decision on on changing the road name."
Cesar E. Chavez Drive is in the northwest portion of Santa Maria along much of the Tommie Kunst Junior High School campus.
The half-mile long roadway was named by Santa Maria leaders in 2002 when the housing development where it is located was built.
Santa Maria has notified residents and property owners located on Cesar Chavez Drive with mailed letters to provide information regarding the proposed changes.
The letters include 14 potential names that have already been approved by the City of Santa Maria and the Santa Maria Valley Chamber.
All of the potential names are those of Santa Maria veterans that have served heroically in wartime.
The pre-approved names are Cariveau, Cowell, Derig, Fernandez, Giovanacci, Hargraves, Holmes, Ontiveros, Peterson, Sapinoza, Spittler, Swayze, Twyford and Velasquez.
The city has a program called "Hometown Heroes," said Fulgoni. "Those are veterans of foreign wars that have been recognized by council. Those names are provided to our Community Development division as potential road naming names for some new subdivisions and things like that. It's kind of a list that's pre-qualified that the City can choose from to honor our heroes and veterans. It's not an exhaustive list. It's a suggested name. Should the community feel strongly about another name, that'd be something that would be under the council's discretion, so it's not not necessarily those 14 names."
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