Despite pleas from neighbors concerned about cost and inconvenience, the Santa Maria City Council voted to change the name of Cesar E. Chavez Drive. 

On Tuesday night, the council voted 4-0 to approve a name change with Councilmember Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez absent.  

Councilmember Gloria Soto said she still believed the name should be removed in light of the accusations against the farmworker labor leader.

Several months ago, news reports were published in which Chavez was accused of sexually abusing several girls and women decades ago, leading cities to reconsider streets named in honor of the activist who died in 1993.  

“We cannot perpetuate, alive or not, this type of assault on people to go without any accountability. So, I stand by my comments. I stand with the survivors and I am in full support of changing the name,” Soto said.

Responding to criticism about the timing of the accusations becoming public decades later, Councilmember Gloria Flores noted the allegations occurred during a different era for victims of sexual assault.

“I truly believe that we need to change that name and stand for what’s right in the city of Santa Maria. We’re not going to stand with men or woman that sexually violate other people,” Flores said

“Accountability is part of justice as far as I’m concerned and we have to be part of changing a culture that it’s OK and it’s over with and it’s no big deal,” Mayor Alice Patino said, while recognizing the inconveniences and costs for residents due to the name change. 

The mayor said she was contacted by one woman who support the change so her daughter didn’t have to see the street signs with the name. 

“I think we need to stand here in the city of Santa Maria and say we want that culture changed,” she said.

Last month, Public Works Department staff met with residents of Cesar Chavez Drive in the northeast neighborhood and heard objections to the proposal that gained council approval in April.

Informal polls of the residents living at the approximately 59 properties revealed they favored keeping the name.

Resident Monica Lopez has lived on the street since 2003 and opposed a name change. 

“It is going to cost all of us money, time, days away from work, hours away from work to get all our documents changed,” she said.

“Cesar Chavez is deceased, unable to speak his piece, currently not guilty as these are only allegations. However, he is still a historic figure. Cesar Chavez was a pioneer for worker protections,” she added.

The neighborhood has traffic and code enforcement concerns that residents said should be addressed before renaming the street.

“As far as spending the $26,000 to change the name, to me that’s ridiculous,” resident Stella Felix Villarreal said, adding, “Let it be.”

Costs for the name change include purchasing new signage and making notifications.

But Ann McCarty, executive director of the North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center, called the Chavez victims’ statements devastating and needing attention.

“In the work we do survivors come first,” McCarty said. “To those survivors we see you, we believe you and we honor your courage.”

Sexual violence is not an anomaly, but a systemic problem affecting all facets of society, she added. 

“Accountability is not an attack on a movement. Accountability is what gives a movement integrity. We can honor the contributions of the farmworker movement while also acknowledging the harm,” she said.

“In fact we must. Anything less perpetuates the very injustice these movements were created to challenge,” McCarty added. 

The city has a list of names of military members killed during the Vietnam War and later conflicts being considered as possible street names. Once the traffic committee picks a replacement, the street name will return to the City Council for approval and an implementation date. 

Both Santa Barbara and Guadalupe also are in process the dropping the Cesar Chavez name from streets in their communities.