{"id":226800,"date":"2026-03-19T11:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/226800\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:08:10","slug":"city-of-bakersfield-terminates-cesar-chavez-street-renaming-plan-following-allegations-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/226800\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Bakersfield terminates Cesar Chavez street renaming plan following allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The City of Bakersfield announced it will discontinue plans to rename H Street in honor of labor leader Cesar Chavez following sexual abuse allegations.<\/p>\n

There was a proposal to rename H Street<\/a> in honor of Cesar Chavez in August 2025, which advanced in a Bakersfield City Council vote. <\/a>The council’s vote was not unanimous, with three members\u2014Zack Bashirtash, Ken Weir, and Larry Koman opposing the change.<\/p>\n

RELATED: H Street renaming to Cesar Chavez Blvd. advances amid debates over legacy, expenses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"KBAK\/KBFX\"<\/p>\n

The City of Bakersfield released a statement on March 18, saying that they became aware of allegations regarding Cesar Chavez during his time as the President of the United Farmworkers of America.<\/p>\n

The statement said in part, \u201cIn light of these allegations, the City will be terminating efforts to rename a street for Cesar Chavez.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh sent a statement to Eyewitness News: <\/p>\n

\u201cAny sexual assault, abuse, and exploitation of minors and vulnerable persons is unacceptable. I am saddened for those impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bakersfield councilman Zack Bashirtash agreed with the City’s action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt frightens me thinking how close we were to wasting taxpayer money, millions of dollars on naming a street after someone who harmed people. It frightens me as a father to my core that we were going to waste taxpayer money on something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bashirtash was one of three councilmen who opposed the City’s decision in August to rename H Street to Cesar Chavez Boulevard.<\/p>\n

A victim accusing Cesar Chavez was civil rights leader Dolores Huerta. <\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: Dolores Huerta says Cesar Chavez sexual abuse led to two secret pregnancies<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE – Cesar Chavez{ } (File Photo 1974)<\/p>\n

She said in a statement that she was sexually abused by labor organizer Cesar Chavez in the 1960s, which resulted in two pregnancies. Her full statement can be found here. <\/a><\/p>\n

Cesar Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers in the 1960s, has deep ties to Kern County. Delano served as a central hub for the early farmworker movement, including the historic Delano grape strike that helped bring national attention to labor conditions in the fields.<\/p>\n

Huerta is a co-founder of the United Farm Workers.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual assault or sexual abuse, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or click here for resources.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The City of Bakersfield announced it will discontinue plans to rename H Street in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-226800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}