{"id":415244,"date":"2026-07-28T14:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/415244\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T14:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:45:10","slug":"san-jose-asks-for-help-renaming-plaza-de-cesar-chavez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/415244\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jos\u00e9 Asks for Help Renaming Plaza de Cesar Chavez"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Jos\u00e9 is asking residents to complete a ranked-choice survey to help rename a park and plaza long named for disgraced labor leader Cesar Chavez.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

People walk through Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jos\u00e9 on Monday, July 27, 2026. The city\u2019s survey allows participants to move the naming choices around to rank them in order from their first preference to last preference.\u00a0\u00a0(Joseph Geha\/KQED)<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9 has opened a new ranked-choice survey so residents can help decide what to rename the downtown park and plaza<\/a> that has long been named for Cesar Chavez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The survey, available here<\/a>, is one of the last few steps in the city\u2019s monthslong process to find a new name for the roughly 2-acre plaza at 194 South Market St., where many events, rallies and annual traditions like Christmas in the Park are held.<\/p>\n

Efforts to engage the community and solicit new naming suggestions began earlier this year, shortly after allegations<\/a> broke that Chavez, a once revered labor rights figure, sexually abused women and girls, including Dolores Huerta, with whom he co-founded what would become the United Farm Workers union.<\/p>\n

\"\"The \u201cPlumed Serpent\u201d statue depicting Quetzalc\u00f3atl is seen in Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jos\u00e9 on July 27, 2026.<\/p>\n

In their initial call for input through community listening sessions and an open period for submissions, city officials said they received more than 600 suggestions from residents and organizations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe extraordinary response from our community reflects how deeply San Jos\u00e9ans care about this historic gathering place,\u201d Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement. \u201cResidents shared an inspiring range of names and ideas, and now we\u2019re inviting them to rank the finalists so we can move closer to a name that honors the plaza\u2019s history, reflects our shared values and represents the community it serves.\u201d<\/p>\n

After tossing out naming suggestions that didn\u2019t meet the city\u2019s previously established criteria<\/a> for park names, and combing through the most popular choices, parks officials have whittled the list down to five options:<\/p>\n

Farmworkers PlazaPlaza de QuetzalcoatlPlaza de San Jos\u00e9\u00a0Plaza del PuebloPlaza Park<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s survey allows participants to move the naming choices around to rank them in order from their first preference to last preference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The survey opened on July 24 and will be open through Aug. 3, according to the city.<\/p>\n

\"\"A person rides an electric single-wheel board through a shady walkway at Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jos\u00e9 on July 27, 2026.<\/p>\n

She expects the legacy of the park as a valuable shared space in the city\u2019s downtown to continue, now and after the renaming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA name is a name, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s about the memories and the community connections that are made in that place,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the close of the survey, city staff will review the results and present recommendations to the Parks and Recreation Commission at its Sept. 2 meeting, according to the city.<\/p>\n

The commission is expected to make a recommendation to the City Council, which will make the final decision on the park\u2019s new name.<\/p>\n

Jamie Ortizen, of San Jos\u00e9, was visiting the park on Monday with her family and a friend from out of town.<\/p>\n

After reviewing the five naming options, Ortizen said she likes Farmworkers Plaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still has the spirit of what Cesar Chavez was fighting for. And they\u2019re a huge part of the economy in California, and it\u2019s important to honor them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"A stone stage platform at one end of Plaza de Cesar Chavez is seen in downtown San Jos\u00e9 on July 27, 2026. The platform\u2019s engraved lettering bearing Chavez\u2019s name has been removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always the effort of many people, of building a union or winning rights, and so actually honoring all of the farmworkers rather than just one person I think makes sense,\u201d Oritzen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The park and plaza are one of the most prominent places in the city named for Chavez, who at one time lived in East San Jos\u00e9.<\/p>\n

But it is far from the only place in San Jos\u00e9, with schools, libraries, and physical installations like the Arch of Dignity, Equality, and Justice at San Jos\u00e9 State University honoring his name or likeness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Community leaders and politicians have either renamed or begun work to rename dozens of parks, libraries, schools, monuments and streets named for Chavez<\/a> around the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jos\u00e9 is asking residents to complete a ranked-choice survey to help rename a park and plaza long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-415244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415244","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=415244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}