In a unanimous vote Wednesday, the Phoenix City Council moved to erase Cesar Chavez’s name from 51 city-owned properties, acting swiftly in response to a New York Times investigation published last week that detailed allegations of sexual abuse by the late labor leader — including against the minor daughters of fellow organizers and United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta.
The scope of the decision is sweeping. Cesar Chavez Park, its adjoining community center, dog park and amphitheater in Laveen will all undergo renaming through the Parks and Recreation Board. The prominent Cesar Chavez Plaza outside City Hall will have its signage covered immediately, with a permanent new name to be determined by a future council vote. The Cesar Chavez Library will also be renamed, pending council guidance. All 43 ceremonial street signs along Baseline Road between 75th Avenue and 48th Street are set to be removed within the week. A planned senior center in Laveen that had been designated with Chavez’s name will operate under the temporary title of Laveen Senior Center until the council settles on something permanent.
A bronze sculpture at the Laveen park will be covered immediately and submitted to the city’s Arts and Culture Commission for its deaccession and recontextualization process — a procedure that includes consultation with the original artists, as required under federal visual arts law.
The city’s March 31st municipal holiday will now be called Farmworkers Day.
Council members took pains to separate the legacy of the farmworker movement from the individual at its center. Councilwoman Laura Pastor, who said she worked alongside Chavez during her college years as part of that movement, argued that the focus should shift to honoring the workers themselves — the people who labored without adequate healthcare, who shared paychecks among entire families, and whose collective effort drove the movement forward regardless of who led it.
Councilwoman Anna Hernandez connected the vote to a broader conversation about sexual violence, saying that silence protects powerful people at the expense of those they harm.
The council’s action follows similar moves across Arizona. The state has already declined to observe Chavez Day on March 31st this year, and Tempe is scheduled to vote Thursday on renaming its own holiday.
