What Is in a Name Change?
By Jonathan CalenzaniWhat costs $150,000 of taxpayer money, is opposed by 90% of the people affected and could cost small businesses thousands? Renaming 39th Avenue Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
For the last three years the Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard Committee has been trying to rename a street in Portland after Mexican-American labor leader Cesar Chavez. Running into community opposition on three previous streets, the Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard Committee now has petitioned the City of Portland to rename 39th Avenue Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
One problem with this gesture is that it is opposed by 90% of the people who live on 39th Avenue, according to a survey done by the City of Portland. Businesses on 39th Avenue will have to pay for new signs, update documents and notify vendors without any compensation for lost money or time. The nine stores on 39th Avenue with “39th†in their name all will have to be renamed. The 1,265 residences on 39th Avenue will have to change their addresses and update their driver’s licenses. The Richmond, Beaumont-Wilshire, Montavilla and Laurelhurst neighborhood associations along 39th have voted to oppose the renaming. No association has supported it.
Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard Committee wants to honor Cesar Chavez with a street in Portland. Wouldn’t a better honor be one that the people on 39th Avenue want, too?
Jonathan Calenzani is a research associate at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon's free market public policy research organization.
Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard Committee wants to honor Cesar Chavez with a street in Portland. Wouldn’t a better honor be one that the people on 39th Avenue want, too?
Jonathan Calenzani is a research associate at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon's free market public policy research organization.
And that's what this is all about isn't it? It's less about the greatness of the people involved, and more about neediness on the part of the naming committee. Are Washington, Jefferson Roosevelt streets and the like really about honoring these men? Or is the reason that so many cities have them more about the fact that the street naming committee had the inspirational quotient of a jar of mucilage?
I think my personal favorite for this sort of thing is one we have right here in Springfield. There is a large thoroughfare, two lanes in each direction, with a fairly wide median. There is room for a bike path on it and some nice trees. The median is named for Rosa Parks. Its truly great, and if I have occasion to drive on it I think about Rosa Parks and how glad I am that I'm not in a bus.
Somehow I don't think the people who named the median after Rosa were quite as contemplative as I. Sure, its a nice thing they named this big long median after Rosa, but you know what? There aren't any benches to sit down on, just a big long empty path.
There is both poetry and hilarity in that.
I think in the end something is accomplished by all these need to name stuff. Its educational. When you see King Blvd, or Rosa Parks Park, more knowledge is gleaned about the people with a penchant for naming things, and less about the namesakes themselves.
Washington, Jefferson and Roosevelt were presidents, not mere union organizers.
But I agree, it was silly on my part to point out the obvious.
Interesting.
What is interesting (but not unexpected) is that you ducked my question.
As for my opinion, sure, I think renaming things after someone is at least partly done to validate the renamers and advance their cause, but I also think it is a legitimate way to honor someone who has made a lasting contribution. And it serves as a long term history lesson for future generations. I think Cesar Chavez (correct pronunciation SEH-sahr CHA-vess by the way) earned the honor.
And I would feel like totally validated if it comes to pass!
Is it just me, or is there something funny about a hyper pronouncer of Spanish names attempting to instruct others while using a double negative in his native tongue?
Why would I engage someone who has said he doesn't care about the issue and thus is clearly trying to set up a side issue to divert from my point ( in other words you are trying Dean Weasel 2 )?
Why especially would I engage someone, rather than laugh at them, when they make a basic English grammar error while trying to sound like an erudite Spanish language professor?
Why wouldn't I just laugh at all of that?
Maybe we should change the name of the Rose Garden to Chavez Court.
Just a thought to continue in our fine tradition of paying tribute to people of great importance.
We should name a street after that Breedlove fellow. He is pretty famous.
Martin Luther King, Jr, William Sumio Naito and Rosa Louise McCauley Parks can be recognized in other 'sways' of public domain obeisance - many viable alternatives, e.g., schools, buildings, public gathering places, etc. have been intelligibly expressed before. Even streets being accorded 'supplemental' names sans changing the original seems a better route to go. Take Veteran's Memorial Highway/I-205 for example. Too, district acknowledgement like Pearl and Old Town are certainly NOT UPSETTING for 'clarioning' out loud!
As for César E. Chávez, "In 1973, college professors in Mount Angel, Oregon established the first four-year Mexican-American college in the United States. They chose César Chávez as their symbolic figurehead, naming the college Colegio Cesar Chavez." Si!
By insisting that only by renaming a street after Cesar Chavez can the man be honored and nothing else; the members of the committee to rename a street for Mr. Chavez lost their focus by placing arrogance, their own egos and an agenda ahead of the purpose.
39th avenue may not have the historical significance that Broadway or Grand Avenue does, but it is still a street that runs through and is an entwined part of historical neighborhoods people identify with and have for many decades. Without building support from these communities and neighborhoods, the only tribute that can now come from changing the name would be one of extortion. In affect, forcing this name through would be a form of stealing - depriving and a taking away from those people who have deep-rooted identities tied to the present name of the street. Moreover, I do not think the man to be honored would himself approve of renaming a street given the divisive process and costs that must be incurred by both small businesses and taxpayers.
What is needed is a compromise alternative that would demonstrate respect for names already in place by not selfishly taking away history from one group to bestow it on somebody else, not pose financial hardships to small businesses, not cost taxpayers the extra money of requiring the taxpayers of the City of Portland to change out a multitude of street signs, and not require such a divisive and negative process.
One highly visible (more so than a street) and potential future landmark that meets the purpose of honoring the legacy of Cesar Chavez would be to place his name on the proposed new bridge crossing the Willamette River between OMSI and the South Waterfront in his honor. This is a bridge that people will cross over and ships will pass under. This is a bridge that can fill in the gap between those who labor in the fields and those who dwell in the central city. There is little to no controversy when a bridge is named. Bridges also retain their names and are called by their names. Additionally, an educational historical plaque could be placed at the bridgehead describing the contributions Mr. Chavez made to society. This visible honor would continue his legacy for future generations to come.
Instead of contentiously continuing on the present controversial course, both the Portland City Council and the committee to rename a street for Cesar Chavez need to show some true leadership and humility (as did Cesar Chavez himself did in his lifetime) by reaching out to each other and taking steps to support a change in venue to honor the legacy of Cesar Chavez. With 90 percent of the people who live on 39th opposing renaming the street, renaming 39th Avenue is the absolute WRONG thing to do. Naming something new like a new bridge over the Willamette however, would be the RIGHT thing to do!