San Francisco officials on Thursday unveiled the potential future names of Cesar Chavez Street, which could be on street signs along its 3.2-mile stretch as soon as this year.
They are: “Sí Se Puede,” the slogan of the United Farm Workers, created by co-founder Dolores Huerta, and “Las Campesinas,” or female farmworkers, a reference to women leaders in the movement.
Mission Local reported in March that Cesar Chavez Street’s days were numbered, following the New York Times’ revelations that Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers leader, sexually abused girls and women for decades, including Huerta. Chavez died in 1993.
“Sí Se Puede” and “Las Campesinas” were presented to Mission District neighbors on Thursday evening at a community meeting at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School at 3125 Cesar Chavez St.
The renaming process was déjà vu for Susan Leal. In January 1995, Leal, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and a San Francisco city supervisor, celebrated the renaming of Army Street to Cesar Chavez Street.
It was a gesture to honor farmworkers and to lift up Latino voices at a time when state voters overwhelmingly passed then-Gov. Pete Wilson’s Proposition 187, which banned undocumented immigrants from healthcare, schools and social services.
Opponents put a measure on the ballot in November 1995 (Proposition O) seeking to revert the name to Army Street. The measure eventually failed by nearly 10 points.
Thirty-one years later, in the aftermath of the Chavez allegations, Leal reached out to Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office with a goal to, again, rename the street, and to honor the strength, fight and service of women in the farmwork industry.
“They were pretty receptive” to changing the street name, Leal said, recalling her conversation with Lurie’s office in March.
The mayor’s office, in collaboration with Leal and Assessor-Recorder Joaquin Torres, selected a working group of 27 people, including representatives from the the three supervisor districts through which Cesar Chavez Street runs, to brainstorm new names.
Other members of the group included Mario Paz, executive director of Good Samaritan Family Resource Center and member of the Immigrant Rights Commission; Jose Cisneros, the city’s treasurer; Susan Cervantes, muralist and founder and director of Precita Eyes Murals; Mike Casey, labor leader from local 2; John Trasviña, the president of the board of appeals and Ani Rivera, executive director of Galería de la Raza.
Following several meetings and a voting process, the group narrowed the possibilities down to two.
Both names, Torres said, seek to honor female farmworkers, the farmworker movement as a whole, and the Latino community at a time of hostility from the federal government.
Anna Lisa Escobedo, a local artist and member of the working group, said that part of the group’s impetus was to honor Latinos “in the midst of the pressures and traumas” they are faced with today. Also a criteria: not renaming it after an individual.
The “Sí Se Puede” slogan holds great significance. Huerta coined it in 1972 while she, along Chavez and other activists, fought for improved conditions for farmworkers in California. Former President Barack Obama used its English translation, “Yes We Can,” in his successful presidential bid in 2008.
Lorena Opereza, professor of Chicanx and Latinx studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said the phrase, as simple as it is, holds power because it successfully encapsulates the hope to achieve impossible dreams.
“What it’s telling people is not to give up hope, that, yeah, they have the power,” said Oropeza. “You’re not looking for someone to come on a white horse to save you.”
As for “Las Campesinas,” Leal said the name pays tribute to both women and farmworkers.
“There are not a lot of streets in San Francisco named for women, so it would be appropriate as well,” said Leal. “Hopefully, people later on in life would think, ‘Wait a minute, this was not only named for a movement,’ but also recognizing the very sad, very terrible experience of those girls and women.”
Renaming Cesar Chavez Street will require the approval of the Board of Supervisors. District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder plans to introduce legislation before the full board on Oct. 6 to do so.
The city’s school district did not reply to a request for comment on whether the agency was considering renaming Cesar Chavez Elementary School in the Mission District.
San Francisco has changed street names in recent years, albeit far smaller streets.
Phelan Avenue became Frida Kahlo Way in 2018, a rebuke to notoriously racist former San Francisco mayor and California senator James Phelan (though that street was named after his father, also James Phelan).
The city changed the name of Lech Walesa Way in 2014 to Dr. Tom Waddell Place after the former Polish solidarity leader’s deeply homophobic rant (Waddell was the founder of the Gay Games).
The city in 2012 changed the name of the Excelsior District street to “Edinburgh” after it was revealed that, for years, the street was inexplicably called “Edinburg” — which is why locals pronounce it that way.
The former name of a changed street is usually left on signs in parentheses for five years or more after the change; Army Street, notably, is still on Chavez Street signs. Mission Local is informed that Chavez’s name, however, will not be on the street signs of his successor street, as Fielder plans to introduce ordinance waiving the municipal transportation code for this one case.
Though there are no more community meetings scheduled as of now, the public will have a chance to provide feedback using this form and before supervisors once the renaming is introduced via legislation. “Sí Se Puede” and “Las Campesinas” are the two names the city has put forward.
San Franciscans can submit feedback on the renaming to the city using this link.
Several meetings with a working group of over 20 people winnowing it down to two names, and this is what they came up with? Las Campesinas at least sounds like something you can say as a street name, so I hope they go with that. Si Se Puede is ridiculous. Nothing against the slogan itself – it’s powerful and meaningful – but it still is a slogan, not a name. I would feel silly giving out my address as 3250 Sí Se Puede. That’s like naming a street Workers Unite or Go Niners.
As a Mission District resident, born & raised,
who also speaks Spanish, I must confess that my first thought when I read the two names to replace Ceasar Chavez, only one word came to mind, and that was LAME! Really?! No other deep, meaningful ideas were thrown around? My next concern is that we won’t wait for a better alternative, which I know is out there. Let’s not rush this. Can we do better?
Si Se Puede!
These are such terrible options. Why is some random committee in charge of renaming one of our biggest neighborhood streets? Si Se Puede is a dumb name for a street, while being a great slogan for labor. Not everything needs to be this politicized!
This needs to be more open for public comment and put to an actual neighborhood vote.
Entire city vote!
Rename it Army Street, which is what old school Mission people never stopped calling it
On my block there is still a house that has an “Army St.” plaque on it. The barber shop I went to on Mission where i think everyone was LatinX had an old Army street sign in it. I think there actually is a lot of love for that name in the community.
Why don’t they call it Army st. again?
Army St. projects.
How about Army St.?
Make it short, nothing wrong with Army
Bring back “Army Street.”
Why not go back to Army Street?
I still call it army. then again, a lot of my directions are like, “turn left where the xxx used to be”. I have to judge how old people are before I give direction. 🙂
STOP wasting our money on naming and renaming streets!
And yet we still hold on to Junipero Serra. Responsible for the deaths and raping of hundreds of thousands of native peoples in California.
These names may be nice, but there is the pragmatic concern people need to be able to spell street names, and additionally 3 words is too many. Imagine reading my address to an English speaker over the phone.
There’s a place in Norway called Øvraørnefjeddstakkslåttå. This is great if you’re a native speaker. But it won’t work in the US.
Oscar Palma –
I submitted a name back in July, but it appears that it was never considered.
I was never notified – or asked – to be on this committee, which is OK, (or even that the committee had begun its meetings!) but my proposed name should have been in consideration:
Serpentine Avenue,
which was my proposal to Leal and Torres in July.
It was actually named Serpentine before it was Army!
They ought to have sent notices out to everyone who lives on Cesar Chavez St. I don’t think they did; I certainly didn’t get one.
The California farmworkers in 20th century were different immigrants. Filipinos, Arabs, Portuguese, Japanese, East Indians Chinese. Name the street United Farmworkers Street or UFW BLVD.
Army St. Let the city know if you care.
“Los Gentrificados” would be appropriate and timeless.
These are terrible names. I bet a name like “Si Se Puede St” with four components will get destroyed by older address forms, trying to get someone to get the spelling right over the phone will be a disaster, and it’s just another punishment for people who are already going to have to go through a ton of annoying make-work to change their addresses everywhere.
Which we apparently will HAVE to do, since the city is planning to skip the requirement of including the older name on the street signs.
Has anyone estimated the per-resident time cost to do all of this renaming?
How about just “Puede St” as a nod to the slogan? Or “UFW St”, even?
Please consider residents of the street. There are enough complications changing the name without making it one that is difficult to spell. We are elderly and hard of hearing and pronouncing and spelling these words over the phone will be a challenge.
How about Navy St. or Cesar St.? Navy honors our military and our location surrounded by water. And Cesar means King and is easy to spell.
Please don’t do this.
Street names matter for reasons other than the political whims of the moment. Travelers will get lost. Businesses will spend a lot of money reprinting materials.
Not only that, can we please be realistic about the English language? The overwhelming majority of people looking for and using this street speak English. I don’t think renaming the street in the heat of this is a good idea, but if it must be done, can we please pick a simple name that English speakers can pronounce?
So are you similarly opposed to Potrero Ave, Divisadero St and Laguna Honda Blvd? All major streets with distinctively Spanish names, and somehow nobody gets lost. Spanish names aren’t the problem, but I am opposed to using a slogan like Si Se Puede because even its English equivalent would be super awkward as a street name. Las Campesinas Blvd has a nice ring to it, I think.
If you ask the average person to spell the name, at least half should get it correct. Potrero: easy. Divisidero: easy. Laguna Honda: easy. Las Campesinas? Not so sure. It’s not about whether it’s Spanish origin or any other origin. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is an English word, but I’d go with Potrero over that.
Those names are not new. We are talking about the replacement of an existing street name with a new street name that will not have been in most people’s ears just through living in the city or seen just having looked at maps before.
“Si Se Puede” in that respect is better than Las Campesinas because when was the last time you heard someone say “Las Campesinas”? Despite it just being stupid to have a full phrase as anything but an honorific street name.
Every street name is new at some point. Some streets get renamed and then the new street name is new, until it isn’t. I fail to see the relevance of a name having “been in most people’s ears”. Put it on hundreds of street signs, maps, and store addresses, and it soon will be.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to translate to English? Not everyone understands Spanish. It will be meaningless to the majority of people who use this street. “Army” Street honors our veterans who fought for our American freedom. Navy St became 26th St. Let’s give some honor to our Veterans. Simple and understandable, ARMY ST.
How about just dropping the ‘Cesar.’ In a few years (decades?) no one will remember whether ‘Chavez’ was more or less a reprobate than ‘Sanchez’ or ‘Folsom.’
That’s what a lot of people call it already, and that makes a lot of sense. Especially for street signs, just put white reflective material over the Cesar part of the sign!
consider “Dignidad Street” and “Fuerza Street”
YES! I like your suggestions better. How did they come up with the latest suggestions? Not ARMY again! 🙂 there was a reason for honoring our people.
I like also LA RAZA, or GENTE street, or like you said FUERZA! UNIDOS sounds great as well….as the founder of AGUILAS, of course I also like that one. LOVE to all.
All farmworkers deserve dignity for feeding our country. UFW is the tribute under the United Farmworkers union organizing efforts to remember their struggle in San Francisco
How about Trumps Way !!
What about something functional like “Port” Street? Since it ends up in one of the last major working ports in SF (Pier 80). Easy, Functional, short. And we don’t have a port street in SF now.
Or for historical reasons, Islais Street? While Precita creek runs closer to the path of Chavez, it does end up in Islais creek which is adjacent to CC Street.
Some history from Wikipedia:
Precita Creek is a small creek in the Bernal Heights and Mission District neighborhoods of San Francisco, California. Its course is mirrored by the current Precita Avenue, which ran along the creek when it was laid out sometime during the early 1850s. The creek gets its name from precita, the Spanish word meaning dam or weir. The stream was buried before the beginning of the 20th century. Starting near Market Street and 24th Street, the old stream follows Precita Avenue and Cesar Chavez Street, ending in the Islais Creek’s estuarine bog near the intersection of Cesar Chavez Street and Evans Avenue.
Two inane choices!
Couldn’t they come up with something better than that?
Just call it Fleet Week Street to honor our love of militarism and tech! Or have a billionaire buy the naming rights! 🙁
That actually makes sense. The city could use the extra $$, and they’ve got ours already.
There’s already a Friendship Court in the Western Addition, so that name’s out. Why not something simple like Jusicia St , or La Lucha St, or Brooklyn Ave (like LA’s CC used to be called back in dday)?
How about Tech Bro street? They’ve taken over the Mission anyway.
Bulevar Las Campesinas. I like the sound of it! Honoring women farmworkers is great.
The one trouble with naming the street after anyone good is that, as someone who gets around by bicycle, I usually use its name in anger. It’s the only topographically reasonable bike connection between Mission/Bernal and Dogpatch/Bayview, and super unsafe. Whatever it’s called, please put concrete-protected bike lanes on it, kthx!
So glad to know there are still deadender “Army Street” defenders living amongst us.
Perhaps we could all go to the soda fountain for a phosphate soda or maybe a Lime Rickey.
How about calling it “Farmworker Street”?
Please give it a name that everyone can understand. The name is not just for left-wing activists. It’s an important gateway street to the city and many travelers use it. Please give it a name English speakers can pronounce.
Sir or madam —
There are many, many Spanish street- and place names in … wait for it … *San Francisco.*
Yours,
JE
Most people already know how to spell San Francisco. Which is also a name — Saint Francisco.
Neither is true with either of these two horrible ideas. We have to live on this street. I’m betting you don’t. I’ve gotten mail to “Caesar Chavez”. I can’t even imagine what people will put when they hear “Seesepwede Street over the phone. That’s just everyone saying, “No, it’s four words. (sigh) Ess Eye space Ess Eee space Pee You Ee Dee Eee space Street”.
Dave —
The suitability of the names has nothing to do with them being in Spanish. You seem to have missed the point that “San Francisco” is Spanish, too. “Yes We Can Street” would also be unwieldy. “Las Campesinas” is not one most of us would have settled upon, but it’s no more unsuitable than “Laguna Honda,” “La Playa” or many, many others.
JE
Joe –
It has nothing to do with whether it is Spanish or not. You’ll see that I provided the translation for “San”. But both “San” and “Francisco” are common and easily understood, and I think would be even if the city wasn’t named that.
The suitability of a street name *for a resident* has to do with ease of recognition, comprehension, recording. Ideally it would not be named after a rapist.
Call it “Puede”. That references the phrase, and I can easily give someone the spelling. If Ms. Huerte hadn’t declined it, “Huerte” would have been a good choice, we would have even had an intersection of Dolores & Huerte.
“Si Se Puede St” is just too many components. Airlines are still smashing people’s first names and middle names together into one string, do you really believe every system is going to cope with four components?
“Las Campesinas” is an uncommon noun phrase. People will mishear it. People will misspell it. Probably people will write “Los Campesinos” through mishearing or by hearing lazy or US accented speech. It’s thirteen letters long in total with a space in the middle. It’s going to be a mess.
We’re going to have to do this over and over again. First in a flurry, then for the rest of the time we live here. Have you done any reporting on what a resident has to do when their street name changes? Do we have to retitle our houses? Cars? Change the billing address on every online service, evey utility? Will it be treated as a change of address or shorten the duration that we’ve been living at an address for credit reporting? I have no idea. Short and easy to type would be nice. Long and difficult or weirdly structured is a slap in the face to the people this renaming most directly negatively impacts.
Dave —
The comment of mine that you’re responding to was a response to someone imploring that the street be named something English. So you’re kind off on a jeremiad here.
Whatever hardships the people living on this block must undergo would have to happen regardless of the new name. Leaving Chavez’s name on the street is not a viable option. If the USPS could deliver mail addressed to “Stephen King, Bangor” I’m sure they can handle someone miswriting “Los Campesinos.”
Best,
JE
Even Boise Idaho came up with a better renaming. “Friendship Lane”.
Sir or madam —
That sounds like the street Barney the Dinosaur would live on.
Best,
JE