San Jose residents to help rename Plaza de César Chávez

As San Jose considers a new identity for one of its oldest public spaces, residents are beginning to weigh what — and who — the city’s downtown plaza should represent for generations to come.

Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services officials held a Wednesday meeting to kick off plans to rename Plaza de César Chávez, inviting residents to submit name suggestions and share what they believe the park should symbolize. The process comes months after city leaders voted to begin removing the late labor leader’s name from city-owned sites following allegations earlier this year that Chávez sexually abused women and children.

Residents can submit name suggestions through July 7 before city staff review submissions and launch a ranked choice survey at the end of July. The Parks and Recreation Commission is expected to review recommendations Sept. 2 before the City Council makes a final decision in the fall.

Rather than focusing only on potential names, city staff framed Wednesday’s meeting around the plaza’s history and role as one of San Jose’s defining civic spaces.

The site dates back to the founding of the Pueblo de San Jose in 1777. It later served as the city’s civic plaza where it also housed City Hall. It was demolished in the late 1950s and the site became a park. Then in 1993 it was renamed Plaza de César Chávez.

Chávez called San Jose home at various points in his life and has long been celebrated in the city.

Andrea Flores-Shelton, an assistant director in the parks department, said the city held two listening sessions earlier this month with about 40 participants before opening the public survey. She said residents consistently described the plaza as a place that brings communities together and emphasized its future name should make people feel represented while honoring the city’s diverse history.

“There were recurring notions about not erasing history, but using the park as a way to tell a fuller story,” Flores-Shelton said in the meeting.

Proposed names must meet specific criteria to be considered, including reflecting the park’s geographic location, a historical event or honoring someone who has been dead for at least five years and made significant contributions to San Jose.

Ideas for the plaza’s future are already beginning to emerge. Ignacio Ornelas, a local historian whose research focuses on Chávez, Dolores Huerta and the farmworker rights movement, said the renaming process can be used to recognize people whose contributions have helped shape San Jose’s cultural identity.

One name he suggested was Los Tigres del Norte, a Grammy-winning band with ties to San Jose. Ornelas said honoring the group would recognize decades of music that has documented the experiences of working-class Latino communities. Even if the plaza isn’t renamed after the band, he said the city should find a way to formally recognize its contributions.

“I think it would be a shame if we just erase the Latino, the Chicano, the Mexican American experience,” Ornelas told San José Spotlight. “They sing about the underdog. They sing about our community.”

Others expressed different ideas, such as one attendee who suggested restoring the plaza’s historic name “Plaza San Jose.” Parks Director Jon Cicirelli said several residents have proposed returning to Plaza Park or moving away from naming parks after individuals altogether.

“Some people push back about the name,” Cicirelli told San José Spotlight. “This isn’t the first time names have had to change for things that have been named after people.”

While San Jose regularly names new parks, Cicirelli said renaming an existing park is uncommon because city policy generally favors keeping park names unchanged — unless extraordinary circumstances arise.

“The city council is relying on this public process,” he said. “They’re relying on hearing from the community and that’s what we’re trying to deliver to them.”

Contact Maryanne Casas-Perez at [email protected] or @CasasPerezRed on X.