San Jose’s oldest plaza gets new name

San Jose has a new name for its downtown plaza after months of community engagement, following allegations of sexual abuse against the late civil rights leader César Chávez for whom the space was named.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved renaming the 3.4-acre public space Plaza de San Jose, following a city-led process that drew 10,506 survey responses on the top five potential names. Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, who represents downtown San Jose and the plaza in District 3, said the survey results showed a clear preference for the new name.

“There really should be our community members who are in the driver’s seat,” Tordillos said at the meeting. “Plaza de San Jose received more first-choice rankings than the second-place and third-place options combined.”

The city’s first survey generated 610 name suggestions. Staff reviewed the proposals against the city’s naming policy and consolidated similar suggestions before narrowing the options to five finalists: Plaza de San Jose, Farmworkers Plaza, Plaza Park, Plaza del Pueblo and Plaza de Quetzalcoatl.

When the city sent out a second survey on the top five, Plaza de San Jose received 4,116 first-choice votes, followed by Farmworkers Plaza with 2,240 and Plaza Park with 1,804. About 86% of respondents came from San Jose ZIP codes and 96% lived in Santa Clara County, according to city staff.

Councilmembers voted earlier this year to begin removing Chávez’s name from city-owned sites, following allegations that the late labor leader sexually abused women and children. Chávez called San Jose home at various points in his life and has long been celebrated in the city. The council also waived the city’s naming policy requirements related to sponsorships and contributions, clearing the way for the renaming.

Mayor Matt Mahan said the city wanted the plaza to remain a gathering place where everyone feels welcome and has a sense of belonging.

“With more than 10,000 survey responses, it is clear just how much this public space means to our entire community,” Mahan said at the meeting.

The Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously on Oct. 7 to recommend Plaza del Pueblo de San Jose as the new name. Commissioners said Plaza de San Jose felt generic and did not fully reflect the site’s history and importance. The proposed name combined the top-ranked option, Plaza de San Jose, with Plaza del Pueblo, which can mean “of the town” or “the people.”

Parks Director Jon Cicirelli said Plaza de San Jose consistently drew more support than the other options throughout the process. Staff would have supported the commission’s alternative if the council had chosen it, he said.

Cicirelli said the next step of for the city is to replace the signs and plaza stage, which is scheduled for renovation after Christmas in the Park concludes this winter.

“We were committed to the community process,” Cicirelli told San José Spotlight. “We were told to do the process, we brought back the result of that.”Some residents wanted the new name to explicitly recognize immigrants.

Joanna Becerra, a community organizer and spokesperson for Amigos de Guadalupe, said she had hoped the council would consider the name Plaza de los Inmigrantes, or Immigrants Plaza. She said the name would recognize residents from different countries and backgrounds at a time when some community members feel afraid because of federal immigration enforcement.

“Obviously, we understand the situation, but we had the hope that there would be a change,” Becerra told San Josè Spotlight. “We were part of the process from the beginning.”

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