Council Committee Endorses Dropping Chavez Drive Name

Cesar E. Chavez Drive sign. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee’s south side will soon lose a key identifier while questions remain about what will replace it.

S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive is in the process of being renamed S. 16th Street after allegations of rape and sexual abuse came to light against Cesar Chavez, the civil rights and Latino leader who died in 1993.

“There was a consensus around turning the name back to S. 16th Street,” Common Council President José G. Pérez told members of the Public Works Committee Thursday morning.

Pérez, who represents the area, said the street’s business improvement district, which has already changed its name to 16th Street, is leading discussions with neighborhood stakeholders.

He said part of the healing process is stripping Chavez’s name. A statue of the labor leader was already removed from a plaza in front of El Rey.

“There is some healing that has to happen,” said Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa.

But she said she has concerns about removing a key identifier of the majority Hispanic community without a replacement immediately forthcoming. She withdrew her name as a cosponsor on renaming it S. 16th Street.

“Like some folks, I have some trepidation about removing what was advocated for so hard,” she said. The Chavez name was added in 1996 to the stretch between W. Pierce and W. Mitchell streets. As of 2021, there was even a discussion about extending it farther south. “Changing it back to 16th Street, I know, gives a lot of folks some heartburn.”

Pérez said the city’s Citizen Advisory Committee on the Naming of Public Buildings, Facilities and Streets would make a recommendation on a new name.

The council, with 12 votes required, must also vote in two weeks to remove the Chavez name from the street.

At least one area politician already has suggested a new individual for whom to name the street. County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez, in a Facebook post after The New York Times’ report was released, suggested the street be renamed for Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Chavez. Huerta, 95, is one of the women who came forward with allegations against him. She is already honored with a mural along the street.

New committee members

In separate actions, the committee unanimously endorsed adding Esperanza Gutierrez, a longtime Latino community leader, and Linda Elmer to the naming committee. Elmer is a recently retired city legislative assistant who previously staffed the committee she’ll now serve on.

Gutiérrez drew explicit praise from Zamarripa.

“I look forward to her leadership that we just don’t leave it S. 16th Street, that we name it something more culturally appropriate,” said the alderperson.

Gutiérrez is the mother of Milwaukee Election Commission Director Paulina Gutiérrez.

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