Street name won’t change — for now

Council vows to adhere to rules when it mulls effort to honor Chavez

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Nov 6, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

The Portland City Council will not consider a new proposal to rename a street to honor Hispanic labor leader César Chávez until March, at the earliest.

Although the process for presenting the proposal to the council is still being finalized, the public will have at least one opportunity to comment on it before then — a hearing before the Portland Planning Commission, which probably will be held in February.

On Oct. 30, the César E. Chávez Boulevard Committee submitted more than 2,700 signatures to the city to name one of three streets after Chávez — 39th Avenue, Broadway or Grand Avenue.

Committee Chairwoman Marta Guembes said renaming supporters do not have a preference for which street name is changed.

“We would be honored and humbled by any of them,” she said.

Guembes said only a few people declined to sign the petitions circulated over the summer. No formal opposition has emerged to date.

“We were pleased by the support,” she said. “We expect there will be some opposition because some people are opposed to change. That’s only natural.”

The committee could have tried to obtain signatures from 75 percent of the property owners along any street to be renamed, but chose to collect a minimum 2,500 signatures citywide instead, as allowed by the process.

Asked why the committee chose to collect signatures citywide, Guembes simply said, “That’s what we decided to do.”

The committee also must give the city $1,000 for each street it wants considered for renaming. The money will be used to help offset administrative costs, including mailings to residents and property owners on the streets notifying them of the proposals.

Guembes said the committee would give the city the full $3,000 to consider all three streets.

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