Well, it must be okay as long as they are not wasting time or money! Must be nice not having any serious problems to take care of and have to deal with the 'gingerbread' issues.

Why don't they choose a street with a generic name (Elm, 1st, Commerce, or something similar) to rename. Quit trying to destroy history by renaming a street with what is obviously someone else's name attached to it.

Shouldn't they choose a street currently not already named after a local historical family? One of the various numbered streets in Oak Cliff seems better suited.

They should change "Commerce" to "Skjellyfetti" just to be wise guys. Merchants would bawl obscenities for a few months, then settle down to a curt demeanor dulled by weary rage. That would be like New York, and New York is world-class, and we want to be world-class, too. So vote "no" if you care a rat's ass about our city, or about anybody in the world besides yourself, jerk.

Please explain to me why we have to rename anything? Streets are built in Dallas all the time, why can't one of them be named Cesar Chavez?

This renaming madness needs to end, I say that the next major new road built in Dallas gets called Cesar Chavez and we put an end to this renaming madness.

Where is the money going to come from to pay for the new street signs?
And who is going to pay for all the new stationary, labels, etc. for the Dallas Public Library?
Sounds like later rather than sooner would be the fiscally responsible solution.

dallas city council decisions make me bang my head on my desk.

^^12th Street^^

So, wait, wait. They only want to rename part of Young street?

So, the same road would be:

Cesar Chavez -> Young -> Canton -> Main -> Columbia -> Abrams

...in the span of, what, five miles?

Why do we do this to ourselves here in Dallas? Does every stupid road have to have 50 names?

Tim Covington:

What an insult that would be to the memory of the great Fred Commerce, who put Dallas on the map by opening the first empty storefront in 1921....

Or Simon 1st, who made his first million inventing the little metal thing on the pen cap that keeps it in your shirt pocket. Dallas history must be preserved lest we thin the rich cultural broth we're soaking in.

How about we rename just the part of Young St between Evergreen and St Paul?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=young+street+dallas&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=Ij1BSti5KcKytwev-9yTCQ&ll=32.778263,-96.794937&spn=0.001403,0.002921&z=19&layer=c&cbll=32.778242,-96.795033&panoid=JRoMC0nugg3V3EyYNrZZXg&cbp=12,103.82,,0,14.25

ROB, no just the south side of the part of Young Street between Evergreen and St. Paul!

Nathan - Why 12th Street?

Folks, please let's not start this damn division again!

We have so much more in common than what divides us.

Trying to care...

Trying to care...

Nope.

Not feeling it.

While we're at it, let's rename the street Lie-pert lives on to Dallas Citizens Council Flunky Avenue.

Hell. They can change our street to Cesar Chavez. My street is short, and changing the name might be easier for my GPS to pronounce.

Ignore, that was greatness.

"That's nice", as Joe Dallas goes flying down the freeway on his way home . . . on Sea Biscuit Lane.

Just so long as the City does not rename a street that has a voting demographic, right? The butt-end of NIMBY lives large in the CBD. Downtown does not have a chance if it’s the official repository of spontaneous and fleeting guilt for the intellectual elite and the half-baked path-of-least-resisters.

What's next? Al Gore's cap and trade Emporium & Central Deposit Bank? Level II discharge from New York City?

70% of the women who gave birth at Parkland in 2006 were illegal immigrants. That’s 11,000 anchor babies. 15,938 new citizens in 2004 at a cost to the tax payers of $70.4 million. Hello Dallas!

Now, what is the obvious name for the replacement hospital now funded? Think Jerry Jones would take $70.4 million for naming rights, because I modestly assert we paid for the branding of the Caesar Chaves Memorial Hospital.

Now WHO’S WITH ME!?!

Ha!

ROB you're a genius! makes sense which is why the city would never go for it

or we could do like chicago streets could have honorary names
www.marquettepark.net/honorarychicagostreetnameslikeemmitttillinmarquetteparkdotnet.html

chicagoist.com/2008/05/13/new_honorary_st.php

Why couldn't the streets around the Farmers Market be, appropriatly, named for the guy who led the farmworkers. Chavez Plaza.
Or, change the name of Dealey Plaza to Shorthoe Plaza in honor of all the workers who (a) bent their backs on Texas farms with shorthoes and (b) all the Belo employees who got the short end of the stick on Young Street?

Wouldn't Harry Hine be more appropriately renamed Shorthoe? I don't think I;ve ever seen one out there taller than 5'5"!

Honor someone else. He was not a Texas Mexican Icon. Of course neither was Malcomb X. Col.Young still needs to be remembered as well as John Neely Bryan.

Trini Lopez Parkway!

Now and forever!

Now, where are our cabras?

In these cruel economic times, El Gato Grande, our gentle cabras would keep the levees neat for free. If you would only seek to find them, you could treat yourself to another majestic suit of Zoot!

A win-win for us all!

Emilio

Just rename Pacific Ave. It's namesake is a f***ing ocean that probably won't be offended. Then the City Council can move on to matters less useless than this.

dingus-

i don't think the pro-cesar chavez crowd would be entirely satisfied unless a white person's name was forsaken. makes more of a staement, ya know?

In that case they should rename Yale. It don't get much whiter.

@ jamal: Cesar Chavez worked for rights that all Americans should have and many were being denied, including white Americans.

From the beginning of this mess, it has centered around if you don't vote, then don't complain. The city of Dallas put a process out which allowed the citizens to voice which name they wanted to go down on the Trinity. Chavez was one along with many others. The majority of voters chose Chavez. If you voted and didn't vote for Chavez good for you. But if you sat back eating popcorn while democracy past you by then good for you too. You can't belittle Chavez to the Farmers Market I don't think Young is the answer either. THE TRINITY IS THE ANSWER! But let's just say that the name should go with what the area is (Chavez = Farmers Market/Shorthoe = Dealey Plaza) then Young Street should be renamed into some homeless person name bc those are the only people that gather their from Harwood to Field Street. I thought so, not the answer...

@Setting - You do realize democracy involves a little more than a phone poll, right?

@setting - THE TRINITY IS THE ANSWER!

I agree. And since the Chavez Toll Road will never be built this could be a win / win for everyone.

Looking over the comments on this blog some may think of the need for a positive lesson on tolerance. If you go to http://www.tolerance.org/teach/resources/viva_lacausa.jsp?source=redirect&url=teachingtolerance.org/lacausa you will find a very positive DVD and lesson plan for the teaching of tolerance to 7th graders. It is free to any teacher or library who wants a copy. It is centered on the life of Cesar Chavez. He had to deal with this type treatment much of his life. It is sad that not much has changed, but we have his example on how to peacefully deal with it toward a positive outcome.

Part of Pearl street was renamed in honor of Cesar Chavez in 1995. That process needs to continue for the entire street. That would make the moving of a pioneers name unnecessary. It would also connect with the heart of the Old Little Mexico on the north end of the the street, and go past the Cathedral of Guadalupe in the process. Cesar Chavez had a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It could all be done without loosing the name of a pioneer on a Dallas street. There is no documentation for the source of the name Pearl. The Dallas City Archivist has no records for the source of that name.

I don't think any of us feel too bad that there might not be a street named after Abraham Lincoln somewhere in Mexico. So why do we need a street here named after Chavez?

With budget shortfalls, why does LULAC and the City Council find this to be worth one dollar of our tax money? Let's say this costs the city $100,000 (street sighs, city stationary, paper maps, time resources, etc)... That is 2 cops we can keep on the street. Or that is potholes to fix. Or funding for schools.

For LULAC... there are many, many more important issues effecting that Latino community (high school dropout rate, drug abuse, low wages, etc) that they can use their power to help. But they are using considerable amount of goodwill on a street name. Just silly use of time/resources.

(and to those who talk about "voting" for the Trinity name. A phone/online poll that people outside of Dallas city limits can vote doesn't count as an election. Especially when the people participating in the poll aren't verified registered voters. From the view point of a marketing research guy, that poll had ZERO scientific validity. Poorly handled by the city- of course. But nothing in the design of that poll would ever lead to actionable tasks by any entitiy that has more than 1 person who took Statistics 101 in college)

Fed UP,
Are you serious? Do you not think there is a correlation between high dropout rates and drug abuse and people who are treated with less than respect in the place they live?

I have focused on dropout rate issues in Dallas ISD for the past 6 years. A 4 year old projec this year helped contribute to the largest graduation classes in over a decade at both high schools my students attend. How did it happen? Students were focused onto their own personal story, their history, their plans for the future, their roots. It all works together. It all helps lower drug abuse, dropout rates, criminal behavior. The name on a street of a respected person you can identify with, a man of peace, helps. It is all part of the personal history we all share. Look at www.studentmotivation.org and the statistics there closely.

There is nothing more critical than self-respect. You get that by work and by securing a place of respect for countrymen who worked hard and helped thousands. Cesar Chavz was born in the US and a US citizen. He was one of us! He worked exceptionally hard, in Dallas as well as all over the US. He should be honored. You need to study his life.

@Dallas Teacher - Dallas is full of people who were born in the US and US citizens, are one of us, and worked exceptionally hard, in Dallas as well as all over the US.

There are people who actually LIVED here and did much more of the hispanic community here than Cesar Chavez. We can't name a street after all of them.

Changing a street name is damn expensive to my business. I can change my marketing, letterhead, business cards, invoice programming, etc., or I can give my people raises this year. I can't do both in a recession. Which would you like if you were one of my employees?

This may be difficult for you to understand, being on the public tit and all, but I run my business for a profit (i.e. - it's how I feed my kids).

Last, but not least, while you're teaching these kids their personal story, can you also teach them reading, writing, and arithmetic? I'm going to have to hire one of them one day.

You couldn't possibly be more right on, Rooster. Good post.

Rooster,
I promise you that the basic subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic are the priority, the cart to be pulled, but how do you get there? What pulls the cart?

You must motivate students and show them why their work and time must be invested. That is the horse that pulls the cart. Connecting a student with their own history and plans for the future makes it all happen. It is the small investment that makes the other $10,000 or so we spend on each student each year work.

The School Archive Project I have been involved in as one way to achieve this costs only $2 for each 8th grade student. It has helped lower 9th to 10th grade dropout rates by 26% since 2005 at the two high schools my student attend. Both high schools had the largest 12th grade classes in the last 15 years and the largest graduating classes. (See www.studentmotivation.org/dallasisd.) Does that sound like a good investment? It only works due to history and a respect for history. If a student can see their future they work harder, pass, and learn reading, writing and math.

The Cesar Chavez effort for a major downtown street is only a very small investment, something like that annual $2 per 8th grader that I hope is invested each year for all the 10,500 or so 8th graders in DISD. If it increases our graduation rates over 20% it is the best money Dallas could possibly have invested.

Right now over 70% of the students in DISD do not see a single major downtown street that reflects a nationally known leaders they can identify with, who is also reflected in the text books they study in school. Placing the name of Cesar Chavez on a major downtown street will rememdy that. Using Pearl as that street will not remove the name of a leader in the history of Dallas from our downtown streets.

Yes, there is a cost. Do you see one beyond the cost related to "changing stationary" that you mention?

Let me get this straight...

You're trying to sell me that if we change a street name in downtown Dallas, the DISD dropout rate will drop at a remarkable rate as a result?

Out of all the things that motivated me in school at 15 years old, whose name was on a street sign didn't even register.

No offense (or maybe some offense), but if THAT represents the "ground breaking ideas" you guys have come up with to make our kids do better in school, I'm starting to understand why DISD is so badly ridiculed.

The cost to my business is more than just "changing stationary". It will cost thousands of dollars; essentially a tax on my particular business my employees will pay with their wages when I don't give raises as a result. It is not a "small" cost.

Then again, given the way DISD had to lay half you guys off due to financial mismanagement, I can understand why you have difficulty understanding the concept.

When you can show me empirical evidence the Indian kids aren't doing very well in school because we don't have Gandhi's name on a street sign, I might be inclined to believe this is something other than what it is: A hispanic political payoff, and the lipstick you're currently trying to put on this pig doesn't change that fact.

Rooster,
It appears you mixed up one dropout prevention plan we have that is working and contributing to a 20+% dropout reduction that has nothing to do with street names. I support the Cesar Chavez street name change because it reinforces that same factor, a knowledge of history and respect thereof, that is the engine behind most children staying in school.

Why go to school? You want a better future. Is that too confusing?

The better a student understands the concept of "future" and what they can do in the future, the better they will do in school. They are motivated. They understand the future because they know history in their family, community, city and state, and what was possible in the past.

Generally, anything that contributes to knowing more history helps in the motivation process. Are you saying street names have no connection to reflecting our nations history, or educating our community about that history?

Rooster, I neglected to address your statements on cost: "Changing a street name is damn expensive to my business. I can change my marketing, letterhead, business cards, invoice programming, etc., or I can give my people raises this year. I can't do both in a recession."

These are certainly valid concerns. Usually in a street name change involved a year or much longer for the movement to a new address. That allows time for the using up of the old stationary, etc...

It depends on the business, but in a business where customers knowing your location is of value this can be a time to gain visibility. It provides a very valid excuse for a contact with customers your company may not have had contact with in a while. Depending on how good your marketing department is, this can be used to the signficant benefit of a business. It may even add to the customer base if used well.

For a signficant number of businesses in Dallas, being more visible to the 43% of Dallas who are Hispanic would help. Being seen as supportive during the name change process may even increase that visibility.

I do not know your business, and you may be your own marketing person, or these ideas may not work for other reasons. Turning limon into limonaide is the mark of any successful business. It is not new.

Has anyone else noticed that the comment sections for today's article on the Cesar Chavez backfire on Young Street has been turned off? The 200 or so comments from yesterday's article have also disappeared.

What are we trying to hide about Dallas? Is there something that happens when we consider putting the name of a minority civil rights activist on a street in Dallas that the major newspaper in Dallas would rather not have seen on their web page?

I agree. It is not pretty. But we will never make progress by hiding it either. When we can admit it we will make progress. It is like making certain the old "colored only" fountain that was uncovered in the Records Building remains. We need such as reminders of what used to happen. We have come a long way by acknowledging our past, and most painfully, sometimes our present. The process is not over.

The Morning News does not help the process by stifling the discussion, or hiding what was discussed. Yes, it is painful.

They did the same thing to my family back in 1997. They tried (and eventually succeeded) in renaming Floyd Road between Central and LBJ to Texas Instruments Blvd.
That is EXACTLY the stretch of road that the Floyd pioneers settled in 1855. They owned the TI land, the Restland land; all the way to south Richardson. They did my dad wrong, who happened to be the only living person with the Floyd name in Richardson at the time; others had moved to Austin. I was told I could not "fight city hall". But you can and must. I am not going away.

Why not rename Webbs Chapel Extension (not Webbs Chapel)Cezar Chavez? No one would complain. The area is 100% hispanic. It's a short, but busy street, used mainly by hispanics. Webbs Chapel would still keep it's name. Webbs Chapel Ext has been confusing anyway..so this would solve 2 problems.

Just read Dallas Morning News Steve Blow's Sunday op-ed this morning. His Central Expressway street rename idea makes much more sense than changing in full or in part, Dallas’ Young Street.

There you have it folks. Delia Jasso, Steve Salazar and Pauline Medrano appear to have taken the mantle of the Cesar Chavez Task Force that has been pushing this street renaming issue since the previous attempt to rewrite Dallas' pioneer history by discarding the Ross on Ross Avenue failed.

I doubt an honorable person like Cesar Chavez would have allowed his good name to have been used in this manner. The simple fact in this issue is the previous failed attempt to rename Ross Avenue was defeated because it would have included having to discard, fully or in part, a portion of Dallas’ pioneer (Ross Brothers) history in order to rename Ross Avenue to Cesar Chavez Avenue.

In this instance, if Young Street is fully or partially renamed Cesar Chavez Street then you simply have the same issue at hand with yet another attempt to discard, fully or in part, another portion of Dallas' pioneer history bestowed on an early Dallas settler, William Young. Dallas’ Pearl Street also has a link to Dallas’ pioneer history according to the Dallas Historical Society. Dallas History Timeline: The 1870’s (A Board of Trade is organized to promote industry and manufacturing in Dallas. The Pearl Street Reading Club, the first "culture club" for women, is organized by Mary Mitchell (Mrs. John Henry) Brown. Population of Dallas is 10,358.)

Dallas Hispanic leaders don’t have to rewrite in full or in part, Dallas’ Pioneer History in order to make history in Dallas. Their previous shameful effort to attack and discard Dallas' Pioneer History when the renaming of Ross Avenue was soundly defeated should have already given Steve Blow an answer to his motivation question noted on his op-ed. Steve Blow's comment: "And I hope Latino leaders will be real honest about their motivations. There's an element, I fear, that won't be happy unless a name change is also a thumb in the eye of Dallas."

Steve Blow's Central Expressway idea is a great idea. The renaming of Live Oak Street located where the Dallas Latino Cultural Center operates is another worthy idea which could be further explored. But please, let's not get into the crazy concepts of erecting historical markers as a consolation prize for streets that have been renamed.

Correction! The placing the name of the most visible Hispanic leader in recent history on a downtown Dallas Street, specifically Pearl, will not be a "rewrite in full or in part" of "Dallas’ Pioneer History." It will simply be an initial writing, a recording, finally a reflection of the hundreds of thousands of Hispanics who have in the past, and who are now, helping Dallas grow. They have been and are now helping to make Dallas History!

No matter what street name is changed it will be removing something we are used to, something that is a part of our history. Yes something will be lost so as to record something that should have been reflected in our city infrastructure long ago, a Hispanic name.

The name of Pearl Street has been on our Dallas maps since about 1866. You can also see it in the map from about 1940 that is at http://www.studentmotivation.org/littlemexico/c1940LittleMexico.JPG . On blue in that map is the area called "Little Mexico." It went from Ross to what is now known as the Katy Trail. You can see Pearl going up the east side of the area in blue. It has changed since this map and curves more to the west ending at Moody. A now detached fragment of Pearl continues to the north.

Sadly, due to the prejudices that were common in those days the names of no Hispanic leaders, neither local nor national, were placed on Dallas street names. Can you find one? The move to rename a street after Cesar Chavez is a small correction in that direction.

With Pearl Street we have a name that has no known or documented source for the name from Dallas history. The City Archivist has documented that fact in his letter at http://www.studentmotivation.org/CesarChavezAve/DallasCityArchivist.htm.

Yes, the Pearl Street name is reflected in many places in Dallas history, as is Central Expressway, but the source for the name Pearl is not reflected. No person by that name is known as the source. Since the name of a pioneer will not be erased from the Dallas map by renaming Pearl it is a choice that makes sense.

It also makes sense because the north end of Pearl ends in the middle of the blue area you see on the map linked above, the heart of what used to be Little Mexico. It will connect the former Little Mexico with Cesar Chavez Plaza in Farmers Market, the first part of Pearl renamed in his honor in 1995.

In the process it will go past the Cathedral of Guadalupe which is the largest gathering place for Hispanic families in Texas every weekend. As I type this that gathering is happening. Cesar Chavez had a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The Cesar Chavez Task Force and a few Dallas Hispanic leaders appear hell bent on attacking the very existence of Dallas' pioneer history. Their failure to do so on the Ross Avenue rename vote gave Dallas Morning News' writer Steve Blow and Dallas citizens clear insight on their motivation behind their most recent attempt to do away with a part of Dallas' pioneer history.

The same reason a majority of Dallas’ council members denied the Ross Avenue rename vote will be the same reason the current street rename effort of Young Street and the suggestion of renaming Pearl street will be also denied once again. Both of these streets represent a part of Dallas' pioneer history.

I commend Dallas Morning News writer Steve Blow for bringing up the idea to rename Central Expressway rather than the current (Young Street) street City of Dallas Hispanic elected officials have on the table at this time. Supporters of the effort to rename Young Street can call it what they want but Dallas’ citizens and a majority of Dallas’ council members realize you simply do not go about making history on behalf of a group or an individual in Dallas by doing away with a portion of Dallas’ pioneer history that has been in existence for well past 100 years in Dallas.

Steve Salazar, Delia Jasso and Pauline Medrano should have consulted with visionary individuals like DISD teacher Diane Birdwell before they decided to once again, push for renaming a street inside downtown Dallas that had an obvious connection to a part of Dallas' pioneer history. What an embarrassing collective move on their part. Their stupidity in rushing to submit their signatures to begin this street rename process sets the stage for yet another Dallas City Council Chamber vote that will fall short on their mindless street rename submission. Watch for round two of racism calls and divisive charges leveled at anyone and any organization that speaks out against the attempt to rewrite and discard a portion of Dallas' pioneer history. To think this whole street rename comedic issue was given political birth by Dallas City Council member David A. Neumann who messed up the citizen feedback vote survey on the renaming of Industrial Blvd. Thanks for creating this political monster councilman Neumann.

Let's get this thing done. Young St. is a fine choice for the renaming and I'm sure no one will complain if we put Young street somewhere else, right? If Young is so important then let's move it to one of the new Trinity River roads or bridges?

Bill, my inside city hall sources indicate a deal may have already been brokered to relocate Young Street to maybe one of the streets inside or surrounding the Trinity River Development locale as a condition to having the present Young Street location renamed in honor of Cesar Chavez. Seems like Young Street is very short, far away from the Guadalupe Cathedral, the old Little Mexico/St. Ann's School area and basically leads a North/South route located at the back side of downtown Dallas. Outside of Young Street running in front of Dallas City Hall, the Central Dallas Public Library, Channel 8 News, and of course, the Dallas Morning News building that is pretty much it. We've read you’re posts on your concept of Pearl Street's renaming possibilities but what say you on this possible development? You have posted the Pros and Cons on Central Expressway vs. Pearl Street but I'm wondering what your Pros and Cons on a Young Street vs. Pearl Street read like? I'm trying to visualize the sentiment at the Dallas Morning News on the possibility of this street rename development. I’m also trying to visualize how the Cesar Chavez Task Force will view the possibility of finally making their thumb print inside downtown Dallas on their third (Industrial Blvd, Ross Avenue, Young Street) try and maybe even their fourth (Pearl) try if your street recommendation is added to the calculation. If this deal has been brokered then Mayor Leppert’s task will now be to have as many votes on his side in order to make this deal look real nice and wrapped in a pretty bow. Looks like councilman Natinsky may need to be taken behind the woodshed and given some private counseling on this vote. lol