National Park Service hearing to solicit public input
on results of Cesar Chavez historical sites study
Delano, Calif.—The National Park Service’s is hosting a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 24 at the farm workers’ “Forty Acres” complex in Delano on its just-released Cesar Chavez Special Resource Study, an extensive congressionally authorized assessment that examined more than 100 historical sites in California and Arizona associated with Cesar Chavez and the farm worker movement for possible inclusion in the national park system. The park service study preliminarily recommends creating a National Historical Park that includes three sites in Kern County: The Forty Acres and Filipino Hall in Delano, and the National Chavez Center at La Paz in Keene. A fourth location is the Santa Rita Center in Phoenix, Ariz. where Cesar Chavez fasted in 1972.
Among those attending the Monday hearing seeking public comment are United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez and Cesar Chavez Foundation President Paul F. Chavez.
The public comment period on this preliminary report, which is the subject of the Monday hearing in Delano, extends to Nov. 14. The full report is available on the National Park Service study web site at http://www.nps.gov/pwro/chavez
The Forty Acres, which once housed the farm worker movement’s headquarters and was host to many historical events in the 1960s and ‘70s, was formally designated as a National Historic Landmark earlier this year. It is located at Garces Hwy. and Mettler Ave. just west of Delano.
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