Keep Me in the Loop!

Fort Worth Star Telegram: Community leaders push to rename a north-south thoroughfare in Fort Worth after Cesar Chavez

Posted on by admin

Community leaders push to rename a north-south thoroughfare in Fort Worth after Cesar Chavez

By ALEX BRANCH, abranch@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — A group of community leaders launched an effort Friday to rename a major roadway in Fort Worth after civil rights figure Cesar Chavez.

Supporters have not settled on which roadway for which to seek the designation, but prefer one connecting north Fort Worth to south Fort Worth, areas with strong Hispanic neighborhoods.

"Cesar Chavez is a hero to the Hispanic community," said Renny Rosas, a committee member. "He is our Martin Luther King. We need to be promoting individuals like that."

One preferred candidate for the change is Interstate 35W between north and south Loop 820 because "it connects the two largest barrios in Tarrant County," Rosa said. "To us, it is a very significant highway."

A state transportation official who attended Friday’s committee meeting said such a change could be difficult. Interstate 35 from Laredo to the Red River is already named the Purple Heart Trail in honor of military veterans.

State legislators bestowed the name and would have to approve a change next legislative session.

"There is already a name so that would be a challenge," said Maribel Chavez, a district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation. "You could work from what hasn’t been named."

John Bircher, a spokesman for the Military Order of the Purple Heart, said the trail has been established in 47 states and his organization would be disappointed if the name was removed from any stretch.

However, highways designated Purple Heart Trail in several states are also named in someone else’s honor, he said.

"We would have no problem with sharing a name," Bircher said. "Just don’t take it away."

Rosas said he is a military veteran and believed it was possible to honor veterans and Chavez, who played a major role in improving conditions for Hispanic farmworkers.

The city of Fort Worth has the authority to rename roadways within city limits. Dana Burghdoff, assistant director of planning for the city, told the group she would help compile a list of six to eight possible roadways that the group could pursue for the change.

Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, who attended Friday’s meeting and supports naming a roadway after Chavez, said Friday’s meeting was the first step in putting together a plan for the change. He said he has not taken a position on which roadway should receive the designation.

"I’m not married to anything but the concept at this point," Burnam said. "We need to look at all the options."

During the meeting, several people in attendance urged keeping the proposal from becoming divisive in the community. Efforts to rename streets after Chavez in Dallas have erupted into nasty feuds with racial overtones.

Fort Worth City Councilman Sal Espino said "We have to be sensitive to the needs of everyone in the community."

ALEX BRANCH, 817-390-7689

  • redheaded_dude wrote on 3/21/2010 9:42:51 AM:

    Of the estimated 189 men who died in the Alamo, six were actually born in Texas: Juan Abamillo, Juan A. Badillo, Carlos Espalier, Gregorio Esparza, Antonio Fuentes, and Andrés Nava. How about naming a road after one of them instead of Chavez? They are all Hispanics we can be proud of–not a grape protester.

    Recommend (2) Report abuse
  • bbetzen wrote on 3/20/2010 7:13:32 PM:

    So as to better understand who Cesar Chavez is you can simply put his name into any search engine. Usually the Wikipedia entry is the first hit with many more following. If you want to know what he did in Texas you can simply add the word Texas to his name in the search. Or you can go to the online at http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/ and put Cesar Chavez into that search engine. There are nine hits as of today. Then go and put the names on all of your other downtown streets into that search engine. Much less than 10% of the people for whom Fort Worth Streets are named after will get that many hits. How many of the names on Fort Worth streets also have a Texas State Holiday named after them?

    Please research a bit before you post. Sadly, too many of the comments may be a reflection of our educational system. If people do not know who a person is, they should be able to use a search engine to find out what they need to know before they post.

    If more of our students were to know and understand the values that drove the life of Cesar Chavez, then the quality of life in our cities would improve significantly!

    As Cesar Chavez said: "Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures."

    "We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community – and this nation."

  •