It's official -- Fresno's Cesar Chavez Boulevard is renamed. 'Our minds have changed'

Liliana Fannin, The Fresno Bee on Apr 23, 2026

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FRESNO, Calif. — The Fresno City Council unanimously approved reverting Cesar Chavez Boulevard to the streets’ original names three years after the signs were hung in honor of the late civil rights leader.

The vote Thursday came one month after The New York Times investigation reported that Chavez, who died at 66 in 1993, allegedly groomed and abused teenage girls and raped women for years. He had long been revered in Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley for his work in organizing farmworkers before the story’s publication.

The street signs in his name were hung in 2024 on a 10.25-mile corridor in parts southeast and southwest Fresno that previously shared the names King Canyon Boulevard, Ventura and California avenues, which will now be restored.

Council members Nelson Esparza, Mike Karbassi, Annalisa Perea and Miguel Arias led the restoration effort.

“Ultimately, we made the vote to change the name, but the fact is, when the facts change, our minds have changed,” Arias said.

The city still has all the original street signs in its possession, with about 80% of them in usable condition, City Manager Georgeanne White said at Thursday’s meeting. The sign installation process will begin May 1 and finish over the course of three weekends, though the freeway signs may take longer to restore.

There are roughly 1,600 business and residential addresses along those streets that will need to be changed, Director of Public Works Scott Mozier said. Letters of notification will be sent out to those addresses on Friday, according to White.

Many of those residents opposed the street’s name change the first time around, citing historic preservation and the cost and inconvenience for businesses to make the change.

While Council member Nick Richardson said he was in support of the original names being brought back, he raised concerns over the fiscal impact on the city and on the business owners it will impact.

When the change to Cesar Chavez Boulevard was originally approved, the council also set aside some funding for businesses to request reimbursements of up to $200 to update business cards and letterheads. Mozier said that only one business submitted an invoice at that time, and was reimbursed $77.

“Although we set aside $1 million for this transition, the cost never reached $1 million,” Arias said. “The cost was really about signage and the staff work to actually put up the signage. So, I don’t see this as a huge obstacle for us today.”

Both Karbassi and Richardson pledged $10,000 from their reserves’ operating budgets to assist businesses with the transition.

One of Chavez’s victims listed in The Times report was civil rights icon Dolores Huerta. Some residents spoke out at Thursdays meeting and suggested renaming the streets after her. Karbassi pointed out that a new park under construction in west Fresno is set to be named Dolores Huerta Park.

“What she had to go through, holding this secret for so many years because she didn’t want to hurt her movement, that takes a lot of courage,” Karbassi said. “It’s not easy to live with that trauma.”

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