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SAN JOSE MERCURY-NEWS
Santa Clara County supervisors to consider renaming part of Capitol
Expressway in honor of Cesar Chavez
As a teenage girl, she picked apricots, prunes and walnuts in the
valley's orchards. Now, as an elected official departing after 28 years,
Blanca Alvarado hopes to make her final act on the Santa Clara County
board of supervisors a tribute to legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez.
On Tuesday, the board will consider Alvarado's proposal to rename the
stretch of Capitol Expressway from Jackson Street to Highway 101 in
honor of Chavez. The founder of the United Farm Workers lived for
decades with his family in the hardscrabble San Jose neighborhood known
as "Sal Si Puedes" — "Get Out if You Can."
"He's such an iconoclastic person, and his history is so revered, the
least we can do is commemorate that hero," said Alvarado, who hosted
Chavez's meetings decades ago in her East Side garage.
The renaming proposal has met early support from Supervisor Ken Yeager,
but may well face resistance.
A 2004 attempt to name a longer section of Capitol Expressway after the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. fell flat, resulting in a ban on renaming
existing county expressways — a policy that will have to be revised or
overturned to honor Chavez. And then there are the costs associated with
changing signs, which would come as the county projects a $320 million
shortfall next year. Those financial impacts have yet to be tallied.
Five years ago, Alvarado's proposal to create a holiday in honor of
Chavez's March 31 birthday almost failed, with supervisors deeply
divided over whether the county could afford to pay its 16,000-member
staff for an added day off.
The holiday finally passed after a 3-2 vote cast as tearful farmworkers
and Chavez family members looked on.
Supervisor Don Gage voted against the holiday in 2003, and current
Supervisor Liz Kniss has argued against incurring additional costs to
honor Chavez, despite his historical worthiness.
Alvarado, who steps down as supervisor in December, said the one-time
expenses associated with a name change will be worth the sacrifice.
"For thousands if not millions of people, like Martin Luther King and
Ghandi, he represents the best of humanity, the use of nonviolence
against social injustice," said Alvarado, who saw farmworker hardships
firsthand in her family of 14. "My Dad used to say I was his best
prune-picker, and I probably was pretty good, but I'll never forget how
hard it was to be on your knees picking prunes."
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