Sacramento reveals top choice to rename Cesar Chavez Plaza

Sacramento city staff are recommending Union Plaza as the new name for Cesar Chavez Plaza after more than 2,600 people weighed in on what the downtown park should be called.

The Parks and Community Enrichment Commission will take up the recommendation Oct. 1. If it signs off, the proposal would then head to the Sacramento City Council for a final decision.

Union Plaza drew 450 responses — which city officials said was nearly twice as many as the next-most popular choice, Dolores Huerta Park. Other frequently suggested names included Farmworker Plaza, People Plaza, Plaza Park and Nisenan Plaza.

The renaming effort began after sexual abuse allegations against labor leader Cesar Chavez surfaced in March. Sacramento canceled its Cesar Chavez Day celebration soon afterward and moved to reconsider the name of the plaza, which has carried Chavez's name since the 1990s.

A public survey launched in June drew more than 350 unique name suggestions. City staff said many responses focused on labor history, farmworker rights, Indigenous history and the plaza's longtime role as a civic gathering place.

Mayor Kevin McCarty said in a statement that the proposed name reflects the plaza's longtime role as one of Sacramento's central gathering places.

"Union Plaza recognizes the park as a place where Sacramentans have come together for generations and will gather for years to come," McCarty said.

The plaza dates to Sacramento's original 1849 city plan and was previously known as City Plaza and Plaza Park. Over more than 175 years, it has hosted markets, performances, demonstrations and other public gatherings.

If the parks commission backs the recommendation next week, the City Council will consider the proposed name at a future meeting.