Phoenix is renaming Cesar Chavez Library. Here are the options

After sexual misconduct and assault allegations broke against the late labor leader Cesar Chavez in mid-March, campaigns to scrub his name from the city kicked off across the Valley. 

Now, voting is underway to rename the former Cesar Chavez Library in Laveen.

The allegations against Chavez, which were first reported by the New York Times, detailed years of sexual abuse perpetrated by the co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association against young women — including minors — involved in the movement. Among the people to come forward about the abuse was 96-year-old civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, who worked side-by-side with Chavez.

Over the last month and a half, Phoenix and other local municipalities have been diligently removing any association they have with the late activist. A week after the allegations dropped, the Phoenix City Council unanimously voted to begin the process of erasing Chavez’s name from the many places around town that honor him.

“Cesar Chavez Plaza” outside City Hall was stripped of his name. Ceremonial “Cesar Chavez Boulevard” signs along Baseline Road have come down. This has hit the South Phoenix neighborhood of Laveen pretty hard, as the area’s Cesar Chavez Park and Cesar Chavez High School will also be renamed.

The neighborhood’s library, Cesar Chavez Library, was also included in the city council’s March 25 decision. Residents and library-goers alike have until May 15 to vote for one of five options for the library’s new name. The building, currently named the Library in Laveen, is one of 16 branches of the Phoenix library system.

In 1963, the city’s Library Advisory Board established a policy requiring branch libraries to be named after desert flora. Thus, all of the renaming options for the Laveen library come from flora native to Arizona’s desert regions: