Tucson topples its César Chávez statue south of downtown

“Where do you draw the line there? Nobody does nothing about it, but they’re quick do other things,” like take down his art, Mena said. 

The city, which has recognized a paid holiday named after Chávez and Huerta for its employees, “will be observing a holiday on Monday, March 30th that will likely be renamed or reconsidered by the Mayor and Council in the near future,” Christina Polsgrove, spokeswoman for the city’s environmental services department said in a corrected news release Monday morning. The original news release from the department noted the day off was for “Cesar Chavez Day.”

Pedro Gonzales, a lifelong resident of Barrio Viejo and chair of the neighborhood association, said the neighborhood’s art at Five Points is something that residents fought for, and funded, for 10 years. He confirmed that the city did not notify Mena or the barrio about the statue’s removal.

Gonzales told the Star he isn’t speaking out against the statue’s removal, but the city “should at least have the decency to let us know what their plans were.”

“They could have had us in the conversation about that. When they’re looking for our votes they come knocking at our door, they know our names, they know our numbers. When there’s an issue that they want to talk to us about, they make a very big effort to make sure that we’re notified,” he said. “At least have the respect to do (tell us about the statue), because we’re just not anybody, you know. We fought really hard to do this … (the city) should have more respect towards our participation all this.”

Gonzales said the trauma that barrio residents felt due to gentrification and the urban renewal plans of the 1960s, what he called “Urban Removal,” is why the ‘outdoor museum’ at Five Points is so important, because the barrio “wanted to express and show our culture.”