San Antonio City Council on Thursday unanimously approved changing the name of downtown’s César E. Chávez Boulevard back to its original name, Durango Boulevard.
City staff said it will take six to 12 months to change out all the signage along the busy thoroughfare.
The city is expected to spend $375,000 on the project. The sum will cover replacing 58 ground-mounted pole signs, 15 highway signs, 31 streetlight-mounted overhead signs and one overhead frontage sign.
District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo filed a request for the name change this spring in the wake of a New York Times investigation that unearthed accusations that Chávez, a high-profile Latino labor leader and civil rights activist, engaged in decades of sexual abuse, rape and misconduct involving women and girls.
During Thursday’s meeting, District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito said that renaming the San Antonio street restores the dignity of Chávez’s alleged victims.
“When this information came to light, it was extremely shocking to a lot of people, especially to the Latino community,” Alderete Gavito said. “But we’re resilient, and we’ll move past this. Women should always be believed.”
Other Texas cities, including Houston and Austin, are also changing the names of streets in response to Chávez’s tarnished legacy.
Earlier this year, Houston City Council also unanimously voted to rename a thoroughfare named after the activist. Austin officials are weighing a similar name change.
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