Monterey Park : Avenida Chavez Supported

Monterey Park City Council has added its approval to a proposal to rename a street after the late farm labor leader Cesar Chavez.

The proposed change is for a seven-mile stretch of Brooklyn Avenue and Macy Street. Avenida Cesar Chavez would run from Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles through Boyle Heights and unincorporated East Los Angeles to Atlantic Boulevard in Monterey Park.

The Los Angeles City Council and County Board of Supervisors had already approved the proposal, submitted by County Supervisor Gloria Molina. Monterey Park’s vote was last week.

The proposal now goes before a committee of government agencies and the county’s Street Naming Commission, said Robert Alaniz, a Molina spokesman.

Alaniz has acknowledged that the proposal might be opposed by business owners and others inconvenienced by the switch who might have to order new stationery and make related changes. Renaming the street would also require changing hundreds of street signs.

Chavez died in his sleep April 22 at age 66. He became a hero to Latinos and others during the 1960s and early 1970s when he founded and led the United Farm Workers union in a series of successful fights against agribusiness.