SAN FERNANDO : Panel to Recommend Chavez Memorial

After conducting three public meetings to collect input on how the city of San Fernando should honor the late farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, a five-member committee will recommend establishing a Chavez memorial site on a grassy plot near an intersection on the east side of town.

If the proposal is approved by the San Fernando City Council, it would end two months of sometimes bitter debate over how best to honor Chavez, a cultural and political icon to many San Fernando residents.

The committee, made up of residents, was appointed by the council in March to study options for honoring Chavez after Mayor Pro Tem Rosa Chacon’s proposal to rename Kalisher Street after Chavez encountered strong opposition.

“The general consensus is that this spot is a feasible place,” said committee member Marjorie Britt of the proposed Chavez memorial site near the intersection of Wolfskill and Truman streets. “And that we wouldn’t have the controversy there that we had with Kalisher.” At a public meeting Tuesday night at City Hall, Britt said the proposal to establish a memorial to Chavez at the triangular, 18,000-square-foot site located near Recreation Park was “well received, with two or three exceptions.”

Some residents suggested renaming Recreation Park after Chavez, in addition to establishing a commemorative statue at the site near the intersection, while others continued to lobby for the earlier proposal to rename Kalisher Street after Chavez, Britt said.