So, is there a good reason- you know, one besides ego and hubris and just generally being out of touch- why this wasn't the original proposal?

I would submit that any of us could have done better, and that the waste and gnashing of teeth in between was a classic example of what the recall Sam crowd have against business as usual at the Council.

Still, naming things based on merit and social use, apart from primate power, just isn't on the table, is it? As my history teacher would suggest, "anyone that is 'great' is burning in hell".

SE 39th near where I live is a fairly drab speedway. The new name will not be enough to beautify the street but will be an improvement of a sort.

I'd also like the city to officially change Harrison St. to Beatle George Harrison St. I'm half serious about that, too.

A good day for Portland and all of us.

Ok by me, but will be interested to see how long it takes the 39th Street Sports Pub (Toms) becomes the Cesar Chavez Blvd. Sports Pub . I'm thinking never, but who knows.

Personally, I am disappointed. The city changed to a grid system in the early 1900's based on the Philadelphia system. Years later, to decide without voter input that we no longer need numbered streets is undemocratic and unfair. When I first moved to the city, I could easily find landmarks like 39th and Hawthorne. It was easy to find for and the grid system made it easy. I am against renaming any numbered street. Its part of the city culture and history.

A referendum probably won't happen. Foster v. Clark (1990) makes a referendum a very risky proposition.

An initiative amending the city charter is one option. It allows more time to gather signatures. It has the added benefit of stopping the City Council from passing an ordinance that bypasses the process like they did with Rosa Parks and Chavez/Interstate. The charter amendment would allow for recission of past renamings.

Another option is review by the circuit courts to evaluate the extent to which the City failed to follow or incorrectly followed the process specified by city code and state law. If we prevailed on the "big things," then 39th would not be a viable candidate for renaming under current City Code.

Interesting. I wonder how many signatures just went into the 'win' column on the Sam Adams recall petition along 39th? Of course Leonard voted for it, he stands to become mayor by default.

Congrats, City Council, on making a difficult decision for what is right (and not necessarily what will get you re-elected). Sometimes, great leaders need to vote with what is right, not just appease the majority.

"Majority thinking" is so early-20th century. This is the year 2009. Latinos are the fastest-growing population in Portland. Why not honor a major street after a labor leader of Mexican descent, and one who did great things for farm workers in the US?

I'm personally a fan of the numbered street system. It's certainly helpful to make my way around town. But I'm way MORE of a fan of official actions taken by our City leaders to promote diversity and tolerance. This renaming shows how much Portland values human rights. This renaming is a great step forward in making Portland a more inclusive and culturally competent City.

Today, I'm especially proud to be a Portlander!!!

The Progressive Democrats of Portland have just relagated Hispanics to 39th place. While, blacks enjoy MLK right near the heart of Downtown.

And they celebrate this as success.

I am amoung those outraged at this divisive 'Institutional Racisim' - that, frankly, lacks courage and respect.

So, the lesson here appears to be if you're "respectful" and "civil" the council will overlook your wishes and vote against you, but if you're loud and in their face, they'll back down. Good to know.

Again, no dog in this hunt, as I personally don't care what they call the street, but I agree with others that the bridge would have been a more symbolic and elegant solution.

@ Jason

You might want to take a look at the history of 6th Avenue in NYC- it was renamed "Avenue of the Americas" clear back in 1945. Yet, locals still call it 6th Ave. and always will- it's one sure way to identify a tourist. Amazingly, no one has lost their way to Radio City Music Hall or Rockefeller Center as a result of the name change, and the world hasn't come to an end in the 60 years since.

So you just keep on using 39th St. if you want to. We'll all stand back and admire your smug superiority about being a "real" Portlander while you do.

I think it's somewhat crazy math that only 2,500 signatures, 0.5% of Portland's population, are required to change a street name, but 19,335 are required to put it to a democratic referendum. Of course you need 32,000 to recall a commissioner. Lets not even get into timetables, 180 days to collect 2,500, yet 90 days to collect 32,000. Why do I think the blocks around 39th may be fertile petition territory?

The smart petition then would be to move to rename Cesar Chavez Blvd. to 39th Avenue and watch the stupid howls of protest.

Frack. Boats makes a valid point. I guess it was bound to happen eventually...

KATU poll has support of the name change at a robust 5%. So much for the will of the majority.

Terrible process.

The proponents refused to engage. It's a waste of tight city funds. It really will cost business some direct expenses plus a few lost customers at the margin. And this will not be remembered for a long time as an honor for Chavez, but rather a taint.

Mama says: Amazingly, no one has lost their way to Radio City Music Hall or Rockefeller Center as a result of the name change

This is a ridiculous and an incorrect statement. First of all, there is no comparison between Rockefeller Center / Radio City and Joe the Optometrist / the local Balkan Bros restaurant on 39th. And second, I would guarantee you that it does take more effort finding Radio City because it is on A of A rather than 6th, and that thousands of tourists have been inconvenienced because of that street name.

The new bridge is far more distinctive - its too bad a so-called naming committee can stand between Chavez and a real honor.

The genius of America is melting pot "assimilation." I see this move as part of that genius with America's newest and largest ethnic minority. It pays dividends in the long term. France has taken another route and will suffer, and continues to suffer ethnic division because of it. That said, I also empathize with the people of any neighborhood that they must be the ones who pay the price of this policy.

Now that this divisive episode is behind us, Marta Guembes and the rest of the Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard Committee members could do much to facilitate healing in the community by publicly apologizing for cavalierly tossing around accusations of racism at anyone who opposed their idea.

But since this was always more about the egos of committee members and less about honoring Mr. Chavez I won’t be holding my breath.

Yes, when the white people don't get their way, or when their suggestions are not followed it is divisive. When the white people cannot see why the other side doesn't see it their way, the other side is being stubborn and unreasonable. It must be about their egos and not about ideals such as honor and education.

Buckman Res, please DO hold your breath. And keep holding it. Don't stop.

I am very proud to be a citizen of Portland today.

I am tepidly glad with this decision. I don't think much of renaming streets or anything if that is all that is done. It would have been much better and wiser to name the downtown farmers' market after him and establish a permanent structure there that gave his history and the history of the UFW.

As to the idea of an inclusive consensus, try driving by the day labor center one day when the yahoos are out there with their racist signs. Many of those opposed to the street rename--not all of them by any stretch--reflexively act like Joe Hill (don't mourn--organize) implied, as if their way of life is under attack. And maybe it is, and that is a good thing. Jamais Vu, these folks poke people in the eye every day, although it's usually called the American way of life.

Jamais vu. . . you're so vain (and aptly named) . . . I bet you think this political process was about you (pl.)

It wasn't. Not about your eye. Not about your (pl.) farmers market or bridge or park.

I can understand why you (pl.) fall into this misrecognition since pretty much everything else in the universe IS about you (pl.). And the celebration is not about a poke in your (pl.) eye. It's just that this small admittedly symbolic victory was not so much about you, but about people who are ordinarily not allowed to decide.

Joe Hill: How is this a proud day when Marta Guembes, sorry I mean the Cesar Chavez committee, took a tactical approach that was so completely different than what Cesar Chavez spoke about so many times in his great life?

How is this a great day when our city completely ignores their own damn rules?

Don't be fooled - this was not about honoring a great American. If was truly about honoring Cesar Chavez than Marta Guembes would have come to the table in the such a way to not bring such divisiveness to the city and find an appropriate way to honor him.

This was was about Marta Guembes, her oversize ego and power - nothing more, nothing less. If you think otherwise, you are either a fool or naive.

This is a sad and pathetic day for the city of Portland.

Classy, Joe.

Using racism to honor someone who truly was noble.

Really classy, Joe.

Whoop de fucking doo.

Tip for dopers. If you are in a large city and want to score, get a map and look up Martin Luther King blvd, park, street, whatever. Somewhere there will be a 24/7 open air drug store where prices are at least half of what a "legal" pharmacy charges. Stolen but life has some sorrows.

Not being racist. Just straight.

Now I know where to get good mexican food in Portland.

Jason -- you like the grid system because you can find Hawthorne and 39th. But guess what, Hawthorne really isn't part of any sensical grid system, it's just a street name. The north side of Burnside has a gridlike pattern, with alphabetical streets, but SE Portland east-west streets have no real system. Finding the new Chavez Blvd will be just as easy as finding the old Hawthorne Blvd.

Karol:

@Jeff Alworth, Supporters didn't "turn down" other options. They were not offered other options - now this is the key - by people in positions of power that could have made those other options possible. On the other hand, why should they not have what they were asking for? They asked for a street. If you asked for a Nintendo and received a game of Scrabble and the giver said, "What's the difference, you said you wanted a game system," you'd be pissed. Now blow that up to a street and you'll maybe see what I mean.

Karol, your analogy is backward. Those of us who support the bridge alternative do so because we think the bridge is the Nintendo and the street is the crappy board game.

And again... they weren't offered other options because they made damn clear they wouldn't accept other options.

Did the naming committee perform any community outreach to see what sorts of honors the public would like to see? I saw a hell of a lot of good suggestions in the The Oregonian letters. Did the committee consider any of them? Even one? Did they look into what it would take to request the new bridge be named for Chavez? Did they gauge public support for the street rename vs. support for other options? Or were they only polling in their own little bubble?

They shouldn't get what they asked for because it wasn't something that could be given without imposing costs on the residents and businesses. They didn't ask for a memorial to Cesar Chavez, they asked for something that was opposed by the residents of 39th Avenue. Why should they get to decide what the street name the residents of 39th Avenue live on? Why should any group get to impose costs on another group to get what they want. This would be unfair and unethical no matter what.

But the costs will be felt by the residents and businesses of 39th avenue. Over 90% of residents on 39th Avenue were against the name change. Beyond that the residents of 39th, Broadway, Interstate, and Grand were all opposed. Every street that was proposed was against the name change. And not all Portlanders contribute to each and every street. Most of the life and livelihood of any street is based around the people who live and work there. I don't contribute to the life and livelihood of streets in Oregon City anywhere near as much as the people who live and work there. Why should I be able to impose costs against their wishes on the streets they mostly use. It's a question of basic fairness.

If you ask for ice cream and buy it, then I have no problem with it. If you ask me to buy ice cream and go out of my way to give it to you and I offer you a compromise it's reasonable to take it. By choosing a street and rejecting a bridge they made other people pay for what they want. They are asked to prove it could only be a street because it imposed costs on the people of 39th Ave against their will. Should any group be able to rename any street in Portland no matter what the locals want? Should they be able to do it no matter how much it costs other people?

Karol:

And Jim H: If I want ice cream, that's what I want. I want what I asked for not the fro yo you are offering me. Why should the group have to prove they deserve a street versus something else?

But what entitles them to what they want? What if I want to rename the Willamette River after Jimmy Carter? Am I entitled to get what I want? Should I not have to justify why renaming that particular river is an appropriate honor for Jimmy Carter?

My point was, the committee decided on their own that they would only accept a street. They didn't care what the city as a whole thought about it and they didn't ask. When unsolicited ideas for other options poured in via local media, they ignored them - regardless of merit.

What has everyone (okay, I'm projecting my own feelings here) exasperated is that the better approach would be to go to the community and say "We want to honor Cesar Chavez, what would be an appropriate and significant way to do that?", then listen to the different ideas that pour in and judge each idea based on community support and the level of significance. Not having polling data in front of me, my feeling is that there would have been wide support for naming the new bridge for Chavez. And as I've said ad nauseam, a lot of us consider the bridge to be MORE of an honor than a noisy, polluting street.

Stewart:

If you ask for ice cream and buy it, then I have no problem with it. If you ask me to buy ice cream and go out of my way to give it to you and I offer you a compromise it's reasonable to take it.

Exactly. She's not at the store asking for ice cream, she's on the street asking for your ice cream. Karol, please work on your analogies. They are not intellectually honest.

@joel.
We will have to agree to disagree as to whether Cesar Chavez would have been proud of the way this went. I think he would have, you think not. I think I understand your reasoning, but I think you misunderstand Chavez. At any rate, I think he would say that it is not up to you or me or to him; the essence of his movement is that it is up to the oppressed community, and that community was led by Ms. Guembes, whom you seem invested in belittling and insulting.

@jamais vu. I live in North Portland, and I would be delighted if a community of people renamed my street after a white freedom rider. I know they weren't freedom riders, and this is not a good atmosphere to talk about renaming streets, but how about a three street neighborhood of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney? And renaming Killingsworth for Emma Goldman? Sign me up? Hell yeah! So, no, it doesn't sound absurd to me.

Jamais Vu, the most interesting claim in your post for me was that this controversy had moved Chavez from the category of a hero for all Americans to some category that was something less. I think that in this idea lies the crux of our disagreement.

Many of these people that we honor with street names or bridge names or other place names that are supposed to be uncontroversial heroes for all Americans are not heroes to those on the left. In my neighborhood I have a Polk Street (stole the Southwest from Mexico) and a Buchanan Street (vies with George W. Bush and Nixon for most crimes by a president in U.S. history) and Calhoun street (arguably the most evil politician in U.S. history, developed the "slavery as a positive good" theory and nurtured a generation of Confederate fireaters) . . . I could go on.

We are supposed to swallow politely and drive on, one nation under God, yada yada yada. But there is no Emma Goldman street. There is no Malcolm X street, no Fred Hampton street. There is no Mother Jones street, no Joe Hill street, no Bill Haywood street, no Terence Powderly street, no Alice Paul street, no Sojourner Truth street.

Even to get a Martin Luther King street to acts of Congress, state laws, and a communal dumbing down process about who Dr. King was and what he really stood for.

I would like to live in a community more congenial to my real being, one that does not erase the real history of the community and then, insultingly, tell me that the "history" of 39th street (!) is being erased by renaming it Cesar Chavez.

Well Portland, you could have named something that would have been an honorific without inconveniencing residents, but...

With 5 hr drive time to have to deal with a different street name I could give a rat's ass, but sense is never amiss in dealing with public issues. Some of you view imposing your will on the residents of a street a victory for civil rights - I find it incongrueous.

Having grown up on a street honoring our first president, I appreciate the weight of a proper street name. While the precision and regularity of numbered streets holds a certain comfort, I believe that numbers are essentially placeholders- a convenience that can be maintained until a proper moniker is found.

That being said, I am proud to live right next to the new Cesar Chavez, just as I am proud to drive along Martin Luther King. For those commenters worried about getting lost- don't worry, there's a five year transition period. But after that, you're on your own.

I am not a resident of Portland, so really have nothing to add. Had I been, I would have asked why ram it through (or allow the perception it was being rammed through) when so many who lived/worked on 39th 'appeared' against the re-naming. I think the new bridge would have been a FANTASTIC honor and educational result. But the street name change really will have no major affect either way 5 years from now. Perhaps that reality is the greater lesson of this effort.

My biggest problem with this whole process is the cost involved. Apparently the City of Portland has lots of money to throw around redoing street signs, maps, records, etc.

Jamais Vu, well said. Here is a link to the Rees Lloyd commentary (couldn't open it in your post).

Close to 90% of people who live on 39th Ave oppose the rename....but does the city care? Nope. Yet again they are pandering more to a special interest group than to the people and businesses who actually will have to change their address.

Rick, good points about the cost involved. The city has budget shortfalls all over the place. The city does not have enough money right now to prosecute minor criminals, that's right, ask a lawyer in town, yet they have enough money to get new signs and all that goes with that.

This has been poorly executed in every way.

I'm glad I grew up in Portland when I did - the city has turned into a radical nightmare. Glad I'm not there any more.

I'm glad I grew up in Portland when I did - the city has turned into a radical nightmare and I'm glad I'm not there to experience it.

I can't believe people are rallying to the defense of a number. It's kind of funny in an Orwellian sorta way. I think we should change names like "interstate" and "marine" and "82nd" and change name them after more of our bygone heroes. I hereby nominate Marine Drive to be renamed Woody Guthrie Drive!

• proud resident of NE Cesar E. Chavez who didn't realize his address was going to change until today.