Note: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault. If you or someone you know may be a victim of sexual assault, confidential support, information and advice are available at the National Sexual Assault Hotline by calling 800-656-4673. Text chat is also available online.
A Portland city councilor wants to change the name of Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard after a news report detailed sexual assault allegations against the iconic farmworker union leader.
The intersection of SE Cesar E Chavez Boulevard and Belmont Street in Portland, Ore. on March 18, 2026.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Candace Avalos, who represents east Portland, wrote on social media Wednesday that she would seek to rename the key eastside thoroughfare after Dolores Huerta, who told the New York Times that Chavez raped her decades ago.
“I have begun looking into the process and talking with community leaders about renaming Cesar Chavez blvd to Dolores Huerta blvd,” Avalos wrote on Bluesky. “Per city code, one of the first steps is a petition with 2500 signatures. Stay tuned for ways to be involved in this effort.”
Huerta’s allegations added to those of other victims whose accounts were detailed in the story. They included women who said they were 13 and 15 when they said they were assaulted by Chavez.
FILE - This 1965 file photo shows Cesar Chavez, farm worker labor organizer and leader of the California grape strike, in an office in California works from an office in 1965.
George Brich / AP
Chavez “used some of his great leadership to abuse women and children — it’s really awful,” Huerta told the Times.
Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers and was Chavez longtime ally. She went public after 60 years of silence. According to the Times, Huerta had two children as a result of two unwanted sexual encounters with Chavez, the latter of which she described as a rape. She hid the pregnancies, and the children were raised by other families.
FILE - Dolores Huerta arrives at the 2025 Women in Film Honors on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Chris Pizzello / AP
Chavez died in 1993.
Speaking with OPB at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said he wasn’t aware of the New York Times investigation.
“We haven’t had a chance to fully discuss it,” said Wilson’s Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Zajonc. “But it’s a chance to have a community conversation.”
The city changed 39th Avenue to Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard in 2009.
Alex Zielinski contributed reporting.
