By BJ Austin, KERA Reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-761918.mp3
Dallas, TX – In a surprise move at Dallas City Hall, the push to re-name Industrial Boulevard for civil rights leader Cesar Chavez has new life. KERA's BJ Austin says the City Plan Commission has turned down the request of a council committee to name Industrial Riverfront Boulevard.
The proposal to rename Industrial to better reflect the vision and ammenities of the future Trinity River Park was supposed to be a shoe-in for City Plan Commission approval. It was not. Instead, the Commission asked that an application be made to re-name Industrial after Chavez . That's what Hispanic community members wanted in the first place. A city council committee rejected a survey that favored naming Industrial after Chavez and a Latino task force picked Ross Avenue as a second choice. Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia applauds the City Plan Commission move.
Garcia: We did a survey. We had a poll. People spoke. And it's very hard as a public servant, and as an elected official, not to listen to what people say out there. And obviously the Planning Commission read that.
Garcia says this development will likely put the Cesar Chavez Boulevard Task Force, and the Save Ross Avenue contingent on the same side now. They were at very vocal odds during a subcommittee meeting just hours before the City Plan Commission's surprise vote.