By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-789321.mp3
Dallas, TX – The street signs on Industrial in Dallas will say "Riverfront Boulevard" a year from now. KERA's BJ Austin reports the City Council OK'd the name change in spite of pleas to give "Cesar Chavez Boulevard" another chance.
In a city survey, 52 percent of those responding favored renaming Industrial after farm worker, civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. But the Trinity River Corridor Project committee opted for Riverfront. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway says it is the perfect fit for the "front door" of the Trinity River Development.
Caraway: I don't think that it should bear someone's name. It should be something that's branded to the project.
But Councilman Steve Salazar wanted to diffuse the politically-charged issue, and asked to delay the vote.
Salazar: To bring consensus to an issue that's divided the city, and I'm sorry to say, into minority and non-minority.
But the name change to Riverfront got the 12 votes it needed. Mayor Tom Leppert has charged the City Plan Commission with finding a suitable street to honor Cesar Chavez. The Council also voted not to change Ross Avenue to Cesar Chavez Boulevard. The Chavez Task Force had already relinquished that idea because of Ross Avenue's protected "historic" status under the city charter.