Berkeley OKs 'Sí Se Puede Park' as the New Name for Former Cesar Chavez Park, but the UFW Still Has to Sign Off

The Berkeley Waterfront park best known for its kites, sunsets and burrowing owls has a new name, at least on paper. On Tuesday night, Oct. 27, the Berkeley City Council approved renaming the former Cesar Chavez Park as Sí Se Puede Park. We previewed the vote in our look at Tuesday's agenda.

The catch

The phrase "sí se puede" is the motto of the United Farm Workers, and the union has trademarked it. Berkeleyside reports that the city is asking the UFW for permission to use it. Beatriz Leyva-Cutler, a school board director who served on the working group that picked the name, told the council that Berkeley has "provisional approval" from the union. Mayor Adena Ishii said the naming question would come back to the council if those talks fall apart.

How the name was chosen

The city's report says Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani asked the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission in March to start the renaming process after The New York Times reported allegations that Chavez sexually abused women and girls. In April, Mayor Ishii asked that the new name honor farmworkers and the labor movement. A 21-member working group of community and institutional representatives recommended Sí Se Puede Park. The report says two-thirds of the group ranked it first in two straw polls. The commission voted to back it on Sept. 10. Esperanza Park came in second and Campesino Park third.

Why this phrase

UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta coined "sí se puede" in 1972. Berkeleyside notes that she died Wednesday at 96. The working group wrote that the name honors Huerta and the farmworker movement "without being about one person." Not everyone agrees: Martin Nicolaus, CEO of the park's conservancy, preferred Campesino Park, according to Berkeleyside.

New signs

According to the city report, replacing the signs will cost about $16,000, and that money isn't in the parks department's FY2027-28 budget. Once funding is found, the city expects ordering and installing the signs to take about three months. Until 1994 the park was called North Waterfront Park.