Labor wins vote on downtown plaza name

By Elsa Swanson

A campaign led by Sacramento’s labor movement is on the verge of a win downtown.

City staff are recommending that Cesar Chavez Plaza be renamed Union Plaza, after thousands of working people weighed in through a months-long public process to pick a new name for the space just outside City Hall.

“Union Plaza is the ideal name for this important gathering place,” said Fabrizio Sasso, executive director of the Sacramento Central Labor Council. “It’s a place for all Sacramentans to meet and organize, and has been for decades. This new name reflects that proud history.”

Sasso helped lead the labor movement’s push behind the Union Plaza name, and it was working people who made the recommendation possible, turning out in the city’s survey to cast their votes. More than 2,600 people took part in the process, submitting over 350 unique name suggestions. Union Plaza came out on top with 450 responses, nearly double the next closest option, Dolores Huerta Park.

The Parks & Community Enrichment Commission is scheduled to take up the recommendation at its Oct. 1 meeting. If the commission signs off, the proposal moves to the Sacramento City Council, which will have the final say.

City leaders framed the recommendation as the product of genuine community input rather than a decision made behind closed doors. “Renaming a public space with this much history deserves a thoughtful and transparent process,” said Mayor Kevin McCarty in a city publication. “This park has long stood as an emblem of the laborers and organizers who built Sacramento. Union Plaza recognizes the park as a place where Sacramentans have come together for generations and will gather for years to come.”

Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes, who sat on the council subcommittee that reviewed the results, said the feedback consistently pointed back to the plaza’s role as a shared civic space. “Neighbors shared thoughtful feedback about the park’s history, its role as Sacramento’s gathering place and the values they want reflected in its future,” Talamantes said.

Mayor Pro Tem Eric Guerra, who also served on the subcommittee, said any new name needs to honor the full range of people who shaped the region. “We have a responsibility to recognize the people who have worked and are caretakers of the land, from the original native people to laborers, and farm workers who have built the Sacramento Region,” Guerra said.

Other names that drew significant support in the survey included Farmworker Plaza, People Plaza, Plaza Park and Nisenan Plaza, reflecting themes of labor history, the farmworker movement, Indigenous stewardship and the site’s long-standing role as a civic gathering place.

The plaza dates back to Sacramento’s original 1849 city plan and has served as one of the city’s most recognizable public spaces for more than 175 years, known at different points as City Plaza and Plaza Park. It has hosted markets, performances, celebrations and public demonstrations throughout its history.