Title
Consideration of a Citizen Petition Submitted by Mr. Jerry Van Gasse - District 8
Description
This report provides the City Council with information in response to a citizen petition submitted by Jerry Van Gasse at the June 17, 2026 Formal City Council meeting regarding the renaming of the Cesar Chavez Park and Community Center located at 7858 S. 35th Avenue (Attachment A).
Report
Summary
The petitioner requests the City Council to take specific actions regarding the renaming of the former Cesar Chavez Park and Community Center. The petition requests the City Council formally communicate its preference for the names Jesse Owens Park and Jesse Owens Community Center. It further asks the City Council to direct staff to advance that name, reject the existing survey as an accurate measure of public sentiment, and ensure full transparency about how the six proposed names were selected and how the survey was designed and distributed.
On March 18, 2026, Mayor Kate Gallego, Councilwoman Betty Guardado, and Councilwoman Laura Pastor submitted a Formal Meeting Item Request outlining three actions in response to recent public reports alleging misconduct by Cesar Chavez. Their request asked the City Council to rename the March 31 holiday as Farmworker’s Day, begin the process of renaming all City facilities that currently bear the name Cesar Chavez, and remove City installed signage honoring him. The Phoenix City Council approved these actions on March 25, 2026.
On March 26, 2026, per the Parks and Recreation Board Park Naming Policy 3.3, the Parks and Recreation Board approved staff to begin the formal renaming process for Cesar Chavez Park and Cesar Chavez Community Center.
The Park, located at 7858 S. 35th Avenue, covers over 180 acres and features a wide range of amenities, including ball fields, basketball courts, a dog park, drinking fountains, grill and picnic areas, playgrounds, racquetball courts, a community center, restrooms, shade structures, a skate park, soccer fields, tennis courts, urban fishing areas, and volleyball courts.
Classified as a regional park, it also has a five-mile service radius used to gather community input during public engagement processes. This feedback helps guide facility improvements, and in this case, the potential renaming of both the park and the community center.
To collect public input on new name options, the Parks and Recreation Department created an electronic survey and presented six suggested names, each selected for its historical or cultural relevance to the area. The proposed names and their meanings were as follows:
Arizona Sunset Park and Arizona Sunset Community Center: Reflects the striking colors of Arizona’s sunsets, which illuminate the surface of the park’s 28-acre lake and offers scenic views enjoyed by the community.
Desert Oasis Park and Desert Oasis Community Center: Highlights the park’s lake as a natural refuge for Arizona wildlife, providing a safe habitat for more than 100 fowl and a variety of fish.
Aguila Park and Aguila Community Center: “Aguila,” Spanish for “eagle,” aligns with the adjacent Aguila Golf Course.
Laveen Park and Laveen Community Center: Emphasizes the strong connection between the park and the surrounding Laveen community.
Holstein Heritage Park and Holstein Heritage Community Center: Honors Laveen’s long standing dairy farming history, symbolized by the Holstein cow sculptures displayed within the park.
Farm Workers Park and Farm Workers Community Center: Recognizes the farm workers who once cultivated the area’s agricultural fields, where crops such as alfalfa, cotton, and produce were grown and harvested.
Additionally, survey respondents were given the opportunity to propose their own name suggestions in a write-in area on the survey.
Staff promoted the survey through multiple channels, including posting signs with QR codes throughout the park, distributing flyers and a message board at the community center, sending more than 14,500 emails to community center participants with the survey link, and sharing announcements on the Parks and Recreation social media pages, Nextdoor, and the Mayor and Council pages.
The survey ran from May 15 to June 14, 2026, and received a total of 1,843 responses. Of these, 1,365 responses (74 percent) came from within the park’s service radius. The name that received the highest number of votes, both overall (565 votes) and within the service area (445 votes) was Aguila Park and Aguila Community Center, as shown in Attachment B.
Request for Approval of New Name for the Park and Community Center at 35th Avenue and Baseline Road is an agenda item for discussion and possible action at the June 25, 2026 Parks and Recreation Board meeting.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends the citizen petition be rejected.
Location
7858 S. 35th Avenue
Council District 8
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Cynthia Aguilar and the Parks and Recreation Department.