Did California's 20 Dollar Minimum Wage Really Help Fast Food Workers?

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And we continue at two oh five in the afternoon on the John and Phillips Show. Mister Randy wanings across the glass Well. That was fast. Karen Bassett. A press conference this morning announced that it's no longer Caesar Chavez Day. On the thirty first, it's farm Worker's Day. I guess there's already a move in San Francisco to change the name of the street back to what it was before, Army Street. That's right. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is a telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. It is our pleasure and welcome our next guest to the program. He is a columnist for Calmatters. You can read him online at calmatters dot org and follow him on exit Dan Calmatters, Dan Walters. Welcome, yoh, thank you well, thanks so much for stopping by. And it's been a wild week here in California just watching all of this news about Caesar Chavez drop where not only are we learning shocking detail, shocking allegations that are coming out against him from some of those who were the closest to him in his social network back when he was running the United farm Workers but how fast everyone just seems to be dropping him where. They're changing the names of holidays, they're changing the names of schools, they're changing the names of streets, you name it. They can't erase this guy fast enough, No, it can't.

00:01:26
Speaker 2: It's it is an amazing thing. How uh you know, you kind of look at this in an historic context. It's not unusual to find out that people who are considered to be kind of heroic figures at the time if stuff comes out about them later on and later on about that happened John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and I mean there, you know, it's this is a it's a thing. If you know about history, you know that it takes a while for the full story to come out about historic characters, and that the instant judgment when they're when they're famous at the time doesn't necessarily mean they'll stay that way in the long run. It is a it is a it's an interesting phenomena. This is probably one of the most spectacular examples of that from a guy who was basically almost a living god, you know in many circles to Hey, you know, had a bust of him in the Oval office with Joe Biden's there and things like that. How fast you know, he just completely does a fast turn around, a one hundred and eighty degree turn in nanoseconds. I mean, it's interesting that the la that they excuse me, the New York Times spent five years pursuing this story. It's very interesting.

00:02:45
Speaker 1: Why now, why do you think all of this is coming out now? And it seemed like everyone knew it was coming, or everyone in that world knew it was coming, because they all had statements ready to go before the piece even dropped where they announced that they would be dropping him from whatever it was that, whatever affiliations they had with him.

00:03:05
Speaker 2: No, I don't think. I don't think it was known in advance. As soon as the as the New York Times story hit, that's when it happened. But people around Caesar Chavez knew about this, and they were it was a cover up. Perhaps maybe that's too strong a word, but an unwillingness to let the movement get tarnished by that, and that was what, of course, Dolores Wuerta said, she claimed, and she says she was rased twice by Cesar Chavez, but she stayed quiet about it because she did not want to spoil the movement, but it was known in his circles. There was a book written about Caesar Chavez about twenty years ago, and it went into the kind of the seamier side of his career and that he had developed as kind of a cult of the personality and kind of got full of himself, so to speak. And so there was that was a kind of the be opening thing of well, maybe this guy isn't so great after all. And that book was denounced in many circles, Oh can you say such a thing, and ah blah, blah blah. But it was the first hint that there was something a darker side to Caesar Chavez than most people thought at the time, that about twenty years ago you.

00:04:24
Speaker 1: Put out an interesting tweet where you said a bit of Caesar Chavez trivia. He delivered a presidential nominating speech for Jerry Brown at the nineteen seventy six Democratic Convention. Brown's other nominating speaker was Edwin Edwards, the governor of Louisiana who later went to prison on a variety of corruption charges. He's the one who ran against David Duke and said, the only way I'm going to lose this election is if they catch me in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.

00:04:53
Speaker 2: Yep, that's him all right. Quite a character.

00:04:57
Speaker 1: And Caesar was very close to Jerry Brown.

00:05:01
Speaker 2: Yeah they were. I don't know how personally close they were, they certainly were allies. And that one of Jerry Brown's first things he did and becoming governor in nineteen seventy five was to try to get past a farm labor bill to oversee union elections in the fields. And and he got it. He got it. It took a number of months and a lot of back room negotiating with the farm community to get it done, but he did get it done. So it gave the farm workers Union a kind of a legal standing that didn't have before. I remember the National Labor Relations Act excludes farm workers, so that they needed one at the state level to have traction, so that they could compel farmers to have elections and negotiate contracts. As it turned out, it didn't do very much for the union for a lot of reasons. It never it never had the success story that they were hoping to have for a lot of other reasons that came about afterwards. But yeah, Jerry Brown was did a big favorite for season Chevet by getting that legislation passed.

00:06:21
Speaker 1: You have a peace out now that talks about the state's law on minimum wage twenty dollars minimum wage for fast food workers, and you wanted to take a look at what impact it would have on that industry and for consumers here in California a fast food What did you find.

00:06:41
Speaker 2: Well, it's not what I found, it's what a group of researchers that Santa Cruz found. They went out an economics lecturer there on the faculty, got it, put together a team of undergraduates at you see, Santa Cruz, and they went out and actually talked to fast food opera readers in Santa Cruz and over in the Central Valley, more than one hundred of them. They visited them, said what happened after this twenty dollars wage went into effect, which went in effect exactly two years ago this coming next month in April, and they that's what they want to know. How did it really work, you know, not how it theoretically, how did it really worked? And what they found was what really seemed logical at the time and what the industry said at the time when they were passing this legislation back in twenty twenty three, that it would raise costs which they would have to pass on to consumers, so it would raise prices of fast food. It would make them cut down on their labor costs by limiting over time or going to automation. They said all this back in twenty twenty three, and the advocates of the bill said, no, no, no, that that won't happen. People were just going to do something for the fast food workers and so they can earn a better living. Well, this study that was done in the field, unit by unit found it exactly what the industry said. It did all of these things. It raised prices, it lowered the number of jobs and fast food, and it brought automation along. Not only did it create fewer jobs, but the owners, because of the twenty dollars wage, also would not let their workers run over time, so they cut down their hours. In addition having fewer workers, the workers that were kept on the payroll worked fewer hours to for to try to make up for the fact that they were gonna have to pay twenty dollars tower, and it still again raised prices of food. So yeah, that's what happened, and it was kind of like economics, one a to expect that. But at the time, the people who supported this bill, there were some union people, a lot of Democrats, and legislature of course signed by Governor Newsom, said no, this is just going to be this is not going to have any great fake other than the fast food workers will make more money. Well, this is what happened.

00:09:11
Speaker 1: I'll tell you something else, and I don't know if it showed up in the study or not, but just something that I've observed myself anecdotally, and that is, you go into a McDonald's early in the morning. I go to bed early, I wake up early, so when I go and pick up coffee, I'm usually there pretty early in the morning. And you see the old timers that are all sitting there together with the newspaper open, and they're talking about the games the night before, and they're talking about the headlines and all of that. We've all seen it a million times when elderly people go into these fast food joints. They don't want to use the kiosk, they don't want to order off of the app on their iPhone. Some of them don't have iPhones. They don't know how to order it off of a phone. They like walking in and seeing a person there that they can talk to and they can order their food from. In so many of these locations, there's not even the ability to order your food from a live human. All of it has to be done from a kiosk or your phone. And if you don't know how to use the kiosk or your phone, you're out of luck. I would imagine that since they moved to automation and they got rid of all of these people, the experience for seniors who want to go in there and talk to a real life human being got a whole lot worse.

00:10:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think in most of these places, if you stand there long enough, somebody will come out and take your order. But there's not anybody stationed at the cash register typically. But like I said, once in a while, the glance out there and see if fenty bunch and they will come out and take your order. But it takes it's while to do it, and it's not something that's done regularly. You're right, they expect you to use the kiosk. Many times they're out of order, by the way I have experience, and so when I wrote about this in twenty eighteen because I saw my first McDonald's kiosk. I happened to be in Pisimo Beach and I hadn't seen him before, and I wrote a column about how this he's Kiosks and it was a part of a thing that what was going on at that time is that the state had raised the overall minimum wage for everybody and this was a response to that. So it began that with that. Uh And at the time McDonald's people said, no, no, no, this has nothing to do with cutting costs. This is so that our people can go deliver the food to your table more easily, and it's just it's a it's a convenience thing. But it was pretty obvious at the time that they saw the handwriting on the wall that the minimum wage is going to go up and they were going to do what they could to offset that with automation. Like I said, this is this was eight years ago, so you know this has been going on for a while.

00:11:56
Speaker 1: We're speaking with Dan Walters, who you can follow on x at Dan Callmatters.

00:12:02
Speaker 2: Dan.

00:12:02
Speaker 1: There is a new poll out for the mayor of Los Angeles that shows her at nineteen point something percent of the electorate getting behind her for reelection. Spencer Pratt, the reality show star, came in second place, and Nitia Ramin, the socialist member of the city council, came in third place. If you're an incumbent running for reelection and you end up with nineteen point whatever percent of the vote in a poll, that puts you in the danger zone before you we just had Spencer Pratt in studio here for an hour where I peppered him with questions about issues going on in the city. And I'll tell you it was unbelievably refreshing because, unlike a lot of politicians, he answered all of the questions directly. He had clearly thought it through, he had clearly done his reading. And I think that when you look at what Karen bass is or how she's playing this election, she's trying to pump him up to make sure that he's the one that ends up on the November ballot with her, because she thinks he would be easier to beat than a socialist candidate. And I look at this and I say, lady, be careful with what you wish for, because I remember in twenty sixteen when Hillary Clinton wanted to run against Donald Trump because.

00:13:18
Speaker 2: She thought stop over him will.

00:13:20
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you after spending an hour in here with him, she better watch out.

00:13:27
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I think I don't think there's any doubt. I mean, if they have obvious for months that Karen bass Is is a troubled politician and she she was in trouble if she had an acceptable opponent, that's her because you know, as you know, in elections it's not only people don't people don't just vote for somebody, they also vote against somebody. And if she had an acceptable opponent that she might be in trouble in prep may be that acceptable point, although she has to look at it this way. She doing better than all the Democrats in the poll for governor.

00:14:04
Speaker 1: That's very true. None of them have hit nineteen percent.

00:14:08
Speaker 2: They top out right now in the latest poll of thirteen percent.

00:14:12
Speaker 1: What's going on with that? Because right now, the latest poll that came out shows the two Republicans in first and second place, with Eric Swallwell and Katie Porter being the top two performing Democrats. This is not a one off. We've seen these results before, and we've seen them enough times to where well, clearly the chairman of the Democratic Party is worried about it. But do you think that the alarm bells are going off right now at Democratic Party headquarters all over the state.

00:14:42
Speaker 2: I think they are, And I also think they don't know what to do about it. Frankly, they've tried, you know, they publicly have asked people to drop out. They got one guy that dropped out and call their own, but everybody else is staying in. Even the people are down there in that poll at one percent. Ee and and Tony Thurman, they're at one percent and they're still there. In fact, I was at a a forum for the candidates just a few hours ago here in Sacramento. Only four of them showed up, by the way, Uh and uh, those two plus Villa Ragosa and Tom Sire were the only ones who showed up. I mean, what struck me about that is there were like thousands of people at this housing conference. These were left leaning activists, I'm sure about ninety nine percent Republicans. It was all about low income housing and so forth, and yet only four Democratic candidates showed up for this forum. I mean, it's just it's just it's weird. It's weird. It's like everybody had a death wish or something. It's I mean, look at the the state Federation of Unions couldn't decide on a candidate, so they endorsed four of them. I mean, this is this is a really a weird situation. It's a it's something to do with a fact. I think, just as guessing that a party that is so dominant in the state just kind of takes it all for granted. It can't really generate any real enthusiasm within the party or outside the party or anywhere else. This is a very, very weird election. And yes, the two Republicans are sitting in there at the top, not you know, not huge number, what sixteen seventeen percent, But here we are. You know, it's we think about the election in June. The voting in this election begins in the first week of May. That's not very long away you think about it. It's about what eight weeks or something like that, six seven weeks. And yet here we are with the top Democrats, two Democrats stating there at thirteen percent each, followed by Tom Steyer, who spent fifty million dollars to finally get himself into ten percent. This is a very weird election that you just cannot handicap by any traditional way. So could two Republicans wind up one two? Yeah, it could happen, It's still not can't say it's likely to happen. But and interestingly enough, the only probably the only way a Republican could be elected governor is for those two guys to finish one two, because if it's only one of them, they'll probably get blown away by the Democrat. So there's the discussion. Also a question for the Republican Party. Do they their only chance probably having a governor, to have their candidates finish one too? So what's being what are the Republicans doing to help thatdd long That's another question, right, But this thing is just weird. It's just a strange set of dynamics that unlike anything I've ever seen and anything I have ever heard about in California politics to have this kind of dynamic at this point in the in the election year.

00:18:15
Speaker 1: Dan Walters, dean of the Sacramento Press Corps, columnist for cal Matters. You can read them online at calmatters dot org and follow him on exit Dan Callmatters. Dan Walters, thanks so much for joining us. You're welcome Don Philip Show. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is a telephone number. One eight hundred two two two five two two two. And Randy, if you would have listened to the podcast version of our interview with Spencer Pratt, that's easy to do. We just posted the podcast of John's in person, in studio interview with Spencer Pratt, who is running for La Mayor. If you didn't get a chance to hear it, you can get it by searching for the John Phillips Show. Wherever you get your podcast, whether that's the Apple podcast app, iHeart, Spotify, search for the John Phillips Show, hit subscribe. You can download all the episodes you can on YouTube. If you did hear it, we want you to share that interview with your friends, your family, your social network. You got people in your life that are voters in the city of Los Angeles. Make sure they hear what Spencer Pratt has to say, so share that interview. Share it often. The interview is titled Spencer Pratt is running for Los Angeles Mayor. How original eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. And Randy. If you want to listen to us on Saturday in Fresnow, that's easy to do. Boy. I thought, with plugging the Spencer Pratt thing, we didn't need to plug KMJAY this hour, but I guess we do because that's what we do here. We love to promote our Saturday one hour best of in the Central Valley. If you want to listen to even more of us, and by even more, I mean a repackaged version of the stuff you've already heard, probably from a few weeks ago, all you gotta do is listen to five eighty on the AM dial or one to five point nine a FM on Saturdays at noon if you're driving through the Central Valley or anywhere. You could stream it at kmjnow dot com. It's the fixed California hour replay Saturdays at noon on KMJ, the by far most heavily promoted best of in radio history. So we just spoke with Dan Walters of cow Matters about the crazy race going on right now for governor where the Democrats, despite the fact this is a deep blue state, could be left off the November ballot if the current polling holds well. The current polling also says that the vast majority of Californians are not paying attention to this, and it also says that Katie Porter is tied for the bronze. Poor Katie.

00:21:07
Speaker 3: You can small it right here.

00:21:09
Speaker 1: For more on the latest Paul here is NBC LA and Conan Nolan.

00:21:14
Speaker 4: There are less than three months ago now before California's June primary, and the status faced with a historic, unprecedented possibility two Republicans heading into the November runoff.

00:21:25
Speaker 2: It is.

00:21:26
Speaker 1: You know, there may be Californians that don't even know there's an election, because even though Tom Steyer is buying every ad, there are some people that get click on the TV every time they see his face, so they don't even know why he's on the TV. Well, if Tom Steyer keeps buying up all of the inventory, what's o ZIMPA gonna do.

00:21:47
Speaker 4: Two Republicans heading into them.

00:21:49
Speaker 1: He's gonna buy so much time they're going to start selling split screen ads.

00:21:53
Speaker 4: Two Republicans heading into the November runoff.

00:21:56
Speaker 5: It is a scenario that may have just been solidified according to them.

00:22:00
Speaker 1: No, it hasn't. It may be possible, but it has not been solidified.

00:22:06
Speaker 5: Colleen may have just been solidified according to the latest poll from UC Berkeley. Rcona. Nolan joins his life from the newsroom to break it down and to explain this con it right.

00:22:16
Speaker 6: So, this is a potential nightmare scenario for the California Democratic Party and the millions of registered Democrats in this very blue state. There are so many Democrats running for governor that they're splitting up the vote and that could result in the two leading Republicans finishing one and two in June, meaning they would go on and only them onto the November runoff.

00:22:38
Speaker 1: Now, if that happens, the top two primary system will be repealed in.

00:22:45
Speaker 6: January onto the November runoff. Now here's the poll of the UC Berkeley Center for Governmental Studies in La Times Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. Hilton, the former Fox News host, Chadbianco, the Riverside County sheriff one and two, followed I eight Democrats, Eric Swallwell, the Democratic congressman from the Bay Area, Katie porter of Orange County, former Congresswoman Tom Starr, the billionaire out of the Bay Area in double digits.

00:23:11
Speaker 1: They are, although he's polling lower than he was. Again, you know, different polls can sample different things. They're all within the margin of error of each other. But you're seeing a little bit of momentum. Maybe not happening with all the money that Styr is spending. With all the money that he's spending, he should be in first or second place. You would assume, I mean, voters are dumb, but they're not that dumb. Again, if money could really buy you elections, Rick Caruso would be mayor of Los Angeles right now, and Al Checki would have been governor a long time ago. Money doesn't buy you everything. Just ask Meg Whitman. You know one thing it does by you? What's that happiness? You know how you can tell hand me one hundred dollars and watch me smile.

00:23:59
Speaker 6: Out of the Bay Area in double digits, they are in the running. Then's the secondary of candidate's former HHS secretary. Have you ever Sarah five percent former?

00:24:09
Speaker 1: How do you feel if you're baky Rhea and you turn on the TV to Channel four and they refer to you as second tier. Oh he's not gonna like that. I mean, it's true, but it's still got to hurt. Scrub it. And you know, he's been running for about a year now and he never really upholled ever above five percent. And I think it's because his first interview was with Alex Michaelson and he said this over and over and over again. Scrub it. He sounded like my dentist. Scrub it.

00:24:43
Speaker 6: Then's the secondary of candidate's former hhis Secretary Javiervera Sarah five percent, former mayor of La Antonio Viragosa four.

00:24:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's never broken above five percent either. He's on the show tomorrow. By the way, you may have just cursed it. Oh maybe he'll be here.

00:25:07
Speaker 6: Mayheen, he's the mayor of San Jose if just four percent.

00:25:11
Speaker 1: Now, the last poll I think for this thing had Mayhean at two percent. So it's increasing, but it's increasing slowly. And Mayheen is spending money, yes, and he's got a lot of it to spend. And not only does he have a lot of it to spend, but they're independent expenditure groups that support him that are also well financed.

00:25:32
Speaker 6: Mayheen, he's the mayor of San Jose if just four percent, Betti Yee the former controller at one Tony Thurman the superintendent of schools at one other.

00:25:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, at that point, I mean, I know we're still like two and a half months out, but what are Ye and Thurman doing? Well? Don't forget what John Fleischman said when he was on this program. Part of their calculus is that if you're the California Teachers Association, who is not endorsed any when yet, and you're looking at this field and you go, Okay, Styre's a billionaire, we'd have limited control over him. Katie Porter is bipolar, so who wants to bet on that? And Eric Swallwell is someone who would immediately start running for president and would not care about California in the slightest. So he's going to do what works out best for him in terms of his presidential aspirations. If you're the CTA and everyone is bunched together in low digits, why not get behind someone like a Bettye or a Tony Thurman and go, We're going to spend shocking all money on your behalf. We're going to push you over the finish line and the moment that happens, we own you. Well, you could happen, but you could also see what happened with the California Federation of Labor where Lorraine Gonzalez says, we're endorsing four candidates. I don't understand that.

00:27:00
Speaker 6: Bettie the former controller at one, Tony Thurman the superintendent of schools at one others undecided sixteen. This has the Democratic Party so concerned they're putting a pull up.

00:27:09
Speaker 1: Yes, in this specific poll, undecided polled any better than every Democrat running. What does that tell you about the population's attitude about the field. They don't know who these people are.

00:27:21
Speaker 5: No, I don't know enough to give you any good information, but good luck finding someone who does.

00:27:25
Speaker 1: And if they do know who Katie Porter is, they've seen her work. You're out of my shot.

00:27:31
Speaker 6: Schools at one others undecided sixteen. This has the Democratic Party so concerned they're putting a pull up for the next several weeks in order to show the candidates how poorly they're doing and try to get a few of them at least.

00:27:44
Speaker 1: Oh, I can't wait for those to start coming out. Oh yeah, the shame, all the candidates who aren't doing well.

00:27:50
Speaker 6: To drop out in order to solidify the vote for one of the leading contenders. Here's Robin Swanson. Swanson are the Democratic Party.

00:27:59
Speaker 7: I think Kerhicks has said it best that he wants people to really do an honest assessment of their path.

00:28:06
Speaker 1: To victory, especially if you're a candidate of color, and.

00:28:11
Speaker 7: How viable their path is. And as a result, he has commissioned a.

00:28:16
Speaker 1: Poll by you know what, we got to really break this down in terms that the kids can understand. What this poll should be called when they put it out every week is how de lulu are you? This would be the equivalent of putting a scale in front of a refrigerator. It's not a bad idea that soda. Huh, get on board. Let's see what number we're coming in at today.

00:28:41
Speaker 5: And as a.

00:28:42
Speaker 7: Result, he has commissioned a poll by Viterous Research. They're a Los Angeles based polling firm, and those results will be released next week about the Gubernatoil race, and there will be polls released every seven to ten days thereafter so that candidates can honestly assess whether they have a viable path to victory.

00:29:07
Speaker 1: And that threatening letter that nobody took seriously except for Ian Calderon. He said, don't file if you have no path. If you do file, we want you out and endorsing somebody else by April fifteenth. Well, it was easy for him because he wasn't even at one percent.

00:29:23
Speaker 6: Part of the problem for the COUNTI from the Democratic Party is that these candidates decided to file regardless of their standing in the polls, and therefore, even if they drop out, their name will remain on the ballot, and that alone could inhibit chances of a Democrat making the runoff. I'm conan Nola NBC four names.

00:29:40
Speaker 1: I don't know about that, but it is interesting. While we're talking about the top candidates, let's not forget there might be as many as thirty to forty names on that ballot. It's going to be a long ballot. The gadflies are also going to be on there, and even if any of them get half a percent here, it could mean when you have the margins so tight here, it could mean that this thing is still completely wide open. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two If you'd like to email the show. You can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com and Randy Earmonitor in the mail bag. Robert writes in at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. On his prediction for the governor's race, it seems likely that the two candidates for governor will be Republicans. I think the Democrats will turn on Katie Porter. Eric Swalwell has enough name recognition, while Democrats like Tom Steyr only for his money, they hate Katie Porter. I find it so hard to believe that there's only one video of Katie Porter lashing out of her staff, and I expect more videos and testimonies against Katie Porter from her staff to ensure Swallowell gets on the ballot. Get out of my shot. Do you think we're going to get another cooking video this week?

00:31:04
Speaker 8: Carrots?

00:31:07
Speaker 1: And you know, after she gets the carrots, maybe she'll want a croissant. I'm pulling in to the bakery and Toonio Viragosa joins us tomorrow. All right, so we told you that Caesar Chavez's name is being ripped off of buildings far and wide. In California after the allegations of sexual assault and rape were unearthed, and one of those places is San Francisco. Who is going to or who's right? Now, there's a movement from at least one member of the Board of Supervisors to rename Caesar Chavez Street to Army. That's right, after a major effort in the nineties to rename Army to Caesar. Now there's an effort to remain Caesar to Army. For more, here's ABC seven in the Bay and the great Leanne Melendez, who worked there when this original debate happened.

00:31:58
Speaker 3: Back now to our coverage the sex abuse allegations against civil rights icons as our javas in the early nineties, San Francisco decided it was time to honor him by attica his name to buildings and a well known street.

00:32:10
Speaker 9: Now, much to the disappointment of many, it is almost certain that will have to change. An ABC seven eyewitness news reporter land Melendez remembers the controversy that intensified in nineteen ninety five and is here we covered that back then?

00:32:23
Speaker 8: I did? We did now? It was really really intense and it was at times very ugly. I remember now for years, some people kept on calling it Army Street. A few still do today. Now we're going to hear from Susan Leel, the supervisor.

00:32:37
Speaker 1: I gonna imagine if you're door dashing, though you put in Caesar Chavez Street, Well you do if you want your big bag.

00:32:43
Speaker 8: Now we're going to hear from Susan Leel, the supervisor who pushed to have the name changed to Seseth Chaves in nineteen ninety five. She told me it was the first time she received death threats. Adding the name Sesth Chaves to a major se San Francisco thoroughfare was controversial. In nineteen ninety five, thirty one years ago, this city was clearly divided over the proposed name change from Army to Cesar Chavez Street. This was the sentiment in nineteen ninety five.

00:33:16
Speaker 2: I favor Army Street.

00:33:18
Speaker 1: I was born and raised here.

00:33:19
Speaker 8: I think Chevez was an important person, and I think it's wonderful that we honor him this way. The decision has been made, and Army doesn't mean anything.

00:33:30
Speaker 1: Army doesn't mean anything. Huh, what are you in Switzerland?

00:33:36
Speaker 8: Even after the board of supervisors voted to change the name to Cesar Chavez another proposal appeared on the ballot to change it back to Army Street.

00:33:45
Speaker 1: Voters, this has been a fight for a long time.

00:33:49
Speaker 8: Voters ended up rejecting it.

00:33:51
Speaker 10: We may end up with a freeway sign that says Chavis Street.

00:33:54
Speaker 8: Then San Francisco Supervisor Susan Leal was the main proponent behind naming the street after a labor leader. Today after that.

00:34:02
Speaker 1: By the way, just think about how much time, energy, and political capital goes into renaming a street. Well, think about if your business is on that street, and you have stationery, and you have websites, and you have signs on your building and all those sorts of things.

00:34:19
Speaker 8: Today, after the current allegations, everything has changed.

00:34:23
Speaker 10: We have to change the name.

00:34:26
Speaker 4: We have to change they have to change an am.

00:34:28
Speaker 8: Yet, there are other notable locations named after Chavez, like the San Francisco State University student Union. A mural in his honor was also dedicated in nineteen ninety five.

00:34:39
Speaker 1: That's going to get tagged, Well, shouldn't they do it in an elementary school where everyone is under eighteen, And like in many.

00:34:48
Speaker 8: Other cities, a school in San Francisco also bears his name. The mural at the school in the Mission District seems to portray Chavez as a saintly figure holding the hands of children.

00:35:00
Speaker 1: Oh boy, don't even start, all right, that'll be good for Leale.

00:35:06
Speaker 8: It has been a heartbreaking moment in nineteen ninety five. There's a quote from you that says, oh, every day you look at that street sign, you should feel great.

00:35:19
Speaker 1: I think Caesar said that too to one of them.

00:35:21
Speaker 10: Oh boy, well that just brings tears to me right now, because that movement was more than a man. And I remember walking with my mom and she would, you know, in some of the protests they had about the farm workers. You know, she picked fruit very briefly, but as a child she picked fruit, so she had a connection to this, and so for me, it was very personal, very personal.

00:35:50
Speaker 8: Leale says, perhaps a more suitable name would be end Abuse or Peace.

00:35:56
Speaker 1: Wait, we're gonna call it end Abuse Street? That is so dumb. Make it Army Street again. Well, you know who's from San Francisco, O. J. Simpson. Why not name it after him? Oh boy, what's.

00:36:14
Speaker 7: Going on America?

00:36:16
Speaker 8: Leale says, perhaps a more suitable name would be end of use or Peace.

00:36:23
Speaker 1: There's going to be a lot of violence on Pace Street. I wouldn't do that. Sometimes your name is your destiny.

00:36:30
Speaker 8: And San Francisco Unified issued a statement today saying they share in the community's concerns regarding the recent allegations involving Sessa Chaves. Now, in order to change the name of that elementary school, it would require a proposal from a school board member and then the entire board would then vote. But you know, they say that might take time. But I'm hearing on the street that they are going to change names left and right and move quickly, and move quickly. I could just see it.

00:37:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you Caesar who, Well, you can just get rid of the last name and just I don't know, convince people. That's named after the salad, Caesar Salad High School. I'm all about it. Hold the angovies, although I think it's spelled differently, is it because Caesar Salad is c ae and this is just cees are So maybe you put a tiny little a in there. Well, Caesar Salad is not Italian. It's not named after the guy in Rome. It's some guy who owned a restaurant in Tijuana. There you go, the latest thing that's going to not be called Caesar Chavez up and down the state of California. I would imagine we could turn this into a daily segment if we wanted to. Do we want to, probably not