It ain't gonna be Broadway. Too much money o on the west side of that one -- DOA. That leaves 39th and Grand. A lot of residential on 39th, including parts of Laurelhurst and Alameda. Doesn't sound too likely. Grand -- the couplet with MLK -- seems by far the most logical choice of the three. ¡Vaya por el stritcar!

All I can think about is Caesar Chavez Blvd where I grew up in Texas...it runs right through a neighborhood filled with Hispanics and Latinos from many corners of the world, that was built by Latinos and Hispanics from the bare earth on up. Boy, do I miss that part of America...

Does anyone care to point out the important connection that the famous Marxist activist has with Portland in general, and those streets in particular ?

Grand -- the couplet with MLK -- seems by far the most logical choice of the three.

Since every part of the City must have a named district, we shall name this district the Melting Pot District.

I can't wait to hear someone giving directions:

"Go east on Burnside, past Martin Luther King, then left on César Estrada Chávez."

It may be a mouthful, but it sure makes me feel good.

BTW: How come only recently renamed streets get the full name treatment?

How come only recently renamed streets get the full name treatment?

Too many Kings, for one thing.

The City Council rejected renaming SW and NW King Avenue (named after Amos Nahum King, an early Portland landowner) for Dr. King, perhaps because it wasn't grand enough: it runs for only four or five blocks.

The largest geographic feature named after Dr. King is, I believe, King County in Washington. It was originally named after William Rufus Devane King, who served -- very briefly -- as vice president in the 1840s. The King County board voted years ago to rename the county after Dr. King, an elegant and economical solution to their P.C. problem.

King County also spent several hundred thousand dollars studying the name change and commissioning a new county symbol, which I didn't even know they had before. Something I am sure Sam Adams, the City Council, and Metro aspire to copycat like everything else Seattle, SF, and Europe thinks of.

Does anyone care to point out the important connection that the famous Marxist activist has with Portland in general, and those streets in particular ?

How DARE you ask a relevant question when there's PC pandering under way. I've yet to get an answer from the hundreds of times I've posted that question on blogs since last year.
The answer is NONE.

I agree that it's likely that Grand Avenue, if any, will be selected. (I might also personally not be terribly offended by renaming NE Broadway, but not NW and SW Broadway, after Chavez.)

Isn't there some requirement that the whole street be renamed? Are NW/SW Broadway and NE Broadway part of the same street? What, then, about the Broadway Bridge?

Allan L.:

I am not sure what the answers are to your questions.

I recall the tail end of the last debacle, when the city council floated that stinker of an idea to rename 4th Avenue for Chavez. When some people rightly pointed out that 4th Avenue north of Burnside is CHINATOWN, someone said, "Okay, we'll just change 4th Avenue to Chavez south of Burnside."

That was back when the rules were irrelevant, so I am not sure how such a change might be handled in the supposed new age of the city council following the law.

I hope they go for Grand, where the illegal immigrants are lining up to work under the table for rich people who don't want to pay Americans when they can get away with paying a Hispanic much less. Yeah, let's put it there. Go on City Council... I dare you!

I've seen similar things happen in places like Walnut Creek and Los Gatos. Hee, hee, hee. Go on City Hall, go for it.

I'm still holding out for Glisan, since nobody knows anything about the guy the street was named after, and everyone mispronounces it (Glisan is supposed to rhyme with "listen.")

Of cours, if they chose Glisan, it would upset the alphabetical order of the streets in NW Portland. Maybe Couch? A lot of newbies don't know how to pronounce that street name, either.

The city code currently prohibits renaming only part of a street. It's all or nothing. Trust me, it's going to be Grand or nothing.