September 18, 2019
Milpitas City Council Approves Moving Forward to Rename a Portion of Dixon Landing Road to Barack Obama Boulevard
City Council directed staff to look at the street renaming process, including associated costs, neighborhood impact and community outreach
On Tuesday evening, the Milpitas City Council took action to move forward with renaming a portion of Dixon Landing Road to Barack Obama Boulevard. Following Council discussion and public testimony, the Council directed staff to return to Council with the renaming process, including identifying associated costs with address changes, signage, etc.; assessing neighborhood impact; and conducting community outreach. The vote was 3-2, with Councilmember Montano and Mayor Tran dissenting. City staff expects to bring the requested information back to Council for consideration by the end of the year.
To provide clarification to several media reports, the street name change was not officially approved by the City Council during last evening’s meeting. Rather, the Council directed staff to return to Council with more information on the process necessary to change the street name. Once the requested information is brought back to the City Council, they would then have the opportunity for formal consideration to change the name.
The request was originally made by Councilmembers Nuñez and Phan, citing that if the street were to be renamed, it would be the first Barack Obama Boulevard in Silicon Valley and that the street leads into the Sunnyhills Community, known as one of America’s first planned integrated communities.
Several City Ordinances relate to street naming. Milpitas Municipal Code, Title XI-1000 Street Names, refers to a few street names. Government Code Section 34093 also spells out the duty of City Clerk to notify the County of new or changed street names.
