Committee picks Abraham Chavez, name for cultural center, but city wants more time

A subcommittee tasked with investigating where and how to build a new Hispanic cultural center presented its report to City Council Tuesday morning, calling for a retrofit of the Abraham Chavez Theater to serve the purpose. The Hispanic Cultural Center Subcommittee, let by District Attorney Jaime Esparza, also recommended that the center be called the Mexican American Cultural Center.

“It’s the name of an institution that will be allowed to tell the story of not just our own personal history, but of the region,” Esparza said. “And we are the pass of the north. And there are some great, great stories that are not being told, because we just don’t have the vehicle to do that. The Mexican American Cultural Center will do that.”

Based on community input and surveys, Esparza said the subcommittee had decided that spending the $5.7 million available on improving and modifying the existing theater would be the best course of action. Those funds were approved for a cultural center by voters in the 2012 Quality of Life bond election.

Esparza said that keeping the center at an existing downtown location made sense because it would help tourism, increase the number of performances, create new revenue and help with downtown development. But the proposed plan would end up requiring public-private partnerships to raise the rest of the money expected to finish the center.

“Well $5.7 million is not enough,” Esparza said. “We knew that from the beginning. I think you have to raise in the ballpark of $20 million, so that we can have really a center that we can be proud of. I think we can do it.”

City Council didn’t take any action on the report and plan however, moving instead to have city staff do further review and investigation before moving forward.