Phoenix City Council vote to rename light rail station for Greg Stanton marred by controversy

A vote to rename the downtown Phoenix light rail station ended in controversy, bitter disagreement and a refrained vote on Wednesday.

The nine-member City Council voted 7-2 to begin the process to rename the light rail transit center on Central Avenue and Van Buren Street after former Mayor and current U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton. Councilmembers Laura Pastor and Betty Guardado voted no.

Mayor Kate Gallego and the supportive councilmembers said Stanton was a hard-working mayor whose dedication to funding public transportation helped modernize the city.

But Pastor said she was told the hub would be named after her father, the late U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor. Several of the councilwoman's family members, including her mother, Verma Pastor, attended the meeting. They asked the council to delay the vote or instead rename the station after Ed Pastor.

More drama unfolded when Councilman Carlos Galindo-Elvira said he needed to abstain from voting because his employer had been contacted over the matter. The councilman works at Chicanos Por La Causa, where Verma Pastor serves as a board member.

Verma Pastor told The Arizona Republic she was "hoping for support" when she called CPLC about the City Council vote, but she was told CPLC would not get involved.

Galindo-Elvira later told The Republic that CPLC had not tried to exert any influence over his decision but that he recused himself to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest.

Though the councilman verbally refrained from voting, city rules ban voluntary abstentions, so his non-vote was counted as a "yes." Galindo-Elvira said he understood that would occur, making his abstention purely ceremonial.

The vote on Wednesday does not finalize the renaming but rather launches a multi-step process. The city's Heritage Commission will consider the rename request next. After their decision, the vote will come back to the City Council for a final vote.

Arielle Devorah, spokesperson for the mayor, said community input would be gathered at every stage.

Existing Ed Pastor Transit Center at crux of dispute

The sticking point in Wednesday's debate was the status of Phoenix's existing Ed Pastor Transit Center.

Phoenix currently operates a transit hub named for him in south Phoenix at Central Avenue and Broadway Road. City officials Wednesday said that staff had contemplated redeveloping the site because of dwindling activity amid light rail construction.

That sparked conversations about transferring the Pastor title to the downtown station, Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua said. But, he added, the conversations were "informal" and nothing concrete was ever decided.

While the Pastor family and several community members said there were clear commitments from city staff about Pastor's name being used at the downtown hub, Paniagua said the decision to rename a building would be up to Phoenix's Heritage Commission and then ultimately City Council, not city staff.

Councilmembers in support of the Stanton rename said they had never heard about plans to transfer the Pastor name to the downtown hub and suggested it wouldn't make sense to rename the downtown station after him when the south Phoenix transit center still existed.

They instead proposed improving the existing center or finding new, different ways to honor the late congressman.

Pastor's family members were skeptical, though, that the city would ultimately save or improve the existing transit center. They worried the center would become affordable housing — which would be great, they said, but they believe Ed Pastor should be honored in a public transit project, since that was a focus of his.

Why rename the light rail station after Stanton?

Pastor family members gathered outside the council chambers after the vote to vent and console each other.

Robert Pastor, nephew of Ed Pastor, questioned Gallego's motives and accused her of "covering up" Latino history.

Sonya Pastor, niece of Ed Pastor, said it was political chicanery for the City Council to schedule the vote last minute — the mayor, Vice Mayor Debra Stark and Councilmembers Jim Waring and Galindo-Elvira requested the vote on Monday, two days before the meeting.

Gallego told The Arizona Republic she was inspired to rename the station for Stanton after former Phoenix Mayor Thelda Williams died just days before the city renamed the Metro Center light rail station after her.

"It was a reminder that we should do what we can to honor those who have helped write our city’s history when they are here to enjoy it with us," Gallego said.

Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix City Council: Light rail stop renaming vote under scrutiny