A proposal to amend the official name of Guadalajara to “Guadalajara de Alcalde” in honor of Friar Antonio Alcalde will not proceed, its chief promoter, Guadalajara city councilor Luis Cisneros, said this week.
A change is not opportune at this time, he admitted, noting that surveys and polls revealed that 85 percent of the population of Guadalajara are still completely unaware of Alcalde’s life and work.
Cisneros said before changing Guadalajara’s name, greater efforts are required to disseminate the achievements of Alcalde. This will begin, he said, with an initiative to declare him the “Benefactor supremo de Guadalajara” (Supreme benefactor of Guadalajara), designate the newly constructed Paseo Alcalde pedestrian walkway as an “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Guadalajara,” and start a program in schools to instruct students on his accomplishments.