The Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, September 30, to change the name of Indio Muerto Street — which means “Dead Indian” in Spanish. “It’s just a bad name for a street, no matter how you cut it,” declared councilmember Oscar Gutierrez. “The name flat-out, bottom line is offensive.” Councilmember Kristen Sneddon wondered how people would react to streets named “Dead Woman or Dead Child,” adding, “It’s unbelievable it took this long.” Councilmember Michael Jordan joined in, agreeing,” When it comes to the smell test, the name is offensive.”
The new name adopted for the narrow Eastside street running from Salinas to Milpas, is Hutash, a Chumash word. How that translates, however, did run into some controversy at the council meeting.
Via Zoom, Marcus Lopez of the Barbareño Chumash Council explained Hutash meant “Mother Earth.” Others, members of a rival band of Chumash, contend it means “God,” and questioned if it was appropriate to name any street after God. (It’s also the name of the Chumash Harvest festival as well as a shiny black seed grain once used by Chumash to make nutritious, oily dough balls.) They questioned whether Lopez and his group were authentic Chumash. Lopez in turn dismissed his critics as a band of “naysayers” who believed they were the only real Chumash.