As you may or may not know, San Jose, California has one of the largest Vietnamese-American populations in the United States (approximately 100,000 Vietnamese-Americans -around 10% of San Jose’s population). There has been a brewing debate within the Vietnemes-American community to designate a section of San Jose “Saigon Business District” vs. “Little Saigon”, as reported in The San Jose Mercury article: “ ‘Saigon Business District’ wins - San Jose Council’s Name for Retail District Angers ‘Little Saigon’ Advocate“:
“ In a dynamic and dramatic scene before one of the largest crowds to ever gather at City Hall, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday designated a busy hub of Vietnamese-owned businesses “Saigon Business District,” enraging
several hundred people who stormed City Hall demanding the name “Little Saigon.”…The proposal, which might seem innocuous to non-Vietnamese-Americans, set off a firestorm of controversy within the Vietnamese community here and around the country. [San Jose city council member Madison] Nguyen, who fled Vietnam in 1979 with her family, has been bombarded with criticism for her unwillingness to support the “Little Saigon” name. Nguyen said the area should have its own identity - separate from other Little Saigons. And business owners prefer that the name have “business district” in it. “Little Saigon” is opposed by the Story Road Business Association and the San Jose Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which has members in the area. “Little Saigon” supporters have accused Nguyen of turning her back on her constituents in order to appease the business community.”
Personally, with very little knowledge of this whole controversy, “Saigon Business District” sounds a bit stodgy to me. I mean, I’ve heard of Little Taipei, Little Italy, Chinatown, Koreatown, Japantown, etc… but a moniker with “Business District” sounds very sterile to me. I wonder if this issue alone will cause San Jose council member Madison Nguyen to lose re-election in the future…? In November 2005, Nguyen won a historic race to fill a vacated San Jose council seat in a special election, running against another Vietnamese-American woman, Linda Nguyen.
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Jesse! wrote:
aww yeah, right up next to Keyes St! Reprezent!
hmm, well adding the business district does the following in my opinion:
1) differentiates it from other Little’s and -towns. Did you even know there’s a Japantown in San Jose? Do you care?
2) it’s in sync with the way San Jose and the South Bay tends to totally sterilize anything remotely interesting. “We’re the CAPITOL of Silicon Valley!!! We are business, come here and pay high rents, suckers!” Cases in point: Cupertino long destroyed downtown in favor of a shopping center and wider boulevards and the eviction of the local Downtown SJ club scene to make way for… The House of Blues.
sigh…
Posted on 26-Nov-07 at 9:37 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » San Jose, CA: 2,000 push for ‘Little Saigon’ wrote:
[...] I had mentioned in my posting in November, “San Jose: ‘Saigon Business District’ wins“,the San Jose City council voted to name a part of San Jose “Saigon Business [...]
Posted on 11-Dec-07 at 10:58 am | Permalink
Stanley wrote:
I don’t really care about what name got picked. The only thing that really pissed me off is that the city county + Madison Nguyen did not honor the voting system. If people who cared enough to show up and vote for the name they want, why ignored it? Even if the majority says they want some other name, they should show up to count!!!
Posted on 14-Dec-07 at 12:58 am | Permalink
Simon Bao wrote:
Stanley, can I ask what “voting system” you’re referring to?
The name was not chosen as the result of any “voting system” other than the votes of the San Jose City Council, where the vote was an overwhelming 8-3 in favor of the name now being protested against.
There *were* various polls/surveys/petitions undertaken prior to the city council vote, among Vietnamese Americans living there — but there’s all evidence that those did not solicit opinions from a representative sample of San Jose’s citizens. In fact, the methods by which those were administered guaranteed they would *not* represent the views of SJ’s citizenry.
It’s akin to asking all Philadelphians if they want Allegheny Avenue re-branded as “Sigismund II Augustus Avenue.” And then circulating petitions in support of that, but circulating them only in Little Warsaw. And written only in Polish. And inviting anyone who wants to show up and vote on the issue, but only if they show up at St. Stanislaus. And only if they know about the referendum because they can read about it in Polish. Needless to say, that would have the rest of Philadelphia wondering just what our Polish neighbors think they mean by “democracy.”
That doesn’t really represent a democratic “voting system.”
Posted on 14-Dec-07 at 1:19 pm | Permalink
Nguyen wrote:
Madison used to be an honor to the Vietnamese community. Now she is only a disgrace. The women who helped her in her early stages of office now regret that they have helped her. They didn’t know she would act like this after being elected. Also, another thing, she was invited to the Vietnamese Lunar New Year Festival/Parade in downtown recently and she is pissed so she did something so the mayor/chief of San Jose (our own city’s parade) won’t come while all the mayor/chief of all Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, etc. all came. She is a disgrace, dishonor, and no words can discribe how the Vietnamese community feel about this women who they brought into office. There def. should be a re-call and the name should be Little Saigon as the entire Vietnamese community want it to be call. Not some name who nobody likes and it breaks your mouth off just by saying the whole entire name.
Posted on 13-Feb-08 at 5:18 pm | Permalink
nekochan wrote:
All i can say is that why the hell do you guys even care! i mean its just a freaken name!! Seriously if viet ppl spent all their time doing this i say, are they stupid or what? Do they not have a life or somehthing, those losers. I mean if they care that much go back to Vietnam or something. Also they should just protest about the education system or something useful. that’s all i have to say.
Posted on 05-Mar-08 at 8:38 pm | Permalink
TL wrote:
One side is “Little SaiGon” and the other side is “SaiGon Business District”, why don’t they just combine these two together “Little SaiGon Business District”??? what hard about it? Ain’t the Vietnamese people they don’t have to fight against their own people? Why are they here? because of communist in Vietnam. Therefore, if they really fight, they should fight against Communist in Vietnam. Not their OWN people whose on the same BOAT 1975 from VIetnam to around the world. Just my own OPION.!!!!!!!
Posted on 14-Mar-08 at 5:58 pm | Permalink