San Jose City Council approves ‘Little Saigon’ banners

By John | Tuesday, March 25, 2008 | View Comments

In today’s San Jose Mercury News, the newspaper reports in “San Jose City Council approves ‘Little Saigon’ banners:”

“After months of protests, rallies, even a hunger strike, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday voted to allow “Welcome to Little Saigon”banners to informally recognize a Vietnamese retail area on Story Road. The 10-0 vote brought an end to the incredible uproar over the last several months after the council voted to call the area “Saigon Business District,” enraging thousands in the community who wanted “Little Saigon.”… At the center of the months-long firestorm was Madison Nguyen, the only Vietnamese-American on the council. Activists called her a traitor and a liar for initially opposing the name Little Saigon… Nguyen preferred the name Saigon Business District – even though an official city survey conducted last summer showed Little Saigon was the preferred name…. The ordeal zapped time and energy from the city and sparked unwanted international media attention.”

I have to agree. Hopefully this whole controversy is over for good. Saigon Business District doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue… and it was just crazy how much time and negative energy was sucked into this, in my opinion, senseless mess. There are bigger things to worry about in San Jose than naming a neighborhood – like affordable housing and I imagine, an upcoming budget shortfall that all California cities will be facing due to the decline of the economy.

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Dennis

I read the Mercury News article and I’m still confused. Was there a problem with the name Saigon Business District other than people preferring Little Saigon? I feel like I’m missing something because it seems silly to go on a hunger strike just because you don’t like Saigon Business District.
Dennis

I read the Mercury News article and I’m still confused. Was there a problem with the name Saigon Business District other than people preferring Little Saigon? I feel like I’m missing something because it seems silly to go on a hunger strike just because you don’t like Saigon Business District.
Anonymous

I grew up around this area and still have friends and relatives who live there, so I’ve been asking them what’s been going on because I had never seen such heated politics in the San Jose Viet community.

Basically the city put out a survey to ask the community what name they would like for that stretch of business, and the people responded. When the results came out that everyone preferred Little Saigon, they expected their vote to count. Instead, the council overruled the vote and called it Saigon Business District. So the general thinking is, if you want the people to participate and vote, then make it count, otherwise, it’s no different than living in a Communist country where your voice is unheard.

As far as why the survey was even brought up in the first place, I’m pretty sure the business owners and developers of Grand Century Mall just wanted a name to put them on the map and bring more business.

I still don’t like that they are naming that area Saigon whatever, they are sharing that street with other Latin businesses and even a Mexican church.
Cat_D

I grew up around this area and still have friends and relatives who live there, so I’ve been asking them what’s been going on because I had never seen such heated politics in the San Jose Viet community.

Basically the city put out a survey to ask the community what name they would like for that stretch of business, and the people responded. When the results came out that everyone preferred Little Saigon, they expected their vote to count. Instead, the council overruled the vote and called it Saigon Business District. So the general thinking is, if you want the people to participate and vote, then make it count, otherwise, it’s no different than living in a Communist country where your voice is unheard.

As far as why the survey was even brought up in the first place, I’m pretty sure the business owners and developers of Grand Century Mall just wanted a name to put them on the map and bring more business.

I still don’t like that they are naming that area Saigon whatever, they are sharing that street with other Latin businesses and even a Mexican church.
http://www.8asians.com John

Here is a post from November that chronicles the whole controversy:

San Jose: ‘Saigon Business District’ wins
http://www.8asians.com/2007/11/21/san-jose-saigon-business-district-wins/
http://www.8asians.com John

Here is a post from November that chronicles the whole controversy:

San Jose: ‘Saigon Business District’ wins
http://www.8asians.com/2007/11/21/san-jose-saigon-business-district-wins/
Dennis

Thanks, Cat_D and John. While I agree that ignoring the poll wasn’t a good idea, going over everything, this seems to me to be more of reaction against Madison Nguyen than not liking the name of the district.
Dennis

Thanks, Cat_D and John. While I agree that ignoring the poll wasn’t a good idea, going over everything, this seems to me to be more of reaction against Madison Nguyen than not liking the name of the district.
http://www.8asians.com/2008/05/18/little-san-jose-vietnamese-take-silicon-valley-tech-culture-to-vietnam/ 8Asians.com » ‘Little San Jose’: Vietnamese take Silicon Valley tech culture to Vietnam: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog

[...] As I have written before about “Little Saigon” in San Jose, in today’s San Jose Mercury News, there is an interesting story on “‘Little San Jose’: Vietnamese take Silicon Valley tech culture to Vietnam” discussing about how many Vietnamese-Americans in Silicon Valley are returning to Vietnam to start their own companies: “For decades, the Vietnamese who settled in Silicon Valley, which has one of the largest Vietnamese populations outside the Southeast Asian country, and the leaders of Vietnam eyed each other with suspicion, if not hostility. Now Hanoi is luring them back as the country embraces a pro-business path similar to its neighbor, China. In April, government officials held the latest in a series of seminars in Ho Chi Minh City focused on encouraging even more Viet Kieu, the phrase used by locals for Vietnamese who live overseas, to return… Most software outsourcing companies here were founded by Viet Kieu. Overseas Vietnamese hold high-level positions with companies like Intel and venture capital firms. The government reports Viet Kieu entrepreneurs invested about $90 million last year, but that doesn’t count the $5.5 billion that overseas Vietnamese pumped into the economy through remittances to families. That at least was the official tally; experts believe the actual amount of remittances could have been $10 billion.” [...]
http://www.8asians.com/2008/05/20/2000-celebrate-little-saigon-victory/ 8Asians.com » 2,000 celebrate ‘Little Saigon’ victory: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog

[...] As I noted in March, the San Jose City Council agreed to let a privately funded “Welcome to Little Saigon” to go up, replacing the previously named (and later recalled) “Saigon Business District.” On Sunday, the supporters of “Little Saigon” had a celebration, as reported: “Billed as a celebration of their “Little Saigon” victory, about 2,000 Vietnamese émigrés reveled outside San Jose City Hall on Sunday, but the event also doubled as an informal kickoff to the attempted recall of embattled Councilwoman Madison Nguyen. In near-90-degree heat and shielded by umbrellas, activists pumped their fists and cheered as dozens took the stage during the five-hour rally…”I don’t care about the name,” said Brandon Tran, who along with his wife, Novalee, signed the petition Sunday. “It’s the way she treated the community that is unacceptable. She challenged the Vietnamese community.” [...]
http://www.sfpunk.net/2009/03/04/dont-piss-off-your-vietnamese-constituents/ Don’t piss off your Vietnamese constituents! | san francisco punk

[...] At any rate, I guess they wound up convincing the city that the name “Little Saigon” would, indeed, bring sexy back. [...]

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