Comments on: San Jose City Council approves ‘Little Saigon’ banners

By: Don’t piss off your Vietnamese constituents! | san francisco punk

Don’t piss off your Vietnamese constituents! | san francisco punk — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:41:34 +0000

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

By: 8Asians.com » 2,000 celebrate ‘Little Saigon’ victory: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog

Tue, 20 May 2008 20:21:42 +0000

[...] 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.” [...]

By: 8Asians.com » ‘Little San Jose’: Vietnamese take Silicon Valley tech culture to Vietnam: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog

Sun, 18 May 2008 20:24:23 +0000

[...] 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.” [...]

By: Dennis

Dennis — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:57:12 +0000

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.

By: John

John — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:33:34 +0000

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/

By: Cat_D

Cat_D — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:28:12 +0000

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.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:22:41 +0000

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.