In 2005, Madison Nguyen made history by becoming the first Vietnamese American to be elected to San Jose’s City Council, but there has been a lot of controversy over naming a section of San Jose “Little Saigon” versus names such as Saigon Business District, to the outrage of the San Jose Vietnamese American community. The naming decision was eventually overturned and allowed to be renamed “Little Saigon,” yet many in the Vietnamese Americans community felt so betrayed by Nguyen; so much so they have organized a recall election of Nguyen, which has come to fruition this March as reported in the Mercury News:
“On March 3, a saga that sprang from a name and a cherished symbol — “Little Saigon” — and that quickly ballooned into a battle for the soul of San Jose’s Vietnamese community, will come to a head. And thousands of residents throughout District 7— nearly three-quarters of whom are not Vietnamese — will decide whether Nguyen should stay or go, just the third time in the city’s history that voters will consider such a question… [The recall backers] also dispute the notion, stressed by Nguyen’s supporters, that this fight is all about a name and a waste of city money … they argue that crime and gang violence have risen under her watch, that she has been a poor steward of the city’s money amid a burgeoning budget deficit, that she has been too cozy with developers and deal makers — and that she has stopped listening to the community. Nguyen, however, says she is more than happy to make the race about her record: new neighborhood parks and a Vietnamese community center, 1,000 jobs at a shopping center at Monterey Highway and Curtner Avenue, and 700 new units of affordable housing.”
I’ve seen Madison a few times at a few Democratic or Asian American political get-togethers, but really don’t know how she has led or governed on the city council for her constituents in San Jose. That said, I am against recall elections; if people are really unhappy with her, I would tell Nguyen’s detractors to run against her when her term is up.
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11 Comments to “Race to Oust San Jose Councilwoman Madison Nguyen Heats Up”
Alan wrote:
Hi John,
Great post. There’s more than meets the eye, if you would like to see what Madison has done you can see a list of her works at http://www.norecallsj.com. Just by looking at that map you can see the improvements that Madison’s leadership has accomplished for her constituents in the last 3 years. Alternatively if you/anyone else wanted more information the recall/no recall websites aren’t that hard to find.
Also the recall folks aren’t helping San Jose’s budget, the cost of each election will cost around 500,000 taxpayers dollars and if Madison is recalled there will be an election open to everyone and most likely a runoff election if someone does not reach 50% of the vote.
Posted on 28-Jan-09 at 9:09 am | Permalink
Angie wrote:
I don’t know Madison Nguyen, I don’t live in San Jose, but from what I’ve read about the whole situation, I think it’s ridiculous to recall a leader just because they weren’t able to get a part of the city named the exact way you wanted it to be named. I mean, as long as the name “Saigon” was eventually part of the revised name for the debated area, I don’t see the big fuss. Besides, I hate to point out the obvious, which is that Saigon is in Vietnam, not San Jose. And Nguyen isn’t only serving the Vietnamese community in San Jose, but all of San Jose’s residents, who are of all ethnicities.
Posted on 28-Jan-09 at 10:31 pm | Permalink
AnotherPointofView wrote:
Whatever the outcome, I just find it crazy that those three words — “Saigon Business District” — might end up being the phrase that defines (and haunts) Madison Nguyen’s political career. That is why Vietnamese never able to hold a politic office because of these retired people. these old folks need to get a life and get it over with. If they want to battle with VC then go back to VN and battle over there. They just speak more than they can do or should I said they are just a bunch of BS retired people. Yes, I am Vietnamese born in VN and grow up in US. That is why I don’t live in the VN community as they can not united to make something usefull other than way till April/30th of each year and bitching about the lost war. stop bitching and go back to VN and make something useful if they can.
Posted on 10-Feb-09 at 10:31 am | Permalink
Bite Me wrote:
B, wh’s cr? W dn’t nd Vt(m) n r cty Hll nywy.
Wht vr thy wnt t rcll Mdsn s fn wth m?
T mch Vt, t mch sht, t mch prblm.
Posted on 10-Feb-09 at 11:27 am | Permalink
canary wrote:
Madison Nguyen is shameless. The way she acted, talked and behaved is so shameless. There are > 5K signatures submitted for recall.Why would she still want to ’serve’? Who does she serve?
if you look at her records, a Ph.D candicate of a whatever thesis and whenever date of graduation, a Master degree in Sociology tittled “Ao dai or Prom dress” and a BA in sociology, her knowledge will never be enough for her to become a leader. I watched her talk, saw her react with people: she is truly an ignorant person. If her father was a Vietnamese officer, why would she deny it before? After she got elected and interviewed by the media, she said she came from a fisherman family. Now that she has offended the Vietnamese community, she suddenly has a father who was officer? A person who denies where she comes from does not know where she goes to.
YES for RECALL. DOWN WITH COMMUNIST SYMPATHIZER. (Because only communists will act negatively to Little Saigon).
It’s true she is not elected to serve the Vietnamese-Americans but all ethnicities. But the Vietnamese American community has its voice too, and its voice is not only the voice of the retired or old people.
Posted on 18-Feb-09 at 7:25 pm | Permalink
canary wrote:
THIS IS A GREAT COMMENT FROM A VIETNAM VET – SAN JOSE
San Jose
Nguyen picked wrong side, should be fired
I used to think recall elections should be reserved for officials who broke the law. The Vietnamese community in San Jose’s District 7 has taught us a lesson in democracy by attempting to recall an official for failure to represent the will of the people.
The naming of a business district is not a great moral issue for which a leader may legitimately fight her own constituents. Councilwoman Madison Nguyen picked the wrong battle to fight. Her opposition to the will of the people shows that she either has extremely poor judgment or she owes her allegiance to people other than her constituents. In either case, Madison Nguyen deserves to be fired by the people who elected her.
The Vietnamese community of District 7 understands how democracy is supposed to work and should be commended for their courage. They’ve made me prouder than ever to be a Vietnam vet.
Richard Salciccia
San Jose
Posted on 18-Feb-09 at 7:33 pm | Permalink
Tran wrote:
Hi all,
For people who do not understand why the name “little Saigon” is so important and symbolic than the “Saigon Business District”, please read
little Saigon to honor and support the people who have fought, killed, and been suffered from the freedom of Vietnam. More than 50,000 US Solders and million of South Vietnam soldiers were killed in the war, and millions people are still suffer from the oppression of the Vietnam communist now.
Yes, we live here to enjoy the freedom as granted. But our relative, brothers, sisters and our Vietnam nation does not have it.
Yet, “Saigon Business District” just the name that the business owners want to be called so that they can easier to do business with anyone including the Vietnam communist.
Our parents, uncles, ants, and first Vietnam generation in US is the most suffer for the cause so please bear that in your mind and that why they have fought hard for the name, for the symbolist of our time. If they do not exist, then you do not have anything even with Madison Nguyen. For her, I just wonder that she or her parents might forget to teach her why they brought her here and why the name is so important that people have fought and killed for.
thanks
Posted on 27-Feb-09 at 12:43 pm | Permalink
john wrote:
isnt the name “Litte Saigon” is already taken by L.A.? why are we gonna have two Little Saigons
Posted on 01-Mar-09 at 11:03 am | Permalink
Phở Kinh Yue wrote:
John, not necessarily. There’s Chinatowns all over the USA as well, ones in SF and ones in LA so I’m guessing Little Saigon can apply the same way. There’s a Little Saigon in Houston, or at least that’s how the Vietnamese community there sees it as. Just like there’s Koreatowns in LA and in Garden Grove. Little Saigon seems more similar to Little Tokyo, just because they are using the name of a city vs a name of a country.
Now I’m not from San Jose, but looking at how Madison Nguyen is being accused of being a communist because she chose the name “Saigon Buisness District” to me is wrong. The Communist changed the name Saigon in Vietnam to “Ho Chi Minh City” in Vietnam. So why would the communist be wanting to work with her when the communist didn’t even want to keep the name Saigon in the first place? Saigon was an actual city that existed before Pre-Communist power in Vietnam. Little Saigon is a name that was picked by the refugees that moved to USA.
From her point of view, Madison Nguyen decided to go with the name “Saigon Business District” because two of the popular names that were given were “Little Saigon and New Saigon”.
She has her own Youtube channel and talks about these exact issues and what she also has done or will do for the Vietnamese community there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK-1O-qgJjI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWM3GmwSpCo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJBb5rmVa7Y
If Madison Nguyen decided to go with “Ho Chi Minh City Business District”, then there might be justification for calling her a communist. If Madison Nguyen was using the Communist Flag instead of the flag with the red stripes/South Vietnamese flag, then I could understand why she’s being called a communist.
This whole anti-communist issue is very similar to how Taiwanese feels about the Chinese government. Many Vietnamese refugees or war vets will protest the communist flag any chance they get. I remember going to a Vietnamese concert here in USA, and there were protesters outside just because the singers were from Vietnam.
Madison Nguyen even talks about being called a “communist” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZRrgIdx5sA.
In all fairness, I’d look more at Madison Nguyen’s record and what she has done for the community as a whole vs a simple name such as “Saigon Business District” which I still don’t see how it supports communist, when again the communist changed the name of Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City.
Posted on 01-Mar-09 at 5:24 pm | Permalink
8Asians.com » San Jose’s Madison Nguyen Notches Victory in “Little Saigon” Recall wrote:
[...] As I have blogged before, I personally don’t have a strong opinion on how effective of a city council member Madison Nguyen has been, especially since I don’t live in San Jose or the district she represents. But I am generally against recall elections unless an elected official has violated the law, so I’m glad that Nguyen beat back her detractors. Let the voters judge and re-elect Nguyen or vote her out in the next scheduled election, which I’m assuming is this Fall. [...]
Posted on 04-Mar-09 at 10:25 am | Permalink
Carlos wrote:
Can anyone tell me WHO are Vietcong (communist), aren’t they vietnamese too ? These old Folks felt asspaint to their face they defended, they never accepted the shame true ” we had lost ” the war. Carrying the old memories of suffers times on their backs, go around waving the 3 reds stripes yellow flags (not even exist anymore)shout out Communist, someday they will call me mexican communist too (-: ! they have the right to raise their voices and recall cuz that is the constitution, but intended to bring up an accusation to the councilwoman Madison N. without any accurate evidences that is an ill-bred, the most dumb thing i ever seen doing that to your own ethnical. They all grew-up in the war times, they love create WAR, period. Perhaps, there are atleast peace in VietNam right now, people need helps overthere, go back and raise your arms don’t stay here and raise the flags.
Posted on 05-Mar-09 at 12:09 am | Permalink
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