March 20, 2008

Battle over retail name finally over

Compromise leads to peace

By Carol Rosen
Editor

After four months of tension, disagreement and name calling, the San Jose City Council and the leaders of the Vietnamese quest to name a retail area “Little Saigon” finally came to a compromise.

The agreement was reached on Thursday, March 13 to allow construction and installation of temporary community signs with the name Little Saigon at or near the Story and McLaughlin roads intersection. The pact stated that private citizens would use their own funds to pay for, construct and install the signs.

In addition, the signs “will not remain within or over the public right of way for a duration of more than three years and must comply with all reasonable safety and other regulatory requirements imposed by the Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, within their authority under the Sign Ordinance.”

The council also agreed to ask city staff to conduct outreach for permanent installation of a community sign at the location as well as continue its work to create and implement a process to enable communities to identify and designate a particular district in accordance with the direction the city council took on March 4.

The memo was signed by Mayor Chuck Reed, Vice Mayor Dave Cortese and Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Madison Nguyen. It follows two meetings four months apart to determine the name of the one-mile business district that the council initially in November voted to call the Saigon Business District.

The November meeting created a backlash from the Vietnamese community in San Jose with people complaining that their voices were not heard and condemning and calling District 7 Councilmember Nguyen a “communist” as well as behaving in a what some called a rude and threatening manner. A number of community members continued to protest during the next four months, at times behaving in ways that many considered to be rude.

While there were no actual disruptions, community members protested inside the McHenry Convention Center during the mayor’s State of the City address. They were present outside city hall and even, at times, in the corridor by the council chambers.

In February, a former South Vietnam soldier named Ly Tong started a hunger strike allegedly not eating, and after council members again voted down Little Saigon on March 4, said he would not drink either. He was said to be without food for 28 days and without any liquids for eight days.

At the March 4 council meeting, a business owner claimed he had a petition with 92 signatures of other business owners that were not in favor of Little Saigon. When several of those owners later said that was not what they thought they were signing, the mayor, vice mayor and Liccardo decided to end the situation. This happened even after nearly 300 members of the public commented at the March 4 meeting, the vast majority asking the name be Little Saigon.

Within the memo, three said “In this case, there has been extraordinary formal and informal public outreach concerning the name ‘Little Saigon,’ resulting in thousands of members of the community coming to City Hall to voice their support” for that name.

“Since that time [the March 4 meeting] members of the Vietnamese-American community have approa-ched members of the City Council expressing a willingness to raise money to construct and install a sign or gateway bearing the name ‘Little Saigon.’

“The installation of a community sign(s) or a gateway on a street or sidewalk enables the community to realize its widespread aspiration for the identity of ‘Little Saigon’ but does not, at this time, formally create a district or impose any identity or name upon a property or business owner who does not want that name.”

The mayor, vice mayor and Liccardo agreed to support the memo at a hearing before the Rules Committee no later than Wednesday, March 19.

After a press conference announcing the memo on March 13, protestors took down their tent in front of city hall. Tong, who was aware of the agreement, ended his hunger strike that morning. However, after the press conference he fainted and was taken to a local hospital.