Nov 21, 2007 9:00 pm US/Pacific
Amid Protest, SJ Approves 'Saigon Business Dist.'
SAN JOSE (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
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Proposed "Saigon Business District" in San Jose.
CBS 5
A decision over what to name a section of Vietnamese-owned stores and restaurants in San Jose is leaving many people unhappy.
During a meeting Tuesday night of the San Jose City Council, hundreds of people shouted and booed as council members discussed calling the area which stretches for about one mile along Story Road the "Saigon Business District," instead of "Little Saigon."
Nearly four hours into the almost six-hour meeting, Mayor Chuck Reed called a recess because the estimated crowd of about 800 people would not stop shouting.
Council members eventually voted 8 to 3 in favor of the name "Saigon Business District," prompting more booing from the crowd.
The San Jose Redevelopment Agency has earmarked $100,000 for banners designating the business district.
Supporters of naming San Jose's Vietnamese business district "Little Saigon" are planning a recall effort against City Councilwoman Madison Nguyen because of her refusal to support that name, a Committee for Little Saigon spokesman said Wednesday.
Nguyen, the first Vietnamese-American woman to hold elected office in California and the only member of the city's Vietnamese community on the City Council, has become a focal point of frustration for supporters of the "Little Saigon" name.
"We're going to move on with the process of recalling Madison Nguyen," Committee for Little Saigon spokesman Barry Hung Do said.
Numerous surveys have shown that the majority of the city's Vietnamese community prefers the name "Little Saigon," according to Do.
"All the surveys, the Mercury News even the city's own, clearly indicate that the majority of the community, the Vietnamese-American community, would like the name Little Saigon," Do said. "We don't know why she's so allergic to it."
The moniker "Little Saigon" has political implications because Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam until the communist takeover in 1975. The communist government of Vietnam then renamed it Ho Chi Minh City, after the Vietnamese Communist Party leader and first president of North Vietnam.
Because of its connection to the former noncommunist South Vietnam, "Little Saigon" is one of the symbols that unite all Vietnamese in America, most of whom came to the U.S. as refugees after the communist takeover, according to Do.
"The yellow freedom flag and Little Saigon, those are the identities that unite our community," Do said.
Recall supporters will hold organizational meetings in the coming days and will likely begin gathering signatures in Nguyen's council district to recall her as soon as next week, Do said.
Nguyen was not immediately available for comment.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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