Feb 22, 2008 8:10 pm US/Pacific
SJ Lawmakers Drop 'Little Saigon' Vote Plans
SAN JOSE (CBS 5 / KCBS) ―
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The disputed San Jose business area.
CBS 5
Two San Jose lawmakers abandoned their support on Friday for a citywide vote on the naming of a Vietnamese retail area along Story Road.
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and City Councilwoman Madison Nguyen are now recommending the vote on the controversial issue not be on the ballot. It was estimated that it would cost $214,000 to put the issue on the ballot, which the pair cited as the reason for their change of direction.
"While we still believe that a citywide election offers the best opportunity for direct democracy, the city of San Jose has many needs more critical than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to place this issue on the ballot,'' Reed and Nguyen said in a joint statement.
Eleven days ago, Reed and Nguyen held a news conference announcing their support for having the district's name decided by city voters in either June or November.
That proposal came after more than two months of protests by vocal elements of the city's Vietnamese community over the district name, "Saigon Business District,'' proposed then by Reed and Nguyen and approved by the city council. The protestors want the district to be named "Little Saigon.''
The moniker "Little Saigon" has political implications because Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam until the communist takeover of the country in 1975. Because of its connection to the former non-communist 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, protest leader Barry Hung Do has said.
Reed said Friday that he wished he had approached the whole issue differently from the start.
"I wish that we had had a broader community process that would have given us a name that had very broad support in the Vietnamese community, that was acceptable to the businesses, that was acceptable to all the stakeholders," acknowledged Reed. "And so that the council would be the end of the process, not the beginning of the process."
One man has been on a hunger strike in front of San Jose City Hall for the last eight days, protesting the controversy. He expressed his pleasure upon learning of Reed's change of heart.
"Everybody OK with good news?" the man asked supporters. "Yeah," a crowd of supporters responded enthusiastically.
The full City Council will instead discuss the issue of naming the business district on March 4.
"Over the past several months, the designation and naming of the Story Road retail area has been divisive and difficult and the argument over the name has been harmful, disruptive and counterproductive for our city and its residents. It is time now for the council to step back from the issue and allow time for the rifts and divisions in the community to be repaired,'' Reed and Nguyen concluded in their statement.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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