Solving San Jose's Little Saigon Controversy

Well, we've got a raging conversation going on about the City of San Jose's Little Saigon (now called shorthand LS) naming issue. The comment thread is full of great stuff, numbers, gossip, and lots of well-thought out discourse. Okay, there's a little screaming but it's more like a coffee klatch/cocktail party.

It's an impasse, with hunger striker Ly Tong giving up water, and lots of numbers being tossed around.
The City of San Jose is coming up a wee short on leadership in this matter or maybe it's gotten itself between a rock and a hard place. In any event, I'm posing this question to those of you who are invested in what the 1-mile strip of Story Road should be called:

How should the City of San Jose resolve this impasse?

Let's put our brains together and pose feasible solutions!

Comments

[civil]

I see Andrea face smiling .

[Michelle]

Bravo indeed Stacy! Zach, I commend you your being thoughtful and open-minded in your attempt to sort out all the issues in this matter. Children will be children and I admire your patience in trying to respond to some of the more rude and stubborn bloggers on this site. They obviously refuse to accept anything that counters their weak and sloppy arguments and continue to assert statements that (sometimes) don't even make sense. It's futile so I say maybe it's best to let the readers judge for themselves. All we can do is wait for the truth to come out and do our best to share relevant comments, facts, articles, etc.

[kate]

Let me get this straight....so it is not ok for Little Saigon supporters to call anyone a communist, but it is OK for you guys to call Ly Tong a liar?

[Michelle]

Kate, don't bother wasting your time because(unfortunately) some of the anti-LS supporters continue to make unfounded assertions just to get people to stoop down to their level. Oftentimes, these statements actually defy logic altogether so go figure=)

[quang]

I welcome folks who can provide facts and figures to this discussion because that has been lacking clearly.So no more excuses.
By saying "pressing charges against Sam L. and Henry Le ", is not that euivalent to accusing them of the same crime ?
I read like a third grader or Zach spelled and wrote like an iliterate ?
Can 't even spell absurd ?
Now that is absurd and patheric for an adult.
Learn to spell first before even attempting to write.

[M.T.]

Come on people, it is only a NAME. It is not worth acting like a child. The Mayor and city council members have spoken on this. Let's get over it and move on. I can tell you for a fact that if we put it up for a vote, the demonstrators will lose for sure. You (demonstrators) are a small portion of community here in San Jose. That stripe that you are fighting over use to be majority mexican and it still is. You do not see the mexican or latino fighting over a name. People you are just making yourself look bad. It is only a NAME and it will remain that way. Lets fight for a better cause here.

[Kate]

Dear Quang, mixing a "b" and a "d" when someone is typing is a very common mistake. We are all humans and everyone makes mistakes. But what I find and I think most readers will agree with me is that Zach's posts are very respectful and he tries his best to answer your questions with examples and facts unlike some people who like to attack others for little things. I find him to be a very good writer and no part of what he wrote suggests he's illiterate or incompetent in any way. On the other hand, I suggest before picking on someone, take a look at yourself first. From your post:

"Now that is absurd and patheric for an adult." Now correct me if I'm wrong people, but last time I checked, it's spelled PATHETIC and not patheric.

"By saying "pressing charges against Sam L. and Henry Le ", is not that euivalent to accusing them of the same crime ?"
Again, it's spelled EQUIVALENT

"I read like a third grader or Zach spelled and wrote like an iliterate ?"
Again, it's spelled ILLITERATE

I think I just proved my case.

[kate]

Oh and forgot to mention one last point from Quang's comment.

"By saying "pressing charges against Sam L. and Henry Le ", is not that euivalent to accusing them of the same crime ?"

The answer is no, it isn't the same. If there are two guys going into the bank to rob it, one guy is taking the money and the other one shot a bank teller dead. The newspaper read, "The city is pressing charges against Mr. A and Mr. B"....now, are they being charged the same? NO. One person is charged with robbery while the other is being charged with murder. But they are grouped together because it's involved in the same case...get it?

[James Nguyen]

Hi Zach,

Regarding your question on whether it was true that Madison Nguyen's office actually tried to reach a compromise w/ the LS supporters by adopting "Little Saigon Business District" to satisfy both "Little Saigon" and "Saigon Business District" supporters, please refer to the 11/20/07 City Council Meeting here:
http://sanjose.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=23
and open up "City Council Meeting--11/20/07 Video 08 hr. 43 min". Go straight to the council discussion that is right after the public forum.

During their discussion of the issue, both Councilmen Pete Constant and Kansen Chu suggested adding "Little" to "Saigon Business District" to compromise w/ the community. Madison Nguyen responded by saying that her recommendation of "Saigon Business District" is the compromise and changed the topic. So you see, this was suggested during the meeting but was immediately rejected by Madison Nguyen.

Do not take my word for it. Go watch it for yourself with your own eyes. I, myself, have watch it and that is what I heard and saw with my own eyes.

So with my independent mind, I conclude that Madison Nguyen did not want to compromise w/ "Little Saigon" supporters by adopting "Saigon Business District". Otherwise, she would have just added the word "Little" to the name.

Please go watch the video and see it for yourself. Don't blindly listen to anyone. Everyone has an agenda. I have an agenda. My agenda is to adopt the name "Little Saigon". The assistant you talked w/ also has her agenda. Her agenda is to protect Madison and continue to paint an image that Little Saigon supporters are unreasonable and ridiculous in their crazy cause who are unwilling to compromise w/ even "Little Saigon Business District".

That's why you need to do your own research and gather all the evidence at it purest form and make your own assessment. Don't blindly listen to others without seeing the source itself. Everyone has an agenda and they will mold the evidence to support their agenda.

That's why you need to see the evidence yourself.

[M.T]

James,

It just tells you that Madison Nguyen is a very good politician. She was able to convince the other city council members to agree with her. That is why the vote in November was in favorit of SBD instead of LSBD.
In my opinion, we need to move on and live with the decision that our Mayor and city council members have voted on. After all we have voted for our Mayor and city council members to speak for us. Like Rodney King said after he got beat up by LAPD, "Can we all just get along", we need to live together in peace.

Zach, good for your for calling up MD's office.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm actually in Asia right now so I can't follow all the developments first hand. This is very odd -- the signatures of people saying it wasn't theirs and that they thought they were signing something else. A do-over isn't going to work with the petition but something has to happen and it's not going to save much face.

People from all sides need to apologize and find a unified front on this. Our community is looking like a nasty, contemptuous, bickering family. The future of the Viet-Am community in San Jose is at stake. Both sides need to come to the table and figure out a solution fast. No more taking the offense or defense position. It's gotten out of hand.

[zach]

Thanks James for the link. Actually I've seen that before. Like I said, I've been following this whole thing from the start and was quite confident that it never happened, but then I like to give people benefit of the doubt in cased I missed something since I can't read every newspaper or every memo about this issue. But yes, from the link, it's clear that whatever the intention is, compromising Little Saigon Business District is not on their agenda.

[Zach]

It's finally over. Little Saigon prevailed!!!There are some strings attached but nevertheless, we will be able to put this issue to rest for a while. Mayor Chuck Reed has agreed to have banners and a gateway from HW 101 recognizing the name Little Saigon for a temporary period of time (2-3 years). After that, people can dispute and we can revisit this issue. Downside is the city will not support us financially, the Vietnamese community will have to pay for all costs, that way, now it's fair for the other ethnic groups that's been screaming out discrimination. But that's fine, I believe the Vietnamese community is strong enough to come up with the money to build that gateway. The most important thing is, Mr. Ly Tong does not have to die and for the next 2-3 years, Story Road will be named Little Saigon. This is a good way for the city to save face and at the same time the community gets what they want. It was announced yesterday at 10:30 PM (Weds, March 12) and will officially be signed today hopefully Thursday, March 13. We can now all rest.

[Ha Tran]

Thank goodness it is over! Not because it is Little Saigon. Because, so now we can move on with more important issues :)

Yeah like what Madison said, "We can move on to more important issues like gang violence, affordable housing, and eliminating corruption and special interests".

[Andrea Nguyen]

Whoah Zach, you SCOOPED the news before the SJ Mercury! It's good to know that the city found a temporary way to get beyond this situation. It would be terrible PR if something dire happened to Ly Tong in front of City Hall.

Over the next few months, things may unfold in a rather interesting fashion as people have to discuss how they can come together for the sake of the community's future. "Follow the money" is what one person wrote on in a posting on this blog a week or so ago.

So, yes, that's when the rubber will meet the road.

[anti-civil]

Civil,
Shame on you for being a Vietnamese in this community with bad attitude toward a respectable guy like Ly Tong and thousands of people all over the world who support him and LS. If you are good for the Viet community then do not call another Vietnamese a liar without understanding what the truth is. You should have some respect to a man who has risked his life many times to fight for democracy. What proof do you have to call this man a liar? You have no idea of what's happening and why we fight for LS so don't voice your immature oppinions here. What have you learnt from litteratures and news from both sides of the argument before deciding where to stand? You have now knowledge and have no standing in this issue, hence you oppions are all junk.