Voters to decide name of Vietnamese Business District

Voters to decide name of Vietnamese Business District
ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 11, 2008

SAN JOSE – After nearly three months of pitched battles with residents, the San Jose mayor and city council are giving up on naming a Vietnamese retail area the “Saigon Business District,” and are recommending that voters decide the name in November.

Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilwoman Madison Nguyen, who infuriated Vietnamese residents who want the area to be called “Little Saigon” because they consider it a symbol of opposition to the communist regime, today released a memo recommending “that the naming of the area be decided by a vote of the people.”

Since the City Council voted on Nov. 20 to name a retail area “Saigon Business District,” opponents have mounted weekly protests in front of City Hall and calls for the Mayor and Nguyen, the only Vietnamese member of the council, to resign.

Information from: San Jose Mercury News, www.sjmercury.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080211-1302-ca-littlesaigon.html