A feud between San Jose Councilmember Bien Doan and a prominent community member over changes to access and flag-raising ceremonies at the Viet Heritage Garden continues to sow division in the Vietnamese community, with other state and local officials now joining the fray to question who really has authority over the park.
Doan has pushed back on attacks from the United Vietnamese American Community of North America (UVACNC) and its leader Ha Trieu, who accused the District 7 councilmember of abusing his power and disrupting the group’s events on the first Saturday of every month that have taken place at the garden over the past three years since it adopted the park.
Doan said at the heart of the conflict were the group’s misunderstandings of what authority the city’s adopt-a-park program grants and why the city’s parks department, not him, implemented the changes. Those misunderstandings have since trickled down to other elected officials, agitating Doan further.
“We had multiple meetings with all of our community members to talk about this process and everyone agreed to it,” Doan told The Mercury News. “Now, when the state assembly members had a knee-jerk reaction without any communication to my office, the city of San Jose, or (Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services), it was unfortunate. If they would have just given us a phone call, we would have explained the situation and there’s a lot of misinformation out there, so they didn’t get the full story.”
Flag-raising ceremonies carry a special meaning in the Vietnamese-American community – representing an opportunity to honor their past and present homelands.
Trieu’s group has maintained that its adopt-a-park application included a binding contract for indefinite access to the garden, including the right to hold flag-raising ceremonies on the first Saturday of every month without filing a permit with the city.
UVACNC had held ceremonies without a permit until this month, when Doan’s office alerted them he had formally requested their previous time slot on the first Saturday of each month and the city had decided to change the locks on the garden. Doan’s hold on the timeslot is not entirely for his use but so the city could implement a reservation system for the first Saturday of the month to ensure equitable access to the park for all interested parties, including Trieu’s group. Doan’s office also said the city had received reports from community members that Trieu attempted to use his group’s key to the garden “to manipulate influence and political favor” before the city implemented the changes.
“Our goal is to preserve and encourage the participation of all members of the community and diversify the number of organizations who wish to host a flag raising at the garden the first Saturday of each month,” Doan said. “It is important to everyone, especially our Vietnamese-American community.”
Since implementing the reservation system, the city has received requests from 11 other groups to host a flag-raising event, but not without more conflict arising in the community.
“Concerns over retaliation (and) intimidation have arisen within the Vietnamese community, especially among …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
