California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 64

Introduced by Assembly Member Allen

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Bigelow, Bradford, Chávez, Dickinson, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Maienschein, Mansoor, Nazarian, Patterson, Waldron, and Wilk)

(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Nielsen, Wyland, and Yee)

June 6, 2013

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 64—Relative to Little Saigon.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 64, as introduced, Allen. Little Saigon.

This measure would recognize the 25th anniversary of Little Saigon.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, In April 1975, the capitol of South Vietnam,
Saigon, fell to the Vietnamese communists, and over 38 years,
millions of Vietnamese fled communist oppression in their
homeland; and

WHEREAS, More than 1.5 million Vietnamese refugees became
permanent residents and citizens of the United States, and over
600,000 resettled in California; and

WHEREAS, In June 1988 Governor George Deukmejian
recognized the importance of Little Saigon as a major cultural,
social, and commercial center of southern California, and freeway
signs officially designating the Vietnamese business district in
Westminster and Garden Grove “Little Saigon” were unveiled;
and

WHEREAS, The signs gave official status to the title “Little
Saigon,” recalling the name of the South Vietnamese capital more
than a decade after it was changed to Ho Chi Minh City by the
communist government; and

WHEREAS, Vietnamese refugees have turned the strip along
the Magnolia Street-Bolsa Avenue corridor, an economically
depressed area that was formerly populated with strawberry fields,
old industrial factories, and vacant lots, into a thriving commercial
district with thousands of shops and businesses; and

WHEREAS, Little Saigon is the largest Vietnamese community
outside of Vietnam and is a destination for tourists and refugees
from all over the world; and

WHEREAS, The designation of Little Saigon in Orange County
represents the very first “Little Saigon” in the United States, and
now there are other Vietnamese business districts of various sizes
also named “Little Saigon” in Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego,
San Francisco, and San Jose in California, and in other states
including Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, New York,
North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and
Virginia; and

WHEREAS, One can find all types of services and businesses
in Little Saigon ranging from restaurants, supermarkets, medical
clinics and centers, pharmacies, and law offices serving the
Vietnamese American community as well as other local and
surrounding area residents in Orange County; and

WHEREAS, With industrious drive and effective management,
particularly in food services and restaurants, prices and services
in Little Saigon are cheaper than in nearby areas, attracting not
only Vietnamese Americans, but other residents and immigrant
groups to visit; and

WHEREAS, Education is a priority to many Vietnamese
families, the achievements of Vietnamese students are recognized
in the Westminster and Garden Grove school districts, the
Vietnamese language is becoming one of the main foreign
languages being taught in those districts as well as in Orange
County community colleges, and as of 2008, in southern California
alone, there are more than 80 Vietnamese language centers teaching
17,000 students Vietnamese and Vietnamese culture; and

WHEREAS, Tet festivals and parades in Little Saigon
celebrating the Vietnamese lunar new year in early February have
attracted thousands of participants; and

WHEREAS, Vietnamese voters in Little Saigon are now a
significant voting bloc, and Vietnamese Americans are political
leaders on the city councils of Fountain Valley, Garden Grove,
and Westminster, and on the Orange County Board of Supervisors,
as well as on the school boards in districts serving these areas; and

WHEREAS, Tri Duc Ta was elected Mayor of Westminster on
November 6, 2012, and became the first Vietnamese American
elected mayor in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The Vietnamese community in Little Saigon
pioneered many political movements demanding freedom in
Vietnam and fighting against the oppression and dictatorship
carried out by the totalitarian communist regime, which oppression
is the main reason for slow economic growth in Vietnam. The
Vietnamese community is launching a campaign demanding the
immediate release of all prisoners of conscience who mainly ask
that fundamental human rights be afforded to all of Vietnam’s
citizens, and seek the separation of powers and removal of the
one-party system; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby recognizes the
25th anniversary of Little Saigon; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.