Fight brews over San Jose’s Vietnamese garden

Some Little Saigon activists are in uproar after a San Jose councilmember’s office changed the locks and the rules for reserving events at the Vietnamese Heritage Garden.

Councilmember Bien Doan announced those new rules last month after becoming the center of political divide over anticommunism earlier this summer among older Vietnamese Americans. The divide has partly played out during the garden’s monthly flag raising ceremonies, which have become an emotional symbol for Vietnam War refugees and a publicity tool for local politicians. Now Doan wants to limit one private group’s hold over the event.

That group, the United Vietnamese American Community of Northern California, is led by one of Doan’s critics, Ha Trieu. For years, Trieu has used the garden for flag raisings on the first Saturday of every month. Arguments at those events – and Trieu’s rocky relationship with Doan – played a key role in a June restraining order trial where Doan unsuccessfully sought protection from another outspoken critic of his, a bail bondsman named Hai Huynh.

Doan’s new rules state his office will reserve the garden on the first Saturday of every month, starting in October. Doan said this will allow different community groups a chance to host their own flag-raising event on the coveted date.  His office will accept applications until Sept. 9. His Aug. 22 announcement says flag raisings can still be held on any other date or time at the garden as long as the applicant applies for, and is granted, a permit with the department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services.

Trieu, a retired Intel engineer, has held a key to the garden since 2021. That key no longer works since Doan changed the lock. Trieu calls Doan’s plans political retaliation.

“The community and I have a binding agreement: through our Adopt-A-Park we have maintained the garden and have an open-ended access and usage of the garden to conduct the community’s institutionalized rituals of flag raising that express our love for our country and former homeland,” Trieu told San José Spotlight. “All of that came to a sudden end with the lockout and new rule announced by District 7 office.”

Nam Xuan Nguyen, the editor of the Vietnamese language news site Cali Today, also circulated an email criticizing Doan’s announcement.

But Doan’s office denies making the announcement without public input, saying the office hosted an Aug. 22 community meeting about the new rules which Trieu declined to attend.

Jonathan Fleming, Doan’s chief of staff, said Trieu has turned down any attempt to meet and discuss the flag raising issue, and he hasn’t answered any phone calls from Doan’s office for the past several weeks. Doan’s office said Trieu’s reaction has been “full of misrepresentations.”

“Several community members informed the city that Mr. Trieu Ha used this key to manipulate influence and political favor among the Vietnamese American Community, some stating he claimed ownership of the garden and that he was in charge of approving events,” Fleming wrote in an email to Trieu’s group which he shared with San José Spotlight.

Doan’s office said Trieu would be allowed to run his Sept. 7 ceremony as scheduled, but his group has since declined the offer in light of the new rules.

Locked out 

Doan, the city’s first Vietnamese fire captain, was elected in 2022 to represent District 7, which encompasses some of the most diverse neighborhoods on Tully, Story and Monterey roads and is home to the garden at Kelley Park and San Jose Vietnam Town.

But Doan isn’t the only councilmember with many Vietnamese constituents. District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz represents the community as well.

“I have serious concerns over the potential politicization of city amenities. I have attended the flag raising ceremony at Viet Heritage Garden since before I took office and hope that this beautiful memorial to our Vietnamese community remains available to the Vietnamese residents of East San Jose and beyond,” Ortiz told San José Spotlight. “Many residents who utilize the garden live in my district, and my office has brought dollars to it through our own budget. I am optimistic that the city administration can create a process that will ensure equitable access to our city resources that reflect the democratic values of the city.”

Trieu said he grew tired, in 2021, of waiting for city parks employees to arrive at the garden, sometimes late, to unlock it for the flag raisings. He said the garden’s poor conditions and limited public access prompted him to become an “adopter” of the garden under a city program that recruits residents to help keep parks clean. Trieu said this prompted city employees to hand him a key to the garden, and he maintains he doesn’t need to make reservations for flag raisings or political activities.

City Parks Director Jon Cicirelli disputed Trieu claims in an Aug. 20 email to Doan’s chief of staff, Fleming, according to emails Doan’s office shared with San José Spotlight.

“Ha is listed as the park adopter, but all of the benefits he believes he has are not accurate. We will have the manager reach out to him to clarify his role/responsibility,” Cicirelli wrote to Fleming.

Fleming said Adopt-A-Park organizations may receive a free use of the adopted park, but only if they meet a specific number of hours of volunteer service. Fleming said it’s unclear if Trieu’s group met the required volunteer hours for free park use. But he added that when someone does, they need to submit a special use permit which he argues Trieu hasn’t done.

Dispute isn’t over

A petition that Trieu is now circulating questions whether Doan has the authority to change the garden’s access rules.

“Councilmember Bien Doan has effectively hijacked the Ceremony at Viet Heritage Garden permanently from Ha Trieu and the United Vietnamese American Community of Northern California,” the petition reads.

The park has always been locked away from the public unless there’s a permitted event, a city spokesperson told San José Spotlight. The spokesperson said the garden has been locked because it isn’t ready for public use. That is expected to change in October, when it will be open to the public on weekends.

Several days after Doan’s announcement went out, an interview between Mayor Matt Mahan and Vietnamese journalist Sam Ho was posted to YouTube. After Ho asked Mahan who approves certain events at the park, Mahan responded that the rules around city facilities, such as hours of operation, fees and application for permits are all managed by the parks department.

“The departments, believe it or not, don’t report to me. They run their show and if we change policy, we do it at city council. They report to the city manager,” Mahan said in the interview. “The city manager then reports to the council as a whole. So if we were to change any rule around time of date or permit application, cost and fees, that’s all managed by the department and they don’t report to us.”

Mahan declined to comment further.

The Vietnamese Heritage Garden has for years stood as a symbol of Little Saigon’s triumphs and challenges. Visions for the park as a community oasis and tribute to the Vietnam War’s victims have been waylaid by years of political divide. The challenge of unifying the community under one single concept became a source of both hope and friction.

Hope glimmered in July, when the city unveiled a new monument to South Vietnamese and American soldiers, which stagnated for years as a separate project.

Now the garden’s future is in dispute once again.

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.