Westminster officials are once again considering erecting an archway that commemorates Little Saigon despite numerous failed attempts to raise enough money to do so over the past three decades.
This time it comes amid widespread federal immigration raids that have left downtowns and business hubs like the city’s ethnic enclave emptier than usual with many immigrant working class families hesitant to leave their homes or go to work.
Indigo Vu, the immigration advocacy manager at the local advocacy group, VietRise, said businesses in Little Saigon are worried about the immigration enforcement actions happening right now.
“We know that ICE and Border Patrol have entered restaurants, nail salons, and in many cases, the workers then don’t feel safe to come back out, and even though that is what sustains their family,” Vu said in a phone interview.
“Workers are then left with the difficult choice of staying safe but not being able to support their families, or trying to support their families but putting themselves at risk.”
On June 25, city council members voted 4-0 on doing a feasibility study for up to $10,000 on building a Little Saigon archway across Bolsa Avenue, arguing it would bring more foot traffic to the area and bring in more sales tax revenue.
Councilman NamQuan Nguyen was not present at the meeting.
Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen said the Vietnamese community has been a part of Westminster for 50 years, contributing to the city’s success and its growth, and it would attract more tourism and revenue to the city.
“It’s the will of the people. They want to have this archway and this archway is not only for the Vietnamese community, but it is a landmark for the city of Westminster,” Charlie Nguyen said at Wednesday’s city council meeting.
“This is something that will put the city of Westminster on the map and Little Saigon will be a welcoming place for many, many people around the world.”
Councilman Carlos Manzo echoed the mayor’s remarks, saying there has long been talks of creating an Archway.
“But as people know in Westminster, there’s always some sort of politics that gets in the way, and the residents are the ones that suffer from it,” he said. “I personally feel that we should have had an archway there in Little Saigon a long time ago.”
The study of an archway comes after the Vietnamese community commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon two months ago.
[Read: From Exodus to Emergence: Black April 50 Years After the Fall of Saigon]
At the June 25 meeting, Vietnamese American residents came out in support of the archway, arguing that it will be a landmark that will attract tourists and help bring in customers for small business.
“Once we have the initiation to understand how to get it going, that could revitalize a city in terms of business, economic developments, this will bring us a landmark location that we can identify ourselves with,” said Thanh Tran, a resident, at the meeting.
Other residents supported the idea of an archway, but worried about how the gateway would be paid for with one resident arguing that supporters of the project should pay for it and city taxpayers shouldn’t.
“Tax money needs to be spent for the benefit of all the residents, not just half the residents,” said resident Donald Link at the meeting.
Manzo said the city is investing taxpayer dollars into the Little Saigon district to help small businesses and that it’s important for business owners to pay their user tax to help them make that investment.
“If they succeed, we succeed,” he said.
None of the city council members commented on the impacts of the immigration raids.
Previous Attempts at a Gateway
In 2023, former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do proposed an archway project that stretches across Bolsa Avenue at Weststate Street, having contributed $1 million in funding for the project.
Do was sentenced to five years in prison last month after pleading guilty to accepting more than $500,000 in bribes to send over $10 million in contracts to nonprofits his daughter worked with.
[Read: Former OC Supervisor Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison in Bribery Scheme]
Westminster officials halted the project after needing more to adjust for inflation and increased costs for labor, totalling to around $700,000 according to a staff report.
After the story was published, City Manager Christine Cordon clarified in a Monday phone interview that Westminster officials didn’t have the chance to ask for more money.
She said that before it came time to finalize a draft report for the archway project to present to Westminster City Council members, former Supervisor Do’s office asked to pull back their funding.
According to the same staff report, the city still has the $1 million from the county that Do tried to get back.
This isn’t the first time Westminster city leaders have brought up building a set of archways that memorializes Little Saigon.
The business district encompasses parts of Westminster and Garden Grove and is home to the largest Vietnamese communities outside of Vietnam.
In 2006, Westminster city officials again tried to erect archways at Little Saigon after being pushed by former sitting council members.
But attempts to raise enough money back then failed.
Plans for an archway were initially brought forth nearly 30 ago by Frank Jao – a real estate developer who owns the Asian Garden Mall in Little Saigon.
In 1996, Jao scrapped his involvement with an archway project after receiving backlash from community members about the scope of the project.
You can contact Hugo Rios at hugo.toni.rios@gmail.com or on Twitter @hugoriosss.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.