So Far - Madison Nguyen 1, Dave Cortese 0

 

 

For those who are keeping score, the proxy war between San Jose City Councilmember Madison Nguyen (and her mentor, Mayor Chuck Reed) and County Supervisor Dave Cortese is being fought bitterly in the open in the Vietnamese-American community.

Yet it is only 2012.   It is no secret that Cortese and Nguyen will be vying for the San Jose mayoral seat.   Dave has been very active in catering to the Vietnamese-American community.   After all, they will make the difference who will be in the runoff.  

Cortese has two main projects this year to help win point with the Vietnamese-American voters.  They are: 

1.  Attaining the highway sign " Little Saigon" to highlight the business district named Little Saigon.  Even though it is not offically recognized by the city planner but the monument and banners are allowed to be displayed.  

2.  Securing a plot of land in the county for a Vietnam War Veteran Memorial statute


Cortese, with the help of Assemblymember  Nora Campos, had sponsored a bill (AB 2095) to allow DOT to post 4 "Little Saigon" signs along HWY 101.   The bill was allowed to expired recently since  at the recent hearing of the Rules and Open Committee, both Reed and Nguyen restated the fact San Jose City does not official recognize the Little Saigon name and therefore would neither support nor reject such bill.     For the supporters of having such signs, it means that they will have to wait for another 2 years when a new set of elected officials might be in their favor.

Madison Nguyen 1,  Dave Cortese 0.


However, Cortese will have better luck with the Vietnam War Veteran Memorial since he has more control.   The county supervisors in principal have no objection to designate a plot of land within the county building grassy area for a bronze statute of a Vietnamese and an American soldier  to commemorate the Vietnam War.    The final approval is still needed but Cortese has been instrumentally in shepherding the whole process, including selecting the groups within the community to lead the project.   Now it will be up to the community to unite and raise about $400,000.    According to the plan, the county will take ownership of the statute and provide maintenance of the memorial.   With the success of this project,  Cortese will have a leg up on Madison.


Now for a tie round,  it is the Mid-Autumn Festival.  Both Cortese and Nguyen are sponsoring their own event on the same date.    Cortese is helping a large Mid-Autumn Festival in the Santa Clara County Fairground.  It will be an all day event with major entertainments from Orange County along with a health care fair.    Nguyen is promoting her own event at Kelley Park from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM.