Tet Festival Decision Loudly Protested

A group of 150 merchants and residents opposed to the location of next month’s Tet Festival assailed City Council members for nearly two hours Tuesday night, arguing that the event will effectively shut down their businesses and create other hardships.

“I know there’s good intentions [behind] the Tet Festival,” said Alice Wong, who manages a shopping center along Bolsa Avenue, where the lunar new year celebration is scheduled for Feb. 23-25. “But the choice of location will hurt merchants terribly. It could be a severe disaster for them.”

The raucous meeting, which grew so large that it spilled into the courtyard outside, was punctuated with frequent shouting, yelling and cheering. At one point, Mayor Charles V. Smith threatened to have police officers forcibly remove some audience members who were shouting insults at council members and each other.

The primary concern among the Little Saigon business owners is that the planned street closure and lack of parking might keep away their customers, they said, and called for its cancellation or relocation. Residents from a nearby mobile home park and apartment complex said the heavy traffic could make them virtual prisoners during the weekend celebration and could prevent access to emergency services.

“I am going to have to be out of my home for three days or locked into it,” said Marilyn Jepsen, a mobile home resident. “I don’t like those options.”

In response, Smith told the crowd that city planning commissioners and police have addressed potential problems the festival might cause.

“We have 1,500 businesses along Bolsa, and this festival is to bring 20,000 to 30,000 people a day spending money,” Smith said. “I just can’t believe that people won’t be spending heavily during that time.”

Westminster is co-sponsoring the celebration, honoring Vietnam’s most important holiday, for the first time since it was launched in 1980. Some residents at the meeting spoke in support of the festival, saying that the city’s official recognition signifies mainstream acceptance of the contributions of Vietnamese Americans.