Street Name Controversy

The Westminster City Council voted unanimously to table a proposal to change Moran Street (named after one of the town's pioneers) to Yen Do Street. Yen Do, a journalist who fled South Vietnam after the end of the war, started Người Việt Daily News in the late 70s from his Westminster garage. Người Việt has since grown exponentially in circulation as the Westminster area has become home to the U.S.'s largest Vietnamese community.

Although most agree that it's time for Westminster to have a Vietnamese street name or two, it appears that the Yen Do proposal was sidelined because of professional and personal objections. According to the LA Times,"Several people from Vietnamese news outlets that, like Do's newspaper, are headquartered along Moran Street denounced the prospect of a rival's name becoming part of their address." Another view: "He's a very successful businessman, but he's not a hero at all," said Toan Thai, a member of the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, a nonprofit service group. "He has never made any contributions to the community." Ouch.