SJ rules committee seeks clear explanation regarding who controls Vietnamese garden

SAN JOSE OFFICIALS are reckoning with a political fight over a park important to the city’s older Vietnamese community.

The issue reached a handful of councilmembers at Wednesday’s Rules and Open Government Committee, which voted unanimously without discussion for a clear explanation as to how the parks department manages access to the Vietnamese Heritage Garden for public events. This comes after District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan last month announced he would limit a political rival’s control of a monthly flag-raising ceremony at the garden. City parks employees then changed the garden’s locks — keeping it closed to the public except during special events and causing yet another rift in the long-divided community.