ARE ALTERNATIVE signs the right direction in Westminster? (Shutterstock).

What about us?

The recent move by the Westminster City Council to put “alternate names” on certain street names to make it easier for residents who are not English-speaking to navitgate the city can be seen as a positive step forward or a jump backward.

The “alternate” names – as you might guess – are not Italian or Canadian (eh, how aboot us?) but Vietnamese.

In some ways this makes sense. The latest demographic count shows the city with 50.87 percent Asian population. That almost certainly includes some Korean and Chinese folks, but it’s clear that the Vietnamese population is by far the largest in the city.

But half is not all. The remaining “half” is 29.21 percent “white” and 10.89 “other race,” which is primarily Hispanic.

Assuming that a lack of English language literacy runs roughly constant among those who are not native-born, should some signs have alternative names in Spanish? 

I understand the impulse to cling to the familiar. I was born in Rhode Island, which has the highest concentration of Italian-Americans in all the 50 states. Our people are such a big deal there that if you want to run successfully for public office, you’d better have a last name that ends in a vowel.

Something similar has happened in Westminster and Garden Grove where Asians have been far more successful in winning local office than Hispanics.

Where I hesitate in applauding this idea is that it tends to re-inforce the idea that “this is our city.” I have even heard as much at Westminster city council meetings. 

Where is the outreach to the community’s Spanish-speaking population? What special accommodations have been made for them? 

 The “new” Fall Fiesta was a good step forward, bringing people of all backgrounds together, and the Mendez Freedom Trail is also. But until I hear much of a push for a Benito Juarez statue or a monument for Rodolfo Neri Vela, I’ll wonder, “Qué pasa con nosotros?”