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517 - Can A Latino Leader Win The Race For Mayor In Little Saigon? - Carlos Manzo · The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

0:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the Vietnamese podcast today.
0:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a wonderful guest, Carlos Manzo.
0:04
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of things that we're going to discuss, but Carlos Manzo is a council member here in the city of Westminster.
0:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I am in the heart of Little Saigon.
0:12
[SPEAKER_01]: We're recording this podcast at Little Saigon official.
0:15
[SPEAKER_01]: The merchandise store at Fukufta in the Asian Garden Mall.
0:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the podcast.
0:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for having me.
0:21
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we met through Chris from the second official and a wonderful friend of mine, Joseph when.
0:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've heard about you.
0:31
[SPEAKER_01]: You're one of five council members here in Westminster, but
0:38
[SPEAKER_01]: The special thing is you are not Vietnamese.
0:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You're a Mexican descent director, like Mexican American descent.
0:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is what makes this podcast kind of special to me because we're going to get to hear today, the history of you growing up in this around the city and you get into politics.
0:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And then ultimately your idea of being an outsider insider inside the Vietnamese community.
1:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So welcome to the podcast.
1:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
1:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Tell me a little bit about you growing up here in Orange County.
1:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you know, I my whole life I've been in Orange County.
1:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been between Stanton, Westminster and just a little tiny bit of Anaheim and then back to Westminster.
1:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So I definitely seen our city was minister change over the years.
1:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm like, like many people here, my group in a dysfunctional home, my both my parents or immigrants, my mom worked three jobs, my dad worked two jobs, growing up, you know, I would come home from school to an empty house.
1:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of that time, you know, you grew up and not feeling
1:49
[SPEAKER_00]: like support it so you kind of sometimes you get into things you probably shouldn't, you know.
1:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, at a lot of people like that, a lot of immigrant families have working, working families so you grow up kind of fending for yourself, you know, growing up through.
2:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I did, you know, that's what I was hearing was Mr. And but the same thing, it taught me hard work, you know.
2:10
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the thing that I look at and my parents that what they taught me.
2:14
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, not what I was missing because there was a time in my life where I felt a little bit resentment because I wasn't that close to my parents, but hey, my parents were like many immigrant families, Vietnamese, Hispanic, our parents worked really, really hard, you know, and so, but I appreciate them because it taught me that that to work hard.
2:35
[SPEAKER_00]: growing up at 16 years old that bought my car on my own, you know, and I just was just learn hard work.
2:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never to my life.
2:43
[SPEAKER_00]: All my life never asked anybody for any flight.
2:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
2:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything that I have I worked for myself.
2:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So I had so I take my parents for that.
2:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
2:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That being raised by good parents, you know, there's a lot of similarities between the Latino culture and Asian culture.
3:03
[SPEAKER_01]: But now speaking to the shift in the demographics in Littersegon, like you probably witnessed a lot of maybe Mexicans, white folks, black folks, move out.
3:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And you watch the influx of Vietnamese people moving into Littersegon.
3:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you tell me a little bit about that?
3:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I've been here since the city since I went to the high school and freshman year in eighth grade, we moved away and I came back after high school, so I've been here, you know, since the late 80s full time, so I definitely seen our city change demographically, you know, I look at it as, um,
3:39
[SPEAKER_00]: as a good thing because you know I feel you know we all come from somewhere right and we're our nation of immigrants.
3:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have always been the type of person who likes to learn other cultures.
3:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I see and take that you know take it in.
3:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a big food.
3:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So I love having different and different ethnic food and here in Westminster we have it all.
4:01
[SPEAKER_00]: We have when I have Mediterranean I have a Mediterranean place.
4:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I have my Mexican places and then obviously if you're in
4:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's what I like to see, and I take that as a good thing that our city is changing.
4:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see it as a bad thing.
4:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I see it as a positive, that is changing.
4:20
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm sure a lot of people you're new growing up probably felt a certain way though, right?
4:25
[SPEAKER_01]: To see a change and flip over to being living in the means.
4:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there is some folks who have voiced their frustration with that.
4:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think most of the frustration is not that
4:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It's changing that that is feeling left out.
4:41
[SPEAKER_00]: It's feeling left out in our city.
4:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Then sometimes politics comes into play.
4:47
[SPEAKER_00]: We've put the changing demographics in our city.
4:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Comes the changing demographics of our city council.
4:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, and in some of those folks have maybe acted in a way where they're not looking out for the whole community as one, and that's where that frustration comes from is just feeling left out, feeling, hey, what about us?
5:08
[SPEAKER_00]: We're here too.
5:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of that would be more that way.
5:12
[SPEAKER_00]: than changing them or graphically.
5:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, but it's related.
5:15
[SPEAKER_00]: It is.
5:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's related, it's like, wait a minute.
5:17
[SPEAKER_01]: All these people moving in, I feel left out because I am being left out, right?
5:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I am being left out.
5:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Latino, I'm white, I'm black.
5:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I am being left out.
5:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is like a, it's like a reality.
5:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's why having you sit here to talk to me about this is so precious, you know?
5:33
[SPEAKER_01]: How did you consider getting into politics in a predominantly Vietnamese world?
5:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, I've always been a type of person who always looks out for my neighbors, you know, not commit.
5:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I would say this, you know, this is my, how I really got into this, you know, I feel like we're not millionaires, right, we're not millionaires most of America, they're not millionaires.
5:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And somebody, I father, you know, as growing up, you want to purchase, you purchase your biggest purchases your home, your biggest assets is your home, and you want to be able to leave something for your kids, right?
6:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So you want to protect your investment, and you want to make sure your property values are going up.
6:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So my wife and I really involved in our community since we have four dog kids now, so through their schooling, and they're
6:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, sports and that nature, we've always been involved.
6:23
[SPEAKER_00]: We were involved in our neighborhood with neighborhood watch, making sure that our neighborhood was the aesthetics and all the codes were being enforced to make sure our property values didn't decrease, so we got involved with the neighborhood watch and getting that.
6:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And then from that went to hey, what about the rest of our city?
6:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's make sure the rest of our city is being taken care of.
6:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And they just kind of grew from there.
6:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we helped one of our friends get elected on city council in 2011, 2012.
6:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And then from there, he was like, hey, I need your be my planning commissioner.
7:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, you know, that's not for me.
7:03
[SPEAKER_01]: What were you doing at the time?
7:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't really into politics.
7:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just about our city and our city or neighborhood, making sure it was taken care of.
7:12
[SPEAKER_01]: You've been 95.
7:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, currently I'm still, you know, Council is a part time.
7:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a full time job.
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, so, and so I'm a electrician by day.
7:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in the administration since at a high school.
7:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's my day job.
7:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a electrical supervisor.
7:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I manage about 60 to 70 electricians every year.
7:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
7:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So so that is Council is part time.
7:35
[SPEAKER_00]: and we need to make sure that we treat it as part time, because some folks can't get it confused, like it's a full-time job, it's not.
7:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's definitely not going to pay the bills either, because it's just stipends, you don't know.
7:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not really enough to live off of.
7:50
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I just came from that, caring about our city, and making it seen our city progress.
7:56
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how we got involved.
7:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And like I said, he wanted me to be a planning commissioner and I really didn't want to.
8:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
8:03
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's like, it's a bright peer alley with my day job, you know, you know, plan check, you know, reviews of other other development reviews of that nature.
8:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got into that and and in all that, I got into this no seeing who.
8:17
[SPEAKER_00]: is running who who the people are who were currently at an office and how all the political circles that were in our community and then carrying scene who's in for the right reasons and who's in it for their own selfish reasons and that kind of stuff is what made me really get involved and care about the progress of our city.
8:37
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's just let's switch to let's get it let's get the real get down a dirty let's get down and dirty let's really get down Yeah, ask me whatever you want to yeah, yeah, and you know obviously my my platforms number about attacking or they so if you feel you know Yeah, yeah, certain way just let me know, but I'm not about attacking but but like I said in the pre-interview
8:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't imagine what it's like to be one Latino on a council with four other Vietnamese who have God knows what kind of agenda is different political backgrounds, different, you know, just different motivations for voting in some way.
9:15
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you mitigate all that?
9:17
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you deal with the
9:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it is extremely difficult because I think I consider myself somebody who looks out in the broad picture as to make sure that we're one community.
9:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I may be naive, but to me, that's what I want to do.
9:40
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I have been doing, not just on-count to it, but in my life.
9:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I've always been somebody who's very inclusive, I make sure I learn from everybody.
9:52
[SPEAKER_00]: you need to be quiet and just listen to people, you know, listen, that's how you learn, you know, that's how I get to know my neighbors is by listening.
10:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We see who they are and people see and see what are their frustrations, what they want to see.
10:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So for me to be like, you know, like you said, I'm the one, I'm the only non Vietnamese on council.
10:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, unfortunately, like you said, not to back on it talks Mac, but it's like some of the folks that come through the politicians has come through our city.
10:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, they're not in it for the right reasons.
10:25
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of folks use have used our city as a stepping stone for higher office or just using it just to like promote themselves and how do they keep staying and where they're at or they want to tie it or something like that.
10:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is what gets to me that.
10:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why our city has in progress, you know, we have a non-cave here, like you mentioned, a strong Vietnamese population, but we as a city compared to other cities have not progressed the way we should have.
10:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And we have, I've all we said, little Saigon is, I would say, it's a jewel, but it needs polishing.
11:01
[SPEAKER_00]: But the politicians here have, doesn't really really look at it.
11:05
[SPEAKER_00]: They're just okay, how do I, how does this vote affect them personally?
11:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they won't vote on it, something, because they were looking at, oh, myself, how does it, even yesterday, we had a meeting and it's like, it's like, if you go, if all you care about is yourself, then don't even vote on it.
11:23
[SPEAKER_00]: don't even put it on the agenda.
11:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And to me, that is what's heard us as a city.
11:28
[SPEAKER_00]: How come we have been progressed as a city?
11:30
[SPEAKER_00]: How come we haven't done more for Little Saigon, having four folks out of the accounts of Vietnamese?
11:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
11:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Why haven't we progressed?
11:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Why answer that?
11:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
11:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's all self, it's all, you know, self personal agenda, political agenda is not about looking out for a city as a whole.
11:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Not even looking about how do we beautify this little, even just this uncle, the business district of Little Saigon.
11:55
[SPEAKER_00]: None of that.
11:57
[SPEAKER_00]: in the history of we have here politically there's this political Vietnamese group fighting this other Vietnamese political group and then fighting this other one or you don't want this these people succeed so you want to make them look bad you're not going to vote for them they could vote for a certain item because then you don't want that person to succeed but this is all that all that hurts
12:17
[SPEAKER_00]: all that.
12:18
[SPEAKER_01]: But isn't that American politics?
12:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So is that politics everywhere we go?
12:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean there is, but to me, I mean, maybe like I said maybe it's not even me because I won our city to progress.
12:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I my day job takes me all over our, you know, through many cities, because I'm an it's all new developments we work on.
12:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It takes me all over and even after the great recession, you know, 2010 and so after that we had a huge economic boom.
12:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And I see that in other cities, but not in Westminster, we don't see that economic boom.
12:50
[SPEAKER_00]: We see our commercial properties still look like that from the 60s, just drive around and nothing has progressed.
12:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Little say, oh, we need help and the help is in there.
13:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Things that I drive my wife and I travel a lot.
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if this is a sort of subject, but
13:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Like right now, I've been wanted to do the archway and you know, say, God, forever, I go to, you know, we have little Italy, San Diego, little Italy, New York, China town, little Cambodia, you have all these all these little business enclaves, and you see that, you know, but not here in why because political reasons.
13:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But what's what's stopping it?
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Political reasons.
13:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, but like what exactly?
13:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Because we had a group that doesn't want to see that group succeeds.
13:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So they want to make sure that that's it.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It's got nothing to do with it.
13:37
[SPEAKER_00]: It's got nothing to do with it.
13:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been talking about our trees for years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years
13:59
[SPEAKER_01]: The reason an archway is not being made is because one group just doesn't want to see the other groups succeed.
14:07
[SPEAKER_00]: It's got nothing to do with money financing money.
14:12
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
14:13
[SPEAKER_00]: That conversation has been in our city for many, many years.
14:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody's disagreeing about the design.
14:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, right now, currently right now, what we had is we have a community input for the design.
14:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So yesterday, the firm that's in charge of putting it together took all the community input and put some three concepts together.
14:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And I pushed back, was that really didn't really hit the, like the traditional, uh, Vietnamese, uh, like culture.
14:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I say, let's take it back to the community and let the community have the input on it.
14:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Because this has to be a community driven project.
14:51
[SPEAKER_00]: This can't be by Council, it can't be by the architects.
14:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It needs to be community.
14:56
[SPEAKER_00]: This is for the community, so it needs to be by the community.
14:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I've been pushing.
15:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to see the community get involved and put in your input.
15:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe also, if you can even have a concept that they come up with, let's submit it.
15:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And let's go off of that, but it needs to be community.
15:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have really high hopes, I'm really optimistic that we're going to be able to accomplish it.
15:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Because this time, it's way too much, too many of years I've gone by and haven't had it done.
15:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It's time that we get it done.
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: To rehab an archery so we can really start promoting this area of Little Saigon and start really,
15:34
[SPEAKER_00]: promoting tourism because yeah it's all it's important that we as a community support our small businesses but I want to see people from everywhere else coming to our city and having something like that I think we're really really attract you know folks I know folks come in especially like during tech we have a lot of folks who come in out of the state but hey when people come to Disneyland make sure you come to Little Psycho you know we can't
16:03
[SPEAKER_00]: and just put the focus on our community.
16:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I want to see.
16:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to keep fighting for that, whether whatever the politics is, but I'm going to keep fighting for that.
16:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's something that we as a city need to do.
16:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But I also, the important thing is that we need community, we need community involvement.
16:23
[SPEAKER_00]: We need the community come out and speak about those kind of things, these kind of issues to really get involved.
16:28
[SPEAKER_00]: These only that, only like that,
16:30
[SPEAKER_01]: is that is that we're going to get something and some let politicians don't want it what they don't want it's for community coming at exactly but the Vietnamese don't want to you know I I can say that because you know I'm part of the problem too I don't want to like I don't want to like go on and do it I'm lazy everybody's busy yeah everybody's busy yeah
16:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just speaking on behalf of myself.
16:52
[SPEAKER_00]: No, but that's pretty too much.
16:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.
16:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure everybody's busy to take the, you know, a couple hours out of the day to go to speak on something or there's a workshop to go 30, 40 minutes to give their input, but we have to, this is our community.
17:05
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to take care of it and we're going to take care of it together and we're only going to prosper together.
17:10
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the only really way.
17:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I, and I take all that input in and I, because it's not about me, it's about us together.
17:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Carlos, what other city around here is doing?
17:22
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to name the name.
17:23
[SPEAKER_01]: What other city around here is doing it right?
17:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And why do you think they're doing it right?
17:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, well, you know, in other cities, there's always politics like you're talking about, but to me, I've always said, you know, if you pay attention to our politics, you're in Westminster, we're a little bit special.
17:39
[SPEAKER_00]: We see we have a little kind of certain type of, I could say, craziness because sometimes it does get that way.
17:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, I would say,
17:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, you see Santa Ana, for instance.
17:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at Santa Ana many years ago, the main street.
17:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, well, there it was bad.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: It was bad.
17:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at it now, look at it now.
17:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Sadly, you know, if I want, you know, we go there, Santa Ana, and for different eateries or just different functions, you know, we go there, we go here, what obviously was Mr. but we go also go to Long Beach as well, my wife and I, my wife grew up in Long Beach, so we have Shiza.
18:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Special patient are hard.
18:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So we go to Long Beach, second street.
18:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, that kind of stuff.
18:21
[SPEAKER_00]: But I would say Sanana is doing a really good job.
18:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you compare second street and when you compare is a mainstream or something in Sanana, the main, the main strips, you can have this on both sides too.
18:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
18:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's been one of the conversations if you had is is make the bolsa or the little side gone area more pedestrian freely.
18:43
[SPEAKER_00]: and haven't have more walkability where folks are getting more food traffic to some of our businesses.
18:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And we've had those workshops with our commissioner, which you know Joseph, he's a really smart guy, man.
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you, I have a lot of high hopes for you.
18:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope for you to Joseph.
18:57
[SPEAKER_01]: He's been on the podcast.
18:58
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't know that yet, but I keep pushing him a hey, I said.
19:02
[SPEAKER_00]: you're going to be one of our next leaders, but he's like, no, no, no, I say, hey, I'm 54.
19:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm on my way home.
19:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's like, hey, what about to me?
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: That is my optimism.
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: My hope is for the younger generation to get involved.
19:16
[SPEAKER_00]: People like Joseph and others.
19:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Tom, you win is another.
19:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, not another guy.
19:21
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey, come on, you guys, it's like, I'm, you know, 54, I got maybe one or two terms left that I can do, but what about the next?
19:29
[SPEAKER_01]: They got to contend with these older politicians.
19:32
[SPEAKER_00]: They got to fight these guys and, you know, it's an hell, you know, you know, and I feel for them.
19:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And I understand how they feel, you know, growing up in my household and my family.
19:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I was always, I was known as to be like the black sheep with the family, why?
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Because my views were not aligned with the older generation and I know the frustration of the younger Vietnamese because you want to make sure you respect your elders, but you also have your own thoughts, your own way of doing things, and it's usually gotta keep pushing and have those conversations with your folks and uncles, whatever may be.
20:09
[SPEAKER_00]: to say hey have another point of view and there's people out there I've spoken to my family and then now they're like you're literally here they're like oh yeah you know now they're starting to see things a little different there's hope you know maybe maybe some of the other community can see that there's a different way
20:27
[SPEAKER_00]: that the new gender, the younger generation is growing up and getting educated, have hard, you know, working hard, and the young families are, this is free for you, you know, we're on our way out, this is for you.
20:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is my hope for that that the younger generation is going to get more involved and really start making our different, put in their stamp.
20:48
[SPEAKER_00]: on this community and how they want to see it grow.
20:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is what that I'm hopeful for that.
20:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think I did that.
20:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you're a champion of like the arts.
20:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you are your big time into the vision of the city, having a voice that comes through from artists.
21:07
[SPEAKER_01]: But when did you get that from?
21:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Where did you learn that from?
21:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, how important that is is it's foreign to a lot of people.
21:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, his panics and Vietnamese as well, we have a lot of culture, you know, and art is one is the part of that growing up.
21:23
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, being, I remember as a kid, I was being into drawing, you know, I drew a lot when I was drawing up.
21:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So that maybe that love for that I came about there in my wife and I would go to a lot of, you know, art galleries and got a lot of shows, please.
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Performing arts, all that kind of stuff.
21:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought we've been really involved with that.
21:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And to me, that's the heartbeat of our community.
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: The arts, you know, up being art, or being dance, performing, all that kind of stuff is where brings the community together.
21:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I love going to see.
21:55
[SPEAKER_00]: here in the Saigon or San Ana or wherever where they have art shows, we will always, you know, go there all the time my wife and I, we just love it.
22:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a heartbeat of a community for sure.
22:07
[SPEAKER_01]: When I think about sitting with you and talking through with Chris and Joseph thinking about like the only Latino on this, you know, five-person council here in the heart of
22:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't imagine what the people your constituents were not Vietnamese come up to and say like you know Carlos like is there any way like we could do this I mean I know that there are so many Vietnamese here but how do you're Latino or your white constituents you know roll up to you knowing that you're the only non Vietnamese it's like it's such a reverse problem like that I'm imagining
22:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It is, you know, a lot of the folks who are not Vietnamese, they look at me, like their voice.
22:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, which is great.
22:52
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fine.
22:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll take that, but Emma was looking out for everybody.
22:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to make sure I listen to everybody.
22:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hear them.
22:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Their frustrations, you know, the Caucasian and Hispanic residents.
23:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hear their frustrations, but it's still pushed forward.
23:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure that we try to do.
23:09
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't leave them out.
23:10
[SPEAKER_00]: But that must be hard though.
23:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It is extremely hard, extremely hard.
23:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, so they're going to go together for, well, it's funny is that, you know, as you may think that's the most logical, which they do, but the thing I find funny is a lot of Vietnamese come to me as well.
23:30
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'll give you a story, you know, you know, there was a doctor, a few years back.
23:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was my second year on office.
23:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He wanted to come here and do a health fair.
23:40
[SPEAKER_00]: He called me.
23:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, hey, I've been watching.
23:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been hearing good things about yous.
23:44
[SPEAKER_00]: He seemed to be like the voice of reasons so he came to me and I bought what he wanted to do.
23:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, for sure, we need that.
23:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's do a health fair.
23:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So we were all going home.
23:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he's like, well, I'm gonna watch your meeting then that we had our next council meeting.
23:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So he watched the next day after the meeting, he called me, he said, yeah, we get it.
24:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, man.
24:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I don't want to deal with that.
24:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to deal with that.
24:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, well, that's too bad.
24:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's another example, horror residents lose, because of the craziness and the politics that goes in in our city.
24:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Then our residents lose for that.
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: we don't need any more politicians this bottom line we need people elect people who are community driven and that's all they cares about is that community here in Westminster not the licking it as a stepping stone and that's the sad thing but but i i try to push forward we're able to even though we've i'm like one of you know four one of five that's not the enemies
24:41
[SPEAKER_00]: We were still able to accomplish good things.
24:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I got a community gardens in our community and our city.
24:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I had never thought before to do that and we did.
24:48
[SPEAKER_00]: We got that.
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: We got some brand new soccer fields.
24:53
[SPEAKER_00]: We just opened some eight new pickleball quarts.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So we've been making a good investment in our parks.
25:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, obviously I can't do it all by myself, but I think,
25:04
[SPEAKER_00]: with the, you know, with the help and having the conversation that drive the conversation with my colleagues as far as, hey, this is for our community as a whole and try to push them into how would they look if they would know on something like that, you know, that would make them look bad.
25:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So those kind of things, they feel like have to support it because it's, it is.
25:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good thing, it's for the community.
25:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've tried to push the conversation that way.
25:34
[SPEAKER_00]: My item only is going to have my name, no, to me, I rather not put my name on something and just say, hey, this is an item.
25:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's put anybody's name on it.
25:43
[SPEAKER_00]: If you guys care about names, put your name on it.
25:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But this is for the community and let's make sure that we vote that way.
25:49
[SPEAKER_00]: It's for the community.
25:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I try to do is take myself out of the equation and just drive it as to be for the
26:01
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, racism works both ways, you know, there's many times I'm like, you know, stop Asian hate and you know, we're Chris and I bang in the drums about this all the time about like, you know, it's, we grew up in a time we did, I grew up in a time in the, you know, 80s and 90s were, you know, you look down upon because you're Asian, but now we're in a place now in Lufthai,
26:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a few 100,000 Vietnamese people here that the reverse is true.
26:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Now there's a high school in La Quinta, you know, there are what?
26:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Any percent Vietnamese and most agrande and all these high schools around here are like, they're big Vietnamese numbers.
26:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think about how racism does work both ways.
26:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sure you probably have to see that.
26:54
[SPEAKER_01]: But do you call it out?
26:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, how do you think of it?
26:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you still, I mean, somebody does something wrong, whether it's racism or anything else.
27:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's sort of responsibility to call it out.
27:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I've always been had the, well, first, you know, I grew up with racism.
27:11
[SPEAKER_00]: When I was in elementary school, I got sent to the principal's office for speaking Spanish.
27:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You just didn't speak Spanish, you know?
27:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I got, you know, we were, I think we were the first Hispanic family a few times and different, a couple of different neighborhoods.
27:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So we were always experienced at racism.
27:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've always been the type of person that I never want to make do that to somebody else.
27:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Make them feel to make them feel that.
27:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've always think I've always called that out.
27:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, yeah, people are people with sometimes people forget that.
27:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And they want, like you said, reverse racism.
27:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've called it out.
27:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen, I called it out on my own people, or given example, we used to have a big Hispanic store in our community many years ago, and the workers, the workers were ignoring a Caucasian person that had a number, and all screw that, and Spanish, you know, screw that guy, I'm like, hey, what are you talking about?
28:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to, he's next.
28:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got with, that's been me.
28:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I just called it out, this matter of who it is.
28:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I just called it out.
28:14
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it doesn't matter.
28:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Racism is racist, you know, bigger trees, bigger tree, and we as a community, we have to call it out.
28:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's just who we are, you know, who I am and who we are.
28:25
[SPEAKER_00]: How long have you been in City Council?
28:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm six and a half years.
28:29
[SPEAKER_00]: No, wow.
28:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, six and a half.
28:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And then so what is, where does lead to?
28:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Where ultimately will it go for you?
28:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it doesn't seem like you want to like, you're not a climber, you know, it's going to do it on, you know?
28:40
[SPEAKER_00]: No, me.
28:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
28:43
[SPEAKER_00]: hesitate to get in on because I don't I'm reason my day job is extremely stressful I have extremely stressful and day job but it's the bigger is more than me it's bigger than me hey we need a voice in the community is looking out for is a whole and that's how I got involved
29:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And for me, this is a council representative representing our residents to me.
29:05
[SPEAKER_00]: This is it.
29:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have no intention of ambition to go anything higher.
29:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been asked, but no, it's I want to see our city succeed.
29:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to work hard to, but if you, let's say you ran from mayor, wouldn't that, wouldn't you affect more?
29:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I am running for man.
29:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, you are.
29:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a great for me.
29:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is, when, when is that happen?
29:24
[SPEAKER_00]: No, November.
29:25
[SPEAKER_00]: No, November.
29:26
[SPEAKER_01]: This November.
29:27
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just in a couple months.
29:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
29:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
29:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So the reason I'm running, the reason I'm running for mayor.
29:33
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a surprise.
29:34
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not planned.
29:35
[SPEAKER_00]: This is truly a surprise.
29:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The reason I'm running for mayor.
29:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to get Carlos on many months ago.
29:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is not, yeah.
29:41
[SPEAKER_00]: The reason I'm running for mayor is the reason that I ran for council the first time.
29:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
29:45
[SPEAKER_00]: The reason I ran for council the first time was to stop bad things from happening.
29:50
[SPEAKER_00]: When I ran for council in 2020, the majority of council was trying to sell our civic center to a developer that was not going to benefit our community.
30:03
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't have the funds for it and it wasn't going to benefit as a community and they were also trying to hire some one of the BFFs to be city manager and that will be destroying
30:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason I'm running for mayor now was because it's going to be easy at my day job and council and all that's going to be hard.
30:27
[SPEAKER_00]: But my colleagues actually are saying my colleagues that haven't really been focusing on our city as a whole has been more self promotion, self-serving, personal political agendas and it's really hurting our community as a whole.
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And and I've been driven that way, you know, you know, here, you know, renaming streets, how does that help our community, I want to talk to you.
30:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, but that's the reason I'm running for mayor is because of that.
30:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just that part, not just that, but everything as a whole is like, come on.
31:03
[SPEAKER_00]: This is insane.
31:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I did a whole thing about this Charlie Kirk's.
31:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so this is insane.
31:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, how does that, how does that, how does that?
31:11
[SPEAKER_01]: But what can you do once you are voted in as mayor with that sign?
31:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, if the community are up in here, we've received thousands of emails, thousands of emails, and when I make this strong point, there are a lot of the folks who are against it.
31:32
[SPEAKER_00]: are self-proclaimed, conservative Republicans.
31:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're against it.
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: They're against it because they know the only reason that it was done was because he was running for Congress.
31:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And he knew that he knew that he had a fact.
31:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he knew that he has a good support system in the Vietnamese community, but not so much in the Caucasian community.
31:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And he saw, OK, well, if I do this,
32:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what it was like.
32:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I guarantee that he didn't even know who Charlie Quirk was before after he was assassinated and anyways I don't want to get too delve into that and talk smack on my colleagues, but that's it's it was done for political reasons and unfortunately it's done expanding taxpayer money
32:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can't be spending taxpayer money to for political.
32:25
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I brought it up on me.
32:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to get into this.
32:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's not about talking smack.
32:29
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about like the practical reality of naming a street in Little Saigon for no apparent reason.
32:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I can understand of Charlie Kirk did something for the Vietnamese community.
32:42
[SPEAKER_01]: by all means if he's a conservative by means name this man on our streets that was my point if he did something for the Vietnamese community I get it I would give him a sense but not if you're running for Congress no that and you're doing this to score yeah mainstream browning points yeah that's how it was that's how it was
33:02
[SPEAKER_00]: to for that and then to me that's actually a crime against our city to do something like that.
33:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to cost it you know what I mean it wasn't a lot I mean it was like I want to say three or four thousand dollars but main also staff time staff time and then all the all the the worst part to me the visiveness is the divisiveness that is
33:22
[SPEAKER_00]: that it has because we already have like we spoke about earlier, some of the frustration of the non-venomized community and then you put that into it as well.
33:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're just creating more division and to me that is what's really hurting our city.
33:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We can't just stop.
33:38
[SPEAKER_00]: We got to stop.
33:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where I've been pushing and I know it's not just talking points for me because I'm a candidate, but that is who I am that is I mean to stop the division and it's only together as a city or we're going to ever progress, you know.
33:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I've heard good things from my Vietnamese young, you know, like young Vietnamese friends that have spoken really good things about you, and I think that when we think about the current incumbent mayor, we can, we can go on and on, but what are the chances of a Vietnamese?
34:17
[SPEAKER_01]: a majority of it means city supporting a Latino man up against the Vietnamese income.
34:22
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a challenge for sure.
34:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a challenge.
34:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, but you know, all I can do is just be myself.
34:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Just all I can do is just be myself and hopefully that the residency that I'm not in for selfish reasons.
34:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
34:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, I hear things from the community and I feel that if you don't get in support, and that's kind of one of the things that drove me.
34:43
[SPEAKER_00]: to make the decision to run.
34:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I contemplated that for many, many months, if I should run, but like I said, all these actions by my colleagues and then some of the support that I've been hearing drove me to that because if we don't, we have to put up a fight.
35:03
[SPEAKER_00]: If we don't, then who is?
35:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I mean, I'm not supposed to just stand in the sidelines.
35:08
[SPEAKER_00]: and just let these folks do whatever we have to.
35:11
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to speak up.
35:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, we spoke up, we need to speak up against racism.
35:16
[SPEAKER_00]: We also have to speak up against wrong things that are happening in our community like that.
35:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Political things happen.
35:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to speak
35:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And if, you know, to me, we can't stand on the sidelines, there are others other frustrations that that like we spoke about earlier, both the younger generation, you know, feeling like they can't speak up because of the elders, but we have to, you know, then I guess if I'm going to be here and ask for something of the community, I ask that, that you do, you know, because only only speaking up, only
35:48
[SPEAKER_00]: is we only where we can be able to change things and and you know I'm hoping that the community supports us because it's not about me it's never been about me it's about us together as one community and if I can be a via code to drive that change then so be it I'm going to put myself out there to to be that voice of the whole community.
36:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So we can finally start making some real progress here in our community.
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, it's just a youth, like I said earlier, my optimistic optimism is the youth to come out.
36:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, really the question is why would a Latino mayor hear a little side gone be better than a Vietnamese mayor?
36:26
[SPEAKER_01]: That's really the question.
36:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's not even about it's not even about that.
36:30
[SPEAKER_01]: This city at the end of the day, right?
36:31
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's not.
36:32
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's not, but I just hope that people see that.
36:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
36:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I mean, like you said earlier, I mean, some people do just look at the name of on on a ballot ballot and say, well, I'm going to miss, I'm going to choose the Vietnamese.
36:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Hispanic.
36:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to choose Hispanic.
36:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think a lot of folks tend to do that.
36:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that we need to come to a point where we're looking at the person, not the name.
36:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's because we're not the ethnicity or definitely not the
37:01
[SPEAKER_00]: political affiliation, none of that, because here in the city, it's not partisan, we shouldn't be bringing in.
37:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I've taken extreme pride into not bringing the national politics into our community, because it doesn't do anything any good for us.
37:15
[SPEAKER_00]: We account to it about our streets, our parks, our public services, our public safety, that shouldn't be, you know, national
37:27
[SPEAKER_01]: on.
37:28
[SPEAKER_01]: What are you trying to do when you get in?
37:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, first of all, to me, I think one of the things is low-hand, high-quality low-hanging food is our city.
37:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I should say there's a lot of the common sentiment that I've been hearing over the years is that all West Ministers used to be nice and I think a lot of that has to do with not only maybe some lack of staffing issues but also
37:55
[SPEAKER_00]: The politics has played where the focus is not on that.
37:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Clean it up our city, make sure that all commercial centers are being maintained.
38:03
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, we need to focus on beautifying our city.
38:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Just basic maintenance, hold our property owners accountable for just basic maintenance on your properties.
38:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Just like your home, you don't want to see your home not maintained, something with the commercial centers, a big huge commercial centers, make sure that they're maintaining and make sure they keep in the clean.
38:25
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have a big business and you want to invest thousands of dollars in your business,
38:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to see your business succeed.
38:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So you want to have a nice community where people are going to want to come here.
38:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hey, it looks nice.
38:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go, come on and go, patronize that business.
38:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So we as a city needs to do our part to make sure, or the aesthetics of our community is nice, that kind of stuff.
38:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other kind of stuff is that I want to make sure we have the funds available for us to provide all the community services that as a city we need to provide.
38:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure that we're supporting our small businesses because that's the heartbeat of our city is supporting our small businesses.
39:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Now we can do it in many ways.
39:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We've started making strife to that holding small business, you know, centers,
39:16
[SPEAKER_00]: to give them tools, education, how they can get help, especially with technology, how to use technology, to see their business succeed.
39:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But those are things that we need to continue to do, and then digitize everybody, because
39:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's just like Hispanic and I've noticed this with Vietnamese as well, is that our other generation definitely want technology, you know, but that's only that's only where you're going to be able to succeed and then that's where the youth come in, teach their parents here, bomb that, this is the, and now days you see the social media as a huge, making sure they have a social media footprint so they can promote their business and having the technology for, I mean, who carries cash now?
40:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, even just, even just the idea of an archway is not technology, but it's related to technology because we take pictures, you want to do that whole social media thing to boost up the city.
40:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, for sure.
40:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
40:12
[SPEAKER_01]: In the last 50 years, how many non Vietnamese mayors have there been for Westminster?
40:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have a there's while we've only that all about the 50 years we've only had two Vietnamese So yeah, so you can go back to the start of that this the beginning of our city We had to a mayor for eight eight years and then the current mayor we have now it's from last four years
40:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, so last 12 years, you've been Vietnamese, okay?
40:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And I break that.
40:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, so, you know, so, but again, it doesn't even matter if even if they were, but if they had the focus of a community as a whole in mind, then that's fine.
40:54
[SPEAKER_00]: But when we don't have that, it doesn't, that's the thing that hurts our CD and stuff.
40:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know enough about you yet, right?
41:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't come from the city of Westminster, but I can tell you this.
41:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I can tell you based on my sitting here with you in the last,
41:08
[SPEAKER_01]: 30, 40 minutes that I have a good feeling about you.
41:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And I even have a better feeling that we talked about this with Charlie Kirk thing.
41:16
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes no sense to me.
41:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm very loud about that Charlie Kirk.
41:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just want to talk about it.
41:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Ask me.
41:23
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, I think we talked about it.
41:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And I
41:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, based on the guys that I'm affiliated with who've told me to have you on, I really do hope to see you the the next time that we sit down as as the mayor of Westminster Carlos They'll be good.
41:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm be good.
41:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I have because not not like saying not about me, but is yeah, we need that.
41:44
[SPEAKER_00]: We need we need to be community.
41:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have any focus?
41:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And not only, I mean, like I said, maybe it's corny, maybe I don't know, to be thinking that we need whereas one community, but that's how I feel, and that's how we need, we're going to succeed.
41:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just want, I just want our community.
42:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I see the potential.
42:04
[SPEAKER_00]: the potential is there.
42:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, geographically, we're in a nice area between the free risk close to the beach.
42:12
[SPEAKER_00]: This is where people want to come and we need to make sure that we invest in that.
42:20
[SPEAKER_00]: This progress.
42:21
[SPEAKER_00]: We can do it.
42:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We can definitely do it.
42:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's just having the focus is the hard part.
42:26
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you need to have happen from now to the day in November?
42:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Like what exactly goes on on a logistical level for you?
42:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you need to raise more money?
42:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Like how does this work?
42:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's the best of the bad thing about the ugly part of politics is for you to get them your message, Joe.
42:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it takes funding.
42:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It takes funding to get your message out or have a big good.
42:51
[SPEAKER_00]: social media presence.
42:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm 54 years old.
42:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I suck at social media.
42:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I suck at taking pictures.
42:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they were having somebody doing for you.
43:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
43:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to need some help.
43:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody do it for me.
43:04
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, just get the word out.
43:06
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, get get out there and talk to the community.
43:09
[SPEAKER_00]: How tell them about who we are, what are we trying to do
43:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm also helping the friend of mine, Derek Tran.
43:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm helping him and his team.
43:26
[SPEAKER_00]: He's somebody, you know, him and I connected when I first met him when he was a candidate.
43:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's the thing I saw about him right away was that he's not a politician.
43:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's somebody who really community driven and he's, you know, the served our country, you know, in the army.
43:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think having him, and I know politics to get in the way because he's at the federal level and I understand that
43:53
[SPEAKER_00]: But the sad part is that people will get to know who he is.
43:58
[SPEAKER_00]: They will see that he's not that way, that he's more he's strictly focused on helping our community.
44:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the past, we, like I said earlier above,
44:09
[SPEAKER_00]: the different groups of politicians in our community, you know, we've always, we've really never really got a lot of support from other agencies, you know, to help our city and, and he was, these like, as soon as he got elected, hey, how can we help?
44:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's, you know,
44:26
[SPEAKER_00]: He's helped all the cities in his district, including a Westminster, get some funding for things we need.
44:32
[SPEAKER_00]: We need a help on our community, senior center.
44:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It's old, so we needed some upgrades, and he got us a million dollars for that.
44:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and hopefully he's going to be able to get us some more funding.
44:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's what I look at.
44:47
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the thing, I was driven to him because of that.
44:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So Derek is not backing Charlie on this.
44:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I would know he's he he's supported he supports his he supports his 100% support you.
45:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, okay Yeah, Carla Mayor Monza.
45:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, so yeah, so he's a good guy, so I'm helping him right now and and to hopefully get reelected So yeah, and It's it colors.
45:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much.
45:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have anything any closing Marks or anything?
45:20
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I mean, there's a
45:23
[SPEAKER_00]: These closing remarks is, you know, one of the things I want to say about one of my frustrations that I've seen been involved and knocked on a lot of doors here in our city, you know, for the older, if you have, you know, your parents, please tell them to not give your pal about it to someone else.
45:43
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the big things we've had in our city here is what's called Dalit Harvesting, where
45:53
[SPEAKER_00]: to me that's like, dude, come on, man, that's the crime right there.
45:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, oh, this is how you filled it out.
45:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the box you check.
46:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell your parents to not give your ballot to anybody.
46:03
[SPEAKER_00]: You filled it out yourself, that way you want to.
46:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, a lot of people,
46:08
[SPEAKER_00]: and Vietnam died for freedom in democracy.
46:11
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people in the United States died for freedom in democracy.
46:14
[SPEAKER_00]: That is your freedom to choose the people and the candidates to choose one.
46:19
[SPEAKER_00]: If somebody tells you bring your ballot, that is to me that's your enemy.
46:22
[SPEAKER_00]: It's crossing line.
46:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It's crossing the line.
46:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't do that.
46:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell your parents, tell your aunts, uncles.
46:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't do that.
46:29
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one of the ugly parts of here, the politics in our cities, that.
46:36
[SPEAKER_00]: the other thing that I've frustration that I've seen out in the community is that I've knocked on the neighbor's doors and then they asked me, hey can I take that sign off on my front of my house and it's a politician sign, I will it's your house.
46:53
[SPEAKER_00]: He was, well, they just put it that didn't even ask me, and that fear that if they remove it.
46:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Retribution.
46:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Retribution.
47:00
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, that's a crime in our community, that's very sad, taken advantage of our older generation residents that they feel that way, because they come in from maybe in Vietnam that was the retribution there, and they may be here, they feel the same, that's what I'm guessing.
47:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just education, you know, then that's where the youth can educate your folks.
47:25
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't.
47:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's your house, your property.
47:28
[SPEAKER_00]: They need to ask you for permission to put a sign there, whatever.
47:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are the kind of things that I think really hurts is, and it's a cram against our residents.
47:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So that education is what you should be aware of that.
47:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And just know that we're here to promote our city.
47:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here to help to be the voice of everybody.
47:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And I try to, I'm a representative of District 2 because we had district elections, but the people who know me in the community, it doesn't matter what part of the city you live in, actually, it doesn't even live in our city.
48:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that helped folks?
48:06
[SPEAKER_00]: and other cities because doing as a council member, you make connections.
48:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
48:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So I even helped folks in Garden Grove because in the United States, so hey, do you know anybody in Garden Grove?
48:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, and I call council members in Garden Grove and definitely here in Westminster.
48:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So I hope everybody as much as I can, I'm not perfect, but I do my best.
48:26
[SPEAKER_00]: to help.
48:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, that's just who I am.
48:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And the future when you get voted in and you have to do, you know, I always say politician have to pick the lesser of two evils.
48:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to look at you and I'm going to be like, blink once if you're being bought, blink twice if you want to get out, you know, just let me know.
48:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's a very difficult road and I do wish you the best and I recognize some difficult changes, you know, good change.
48:53
[SPEAKER_01]: But thank you for coming on and trusting me with your time and having a conversation.
48:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having me any time, you know, my monopon book, you know, I try to be as open as I can.
49:04
[SPEAKER_00]: and I'd love to whenever a year of a call may have gladly joined you again.
49:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we'll do it after the elections when you return there.
49:10
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, thank you very much for sharing it.
49:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
49:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
49:12
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
49:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for listening to the Vietnamese with Kenneth Wind.
49:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Special thanks to Brittany Tran, to Jane Wind, Catherine Wind, Tina Fam, Sydney Jamie, and Crystal Tran.
49:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Please find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at the Vietnamese Podcast.