City Sued Over Street Closure for Tet Event

A group of Little Saigon merchants sued the city of Westminster on Tuesday to stop a planned Vietnamese festival that business owners said would block customer access to their stores and hurt them financially.

The Tet Festival, planned around the Vietnamese lunar new year, was approved by the City Council last month and is scheduled for the last weekend in February. The Little Saigon Tet Festival Assn., which organized the event, plans to close Bolsa Avenue, between Moran and Bushard streets, for five days to allow the group to set up before the event and clean up afterward.

Festival organizers said they expect up to 200,000 people to attend. Several store owners in the area complained that closing the road and the shortage of parking will hurt their businesses.

The lawsuit alleged that the City Council approved the festival without requiring organizers to file a formal application for a special events permit, and that the affected merchants were not given an opportunity voice their objections.

Store owners are asking a Superior Court judge for an injunction to stop the festival.