Title
Staff Report for Resolution to Adopt an Official Chinese Translation of the City of San Leandro’s Name
Staffreport
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended by the City Council Rules Committee that the City Council adopt the attached proposal as the official Chinese language translation for the City of San Leandro’s name.
BACKGROUND
As part of its annual planning session, the City Council adopted as one of its goals for the current fiscal year to “support and implement programs, activities and strengthen communication that enhances the quality of life and wellness, celebrates the arts and diversity and promotes civic pride.” In order to help achieve that goal, the City Council directed City staff to launch various multi-lingual outreach initiatives. As part of these efforts, the City Council also requested that the Rules Committee explore the establishment of an official Chinese translation of “San Leandro”, which would transition from the current practice of using a phonetic translation of the City’s name into a more formal translation that positively promotes the City.
The Rules Committee subsequently discussed the item at its December 9, 2015, January 19, 2016, and August 25, 2016 meetings. Per direction from the Rules Committee at its January 19th meeting, the City Manager’s Office hosted a community meeting at the Marina Community Center on May 25, 2016 in order to further examine the topic and gather public feedback from community stakeholders. A summary of the outreach efforts that took place in advance of that meeting is provided below:
Summary of Public Outreach Efforts
• Personal invitations to the following organizations: USA Yang Jiang Business Association, American Zhongshan Association of Commerce, Toishan Association, Asian Cultural Association of San Leandro, and the Asian Business Council
• Social media and web outreach
• Paid advertisement in the World Journal, a Chinese-language print & online newspaper
• 14-day advanced postings at the Marina Community Center and Manor Branch Library
Summary of Community Meeting and Recommendation to the City Council
The goal of the community meeting was to gather feedback and suggestions that would be used to establish consistency in the characters used in print to identify the City of San Leandro, and to positively promote the City to the Chinese community.
As part of the process, the public was encouraged to propose printed characters that adhered to the following criteria:
• Phonetically similar to “San Leandro”
• Convey a positive connotation and meaning
• Similar pronunciation in Cantonese & Mandarin
The stakeholder group discussed two key proposals, which were suggested by by two local residents with close ties to the Chinese-speaking community. Please see Attachment #1 for an overview and more detailed information about the proposals.
To reach consensus, the group publicly discussed the merits of each proposal and then voted between the two. Proposal #1 received the majority of votes. As a result, the stakeholder group recommended that the City Council adopt proposal #1 as the City of San Leandro’s official Chinese-translated name.
Staff subsequently presented an analysis and summary of the outcome of the community meeting to the Rules Committee at its August 25, 2016 meeting. The Rules Committee unanimously voted to proceed with Proposal #1 as their recommendation to the City Council.
ATTACHMENT(S)
Attachment(s) to Staff Report
• City of San Leandro Chinese Name Proposals
PREPARED BY: Sbeydeh Viveros-Walton, Communications and Community Relations Analyst, City Manager’s Office.