To:
James Fung
Assistant Assignment Editor
Sing Tao Daily
Thank you for your question.
Question : Do you agree the Richmond City legislates sign rules demanding all businesses shouldn’t have signage bigger in a foreign language(i.e Chinese) than it is in English ? State your reasons no matter you agree or disagree.
The City of Richmond has sign bylaws but they do not require English on all signs, and why should they , this is only common sense why would a business want to alienate a large segment of their customer base ?
I have owned and managed my own Sign business for over 35 years l often have clients that want to have Chinese characters on their signage and l arrange to have those cut for me so l can install them on the predominately English signs. These are smart business owners that understand the value of welcoming all customers to do business from them.
I am the only City Council candidate that is a sign maker and if elected l could work with the bylaws department to create a list of suggestions and best practices to help business owners reach their customers in a positive and in a welcoming way.
The issue is really about education and l would want to try to first engage all business owners to be CANADIAN and become part of the larger business community and try to educate them as to the lost revenue they suffer when they self segregate.
Richmond will prosper if all businesses are successful and l think we need to encourage better communication and hopefully that will ratify this problem.