|
|
May 31, 2002/Sivan 20 5762, Vol. 54, No. 37
Phoenix seeks sister city
Committee searches for Israeli partner
BARRY COHEN
Editor
A city councilman is hoping for a little sister.
Phil Gordon wants the City of Phoenix to be the first Arizona municipality to partner with a city in Israel.
"We need to support the only democracy in the Middle East," said Gordon, who represents District 4 in central Phoenix.
"After all, Israel has been standing by the United States while facing attacks (from) inside and outside."
The Sister Cities Commission, a national organization established in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, operates on the belief that "cultures need to understand one another, people to people," said Paula West, executive director of the Phoenix Sister Cities Commission. The commission oversees relationships with nine sister cities including Calgary, Canada; Chengdu, China; Ennis, Ireland; Hermosillo, Mexico; and Cantania, Italy.
"Especially since Sept. 11, we need peace, goodwill and the understanding of different cultures," she added.
The Phoenix commission coordinates programs with sister cities "for municipal leaders, the corporate community and local citizens to meet their international counterparts (and) to make valuable cultural, social, educational, and economic connections," according to a PSCC statement.
An organizing committee is spearheading the effort for Phoenix to have a sister city in Israel, said Cathy Wolf, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. Wolf is an interim coordinator for the committee along with Ron Bookbinder, Valley businessman and chairman of the task force for the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, and Rabbi Robert Kravitz, executive director of the American Jewish Committee area office. Gordon serves as a committee member.
The criteria are in place for Phoenix to have a sister city in Israel, said West. The organizing committee must find an interested city in Israel, initiate an exchange of letters and find funding for delegates from the cities to visit each other, she explained.
Final steps would include approval of the relationship by Phoenix's sister cities commission and its city council, she added.
The organizing committee met with the PSCC in late April, said Wolf, and "is working on gathering support from lay leaders and business leaders. We are just starting to contact people."
An Israeli sister city has not yet been named, she added.
Sister cities' relationships are more than goodwill, Gordon said. Cultural and economic projects, as well as student and government exchanges, benefit both partners.
Economic rewards provide the incentive. "The primary focus is on the development of economic opportunities," Gordon said.
He noted that high tech, defense, farming and bio-manufacturing companies could potentially set up joint projects benefiting partnering cities.
The organizing committee will next meet June 26, said Wolf.
Gordon hopes to establish a connection with a prospective Israeli city in the coming weeks and to submit a proposal to the PSCC board of directors this fall.
Contact the writer at barry_ cohen@jewishaz.com.
|
