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March 18, 2005/Adar II 7 5765, Volume 57, No. 29
It's official: Phoenix and Ramat-Gan bond
DEBORAH SUSSMAN SUSSER
Associate Editor
The Phoenix Sister Cities Commission has been officially invited by Ramat-Gan Mayor Zvi Bar to send a delegation to their International Sister Cities conference, May 29-June 1 in Ramat-Gan, Israel. One highlight of the conference will be the signing ceremony for the sister city affiliation between Phoenix and Ramat-Gan, at which the relationship between the two cities will become official.
"It's really wonderful to see something come about that will be such a benefit," said PSCC executive director Paula West, "not only to the city of Phoenix but to our local Jewish community. And those benefits circle all the way around to Ramat-Gan and their city government and their city officials."
West said that she was particularly happy for the Ramat-Gan Founders Committee, with which she has worked for over two-and-a-half years to help forge the relationship between Phoenix and Ramat-Gan.
"They've worked so hard, under the leadership of Sam Campana and Rabbi (Robert) Kravitz," West said. "And I would also want to recognize Eitan Ben-Ami (shaliach of the Israel Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix). Lots of people have helped, but their leadership in bringing this about is to be applauded."
Delegates to the conference include City Councilman Greg Stanton; Kravitz, who is executive director of the American Jewish Committee of Phoenix; Paul Waddell, PSCC board president; and West herself. Although Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon may be unable to accompany the delegation due to his schedule, the mayor's counsel, Marian Yim, told Jewish News that Stanton has the full authority of the mayor and city council to sign the official sister city affiliation documents between Phoenix and Ramat-Gan.
After participating in the conference with Ramat-Gan's other sister cities, city officials will return to Phoenix, while some of the private sector delegates will continue on an extended tour of Israel that includes Haifa, Galilee and Jerusalem, and return to Phoenix on June 7.
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