You can pay for staff time, but all the other things that go along with the Sister City program - hosting people, travel, gifts, all of that kind of stuff - you have to raise private dollars for.”Ī Sister City designation can spur economic and cultural benefits. In 2018, The Columbian reported: “In a geopolitical climate where cross-national partnerships are valued, the city of Vancouver prefers to foster one and only one Sister City partnership: Joyo, Japan.”Īt the time, the official in charge of the Sister City program said: “Washington state doesn’t allow you to use public money to support Sister Cities. Since that time, Joyo and Vancouver have enjoyed many formal and informal social, cultural and political exchanges such as children’s art exchanges, one-on-one exchanges and a six-month employee exchange between the two cities.” With a lot of hard work and strong support from citizens of both cities, Joyo and Vancouver became official Sister Cities in October 1995. Joyo is a city of about 80,000 residents in the Kyoto prefecture, and the city of Vancouver website explains: “The Vancouver Rotary and the Joyo Rotary Clubs initiated the idea of starting a sister city relationship. Silence and obfuscation only lead to more questions and inflame mistrust between voters and those they elect to run the city. Who went on the excursion? Did it cost taxpayers anything? What potential benefits were culled during a weeklong journey to Joyo?Īll of these should be answered promptly and completely. The public deserves answers regarding the trip of Vancouver officials to a Sister City in Japan.
0 kommentar(er)
