The sister cities program… what exactly is the function of it?
As far as I can gather, each American city is paired with at least one “international” city which is similar in size, importance, and Lord knows what else.
It’s that “what else” that I’m looking to find out. Do they have any sort of international program/competition that they compete in with one another? Any special celebration, or gift-giving ceremonies?
Also, how and why did they go about setting up the sister cities program?
You can probably find anything you want to know here:
They had a link on their home page for “cities seeking cities”. All of a sudden, I feel so dirty.
I think they also do a lot of cultural exhanges and stuff. There might be other organizations similar to this one. I remember we used to have a relationship with Botswana because they were exactly half a world away from us but it’s not one of our sister-cities.
Here’s something interesting about those “cities seeking cities.” ALL non US cites are seeking cities in the US. Each and every one. And out of all the ones there, all but 4 are solely seeking cities in the US. Now I feel bad for them. Everybody wants to be our friend and we just don’t have the time to spend on them.
When my friend from Peking came to Washington DC, I took her to Chinatown. There is a big arch with an inscription saying it was inaugurated by the mayor of Washington, Marion Barry, and the major of Beijing, (whatever his name was), declaring them both sister cities etc.
I casually commented to her that Marion Barry ended up in jail and she told me the mayor of Beijing ended up in prison as well. It seemed these two cities really do have a lot in common.
These days in Beijing they are probably searching for a woman named Chindao Li. 
I live in Plano, TX - and I’ve never heard of Brampton, Ontario , Canada; Ivanovo , Russia; or San Pedro Garza Garcia , Mexico. I feel bad.
Anyone here who lives in one of these cities? Wanna be penpals?
All the web sites I looked at (including the ones above) are still a little vague for me.
I mean, they skirt around the actual nuts and bolts of what goes on.
Anyone firmly involved in the sister city programs is strongly encouraged to reply!
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll tell you what Chicago got out of it:
a very nice fountain from Hamburg.
Danke!
I currently live in Plano my ownself. I lived, for about 3 months, in Brampton. Brampton is to Toronto what Plano is to Dallas.
Its a good way to get your own congressional junket while you are still in the minor leagues, so to speak.
…when a mommy city loves a daddy city very much…