A proclamation recognizing and celebrating Denver Sister Cities International's Worldwide Festival on September 7, 2014.
Proclamations. We do have one proclamation this evening. Proclamation 682 and council members. Will you please read Proclamation 682? Why, certainly, Mr. President. Thank you. Proclamation number 682 Recognizing and Celebrating Denver Sister Cities International Worldwide Festival on September seven, 2014. Whereas, following the mayhem of the World War Two in 1948, Denver Sister Cities International was founded with a relationship with Breast France and Denver and now has two friendship cities and ten sister cities, each of which have a public part name in its honor as a tribute to the importance of these relationships. And. Whereas, Denver Sister. Cities International is seeking to raise its visibility, grow its awareness and its global relationships and programs in concert with the city's expanding international economic and cultural studies strategy. And. WHEREAS, Denver Sister Cities International Worldwide Festival on September 7th will celebrate the art, music, food, dance stories, culture of our ten sister cities and into friendship cities, as well as the beautiful diversity of Denver itself. And. Whereas, Denver's Worldwide Festival will entertain and educate in an accessible and inclusive manner, as befits the mission of Denver Sister Cities International. And. WHEREAS, Metro delegates from each of Denver sister cities have been formally invited to participate in Denver Worldwide Festival. And. WHEREAS, The City and county of Denver and Denver Sister Cities International have a strong and mutually supportive, cooperative relationship. Now, therefore, be a proclaim by the accounts of the city and county of Denver, Section one, that the Council heartily endorses Denver's Worldwide Festival as a celebration of the cultures and diversity of Denver sister cities, friendship cities and Denver itself. And section to that. The Clerk of the city and county of Denver shall attest and affix a seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and transmitted copy thereof to Denver Sister Cities International. Thank you. Councilmember X your motion to adopt. Yes, Mr. President. I move that proclamation 680 to be adopted. It has been moved in. Second comments from members of council. Councilman Brooks. Thank you, Mr. President. I many of my council colleagues know this, and some of the folks in the city of Denver know that I'm a strong advocate in and support of Denver sister cities. It is an organization that has has a lot of history in the city of Denver. But right about when Mayor Web went out of office, there was such a city that kind of went dormant because he was such a strong advocate of it. And since Mayor Hancock has been in office, it has it is it is gearing back up to really grow and be an effective multisector approach type of organization. I've been really involved and I actually got excited about the research of cities because of some nonprofit work that I've done in Nairobi, Kenya. But after seeing how relationships actually catalyzes, development catalyzes a strong tie with cities, I've become a believer, a wholehearted believer in Denver sister cities, and have been able to participate in some programs with Denver Sisters City International in DC sat on a couple of panels talking about what? What does it mean to have a meaningful relationship with another city where it's not just cultural engagements, but it's also talking about outreaching to young people, talking about exchange is talking about economic development opportunities. And so I'm a I'm a believer. And, you know, we get this program. This is a nonprofit. They are not what the city of Denver, you know, some people think that they probably should be, but they're not with the city of Denver. They're a nonprofit program. And we invest probably anywhere in the neighborhood of $20,000, somewhere around there. I think Beth Hendricks, the executive director, let me know. And I believe that is a steal, because just for one delegation to fly here and stay in Denver, a delegation of 15 folks like we have with Nairobi, it is $50,000. And so it is a return on investment to begin building relationships with other other cities internationally. Someone who's doing a great job with that is San Francisco. San Francisco has 26 or so. They say we'll take what anybody wants to be a friendship city and a sister cities. Come on. And what they do is every time there's a delegation from one of their sister cities or friendship cities, they fly the flag right outside the mayor's office. The mayor greets them and then they go meet with folks from economic development. They go meet with the folks from visit Denver, they go meet with the cultural institution folks. And I said, Man, that's a great idea. And because of that, they're finding that these countries and these cities are beginning to invest into San Francisco. And so I hope it's something that we can grow into. And I want to say one more thing on one of the trips. That we were trying to build a relationship with Kunming, China. There's so much interest from China, especially in Denver, because they feel like the port cities are oversaturated and they really like the availability of DIA. And this has gotten. Paul Washington, our executive director of the Economic Development, so busy that he has hired someone over international trade, Abdul Sosa. And and so this, you know, this these little relationships with these places have kind of grown into a serious effort, economic effort for a city. And we need to continue to encourage our Sister Cities International. And so I'm excited for this worldwide festival where we've invited every Denver sister cities, officials and mayors. I hope I hope we get maybe five, ten mayors to come by here and enjoy Denver and we'll show them a good time, do another proclamation if they all come and continue to support this incredible organization. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilman Brooks, do we have any other comments from members of council and c. None. Madam Secretary? Rocco Brooks Hi. Brown. I thought I can eat lemon LOPEZ Montero. Nevitt Hi. Ortega Hi, Rob Shepherd. SUSSMAN Hi, Mr. President. Hi, Madam Secretary. Please cast your vote. And now the results. 3939 as proclamation has been adopted. Councilman Brooks, is there anyone you like to bring up to accept the proclamation? Just one of the hardest working executive directors that is working part time for us right now, Beth Hendricks, to come up and receive this right. Right here, the right to the podium either. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Brooks. And to all esteemed members of Denver City Council, it's truly an honor to be here and to accept this proclamation on behalf of Denver Sister Cities International. Since 1948, we've been working to promote respect, understanding and direct friendships. Among people of differing. Cultures through Denver Sister City relationships. We're proud to represent the city of. Denver on a global scale, and we hope that you all will come to our worldwide festival on September 7th in the McNichols Building in Civic Center Park. The event is free and open to the public. I hope to see you all there. Thank you very much for this honor. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilmember, for bringing this forward. That was our only proclamation. So we are now, now ready for the resolutions. Madam Secretary, please read the resolutions.