Sister Cities: Getting better as the years pass
Dear Friends:
As we go about city business, we are confronted with numerous challenges day in and day out, so it’s good when we can emphasize the positive. That’s what I did this week in City Council when I gave an overview to my council colleagues on our accomplishments with the Sister Cities of Los Angeles organization these past several years. As many of you know, I serve as president of L.A. Sister Cities and enjoy many great relationships with our 24 member cities, including our most recent member, Yerevan, Armenia. A delegation led by Council President Eric Garcetti traveled to Armenia earlier this year for the ceremony. This people-to-people program was created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to strengthen citizen diplomacy and avoid future conflicts. As Los Angeles continues to thrive as one of the world’s most culturally diverse places, so too does our Sister Cities program. Our annual Sister Cities Cultural Day showcasing world music and dance performances has grown in size and stature and especially now that it is held at the Grove at Farmers Market.
I am always eager to lead a delegation to any of our Sister Cities around the world and will do so twice in the next three months when I join Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit for events marking the 40th anniversary of the Los Angeles-Berlin Sister Cities relationship.
TOM LABONGE
Welcome to the New Site!
Greetings, everyone! I hope you like our new Council District 4 website. We're coming into the webblog age by dispensing with the old, static-style home page and offering you, our constituents, up-to-the-minute news and photos about your neighborhood and your city.
We live in a very dynamic place, Los Angeles. We're part of the most sophisticated and regions in the world. So, it's my challenge to be in the loop through all the conventional ways -- driving through the
district, attending meetings, taking and making telephone calls -- as well as taking advantage of all the high-tech ways too * via cell, Blackberry and e-mail, among others.
I've always been a visual person. As many of you know, I love photography and enjoy sharing my pictures with those I encounter as I go about city business as well as when I'm out and about as a resident of Los Angeles. This new webblog will make it easier for people to both see and print pictures of people and events taken from around the district.
I look forward to hearing from you!