Chairman’s Report
Thursday 15th
Arrived Seatac 6.18pm. Picked up by Jackie
Kallay and taken to her home for dinner. Met her husband,
Michael (Microsoft). Discussed the Sister City relationship
and
updated them on Committee initiatives.
Friday
16th
8.30 - 10.00am: Met with Darwin Campbell of King County
and Sounds Transit. Discussed Public Transport issues in
both Seattle and Christchurch. Informed them of the public
transport initiatives in Christchurch
and in particular the Orbiter and the city Shuttle. They
were interested in the technology of the Shuttle and the
new Orbiter design. This will be followed up with contact
between Ecan and the KC&ST. Met also a former driver
and now driver trainer and discussed issues of fares and
routes.
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| Seattle at night |
Afternoon: Met with Jim Hathaway (Sister City Committee and Rotary). Some general sightseeing and photography and a chance to discuss both Sister City and Rotary initiatives with Jim. Visited the Arboretum and the NZ Garden. Joined by Dr John Wott. We undertook to keep in touch with John with regard to the Sister City Garden and its development.
Evening: Seattle Christchurch Celebration and AGM Key speakers were Martin Moore, John Bollard, former Mayor Charles Royer and BSP (Including Greetings from the Mayor of Christchurch). Della Newman was present as was the NZ Consul General, Darryl Dunn (based in LA). We met many of those involved with the Seattle Committee and a City Councillor, Richard Conlin. BSP presented one of our new books for the Sister City Committee’s raffle. Informal invitation extended to join us in Christchurch for the 25th anniversary.
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| Seattle waterfront |
Saturday 17th
10.30am: Meeting at the Stonington Gallery with Becky Blanchard,
Nancy Davenport, Barbara Brotherton and David Conrad. Met
Shaun Peterson and explained the history of the Sister
City Garden and the present artwork. Discussed the concept
of
bringing an artist/carver to NZ to carve a piece for the
Garden and to extend the benefit to education. The discussions
were wide ranging and the project met with general approval
once the whole concept was clearly understood. We saw some
of Shaun’s work and were very impressed. We discussed
various possibilities and Shaun will get back to us through
the Gallery to present some ideas. We have Shaun’s
portfolio and hope to receive more examples of his work
shortly.
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| View from space needle |
Afternoon: The afternoon was spent at the Seattle Arts Museum with Barbara. A most rewarding and enjoyable visit and a time to discuss the possibility of arranging for a high quality Maori exhibit. The Museum does not have a suitable display and is keen on an arrangement with the Canterbury Museum. We have undertaken to make the appropriate contacts available. We advised her of Art Daniel who is now part of our Committee structure and in an educational role at the Museum.
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| Approach to floating bridge |
Evening: Meeting over a potluck dinner at the home of John and Eve Bollard. We discussed Committee structures, resourcing and initiatives. The discussions were wide-ranging and extensive and I believe that both committees have a much better understanding of each other’s activities and programmes as a result. We gave out copies of our Committee Structure, membership and also our business plan and budget. Both Martin and I are of the view that the Sub-committee structure is the best to ensure a closer working relationship. We discussed briefly the Student exchange and our hope to get this back on track and to attract students from Seattle who come from a wider ‘catchment’ and perhaps those who have never been outside of the USA/Seattle. BSP learned also that he and Rachel Jacobsen attended the same Primary School (Karori) in Wellington at the same time !! A small world indeed. This certainly was the cause of some amusement.
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| 20th anniversary celebrations |
Sunday 18th
Sightseeing. We were taken to Snoqualmie Falls and for
a more general look around by Ezra Teshome (Rotary). Hosted
at Ezra’s home in
the evening and joined by Jim Hathaway and Dave Weaver.
Discussed our Sister City initiatives and also a possible
Rotary project in Fiji.
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| Martin Moore Speaking at the 20th anniversary celebrations |
Monday 19th
Day: Taken to Olympia by Senator Ken Jacobsen. Obtained
a good overview of the State administration and shown
over
the
capital.
We met with Michael Moran (Public Affairs Consulting),
Eric Hurlburt
(Senior
International Trade Specialist);
Martha Choe (Director Washington State Office of Economic
Development)
and had
wide ranging discussions including briefing them on the
Fresh Food Alliance initiative.
We met also with Kathleen Gerke and Jim Justin of the Association
of Washington
Cities. Evening Burke Museum function to
meet the new Director. A wonderful evening and we were
able
to follow up museum
initiatives
with John
and Eve Bollard and Barbara Brotherton. John
and Eve showed us
around the ‘NZ’ exhibit
and explained the works on display. We were able to speak
to Pat Grant and to discuss briefly the desire to get the
student exchange back on track. A truly wonderful and informative
evening and may lead also to ties between
the Burke and the Canterbury Museums.
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| John Bollard speaking |
Tuesday 20th
11.30am: Meeting and luncheon with Bill Stafford of the
Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle. We discussed
Christchurch’s
Award as the Best Managed City J Again a truly beneficial
meeting;
wide-ranging and
very informative. Bill has offered to assist in any way he
can with anything
we
may seek from the Seattle ‘end’ by way of
finding the right people to contact and to facilitate where
possible. He was
very interested in our agenda and
we briefed him also on the Fresh Food Alliance Initiative.
 |
| Memorial to the firefighters |
3.00 - 4.30pm: Meeting with Pete Lagerwey, Seattle Transportation Department. This was a very worthwhile meeting to look mainly at city traffic control, street design, bicycle lanes and pedestrian issues. We have undertaken to put him in direct touch with our City’s Cycle Safety people and with Bill Greenwood, Traffic Engineer. Special interest was shown in our trial School speed Zones. Wednesday 21st: Meeting with Seattle Police Department to look in greater detail at the Bicycle patrol, and inner city policing issues with Lt. Mike Fann (Administrative Aide to the Chief of Police). We spent a little time with a Motorcycle Officer and with a general duty Traffic Officer and were shown their new units. We will be following up these meetings with the NZ Police.
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| Mount Rainer |
Midday Picked up by Marin for a brief meeting and recap of the visit then to Seatac for the homeward journey This was a very valuable, but extremely busy, visit and it is clear that the attendance by John and myself for the 20th Anniversary celebrations was really appreciated. Promotional material was handed out wherever possible and copies of our Sister City publications left with the Seattle Committee.
Brian Palliser
Chairman
Christchurch-Seattle Sister City Committee
24 November 2001