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Bruce Glasscock, executive director of the city of Plano, said $17,000
is in the current annual budget for the sister cities program. Run by
volunteers who mostly pay their own way on trips to the sister cities,
the program also receives in-kind donations from local companies that
host events and meals for visitors in Plano.
“I think the value has become greater as we have become more culturally
diverse,” said George Elking, immediate past president of the program
and vice president of marketing at Slay Industries in Plano. “We
have matured in our approach and set up guidelines. The cities we work
with have to be a suburb of a major city, close to a major airport and
offer educational, cultural and business opportunities that match up with
Plano.”
A Plano contingent recently visited Brampton, a suburb of Toronto. The
group included Mayor Pat Evans, city council members Sally Magnuson and
Phil Dyer, Plano Economic Development Board Executive Director Sally Bane,
Brad Shanklin, president of the Plano Chamber of Commerce and Glasscock.
Sister cities program volunteers who visited Brampton were President Irma
Landis, Vice President Mark Waterbury, Brampton Chairperson Jodie Wallace,
Lissa Smith, Dr. Charles Ku and Elking.
“There will definitely be some business done between the two cities,”
said Evans. “A huge regional hospital is being built in Ontario
and EDS won one of the contracts because of the time Brampton officials
spent during a previous trip here.”
In Brampton, the group visited several businesses they felt would be adaptable
to Plano.
“We spent most of a day with the owners of a restaurant chain that
has been in business two years and has 14 establishments in Ontario,”
Evans said. “They were looking at Michigan, but now may come to
Plano.”
Wallace was impressed with a large pasta manufacturing company in Brampton.
Managers of the company would love to expand in the United States.
Evans and Wallace said the pasta plant is a very clean facility that did
not even look like a manufacturing company from the outside.
“I’m not sure current zoning regulations in Plano would allow
such a facility, but not much adjustment would be required,” Evans
said.
Partly due to the sister cities program, Plano-based Frito-Lay built a
warehouse in Brampton. Company officials were having difficulty in the
early stages until Brampton city leaders were in town on a sister cities
trip. The Brampton people met with Frito-Lay managers and paved the way
for completion of the deal.
Similar connections have been made in the other cities participating in
the program. Elking cited contacts between Texas Instruments and the world’s
largest chip manufacturer in Hsinchu and container shipments from Taiwan
to JCPenney locations.
“Businesses find it easier to use the sister cities program as the
gateway for those contacts,” he said.
Elking said some of his associates doing business in Mexico met with the
mayor of Monterrey due to connections through the sister cities program.
He said San Pedro Garza Garcia is a business-friendly, powerful suburb
of Monterrey, similar to the relationship between Plano and Dallas.
Landis said the volunteers make it happen.
“We meet with leaders of potential sister cities first,” she
said. “We are the vehicle to bring the city officials together.
It gives them a venue to talk and develop relationships.
“We also go into the community and talk about the program. Our committee
members are involved in other things and have a lot of contacts, which
helps us get in-kind donations from Plano companies.”
The program has fostered teacher exchanges between Plano and San Pedro
Garza Garcia and cultural connections that may bring a Brampton symphony
to Plano. There is a Plano Park in Port Adelaide/Enfield and an Enfield
Park in Plano as a result of the sister cities program.
When Hsinchu officially became Plano’s fifth sister city in September,
a 25-member Taiwanese delegation participated in a ceremony held during
the Plano City Council meeting. As part of the festivities, EDS hosted
a tour of the company and lunch for approximately 40 people.
“The idea is to match a variety of factors, including demographics,
population, industry, issues and concerns,” said Glasscock. “Hsinchu
is the Silicon Valley of Taiwan and the city’s demographics match
very well with Plano.”
Evans said many Plano citizens already do business in Taiwan.
“The sister city relationship will strengthen those ties,”
she said.
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