We ran into Mayor Rosaura Altamirano from Camoapa, Nicaragua on the Arcata Plaza, in town for the IBlock Party on Monday, Labor Day. With help from translator Nora Wynne, who works with the Arcata/Camoapa Sister City Project, we talked about how the two cities work together.
This article appears in Best of Humboldt 2010.
Former mayor – Rosaura helped establish the sister city in 1985.
Yeah, FORMER. And where is the former mayor of Arcata, who was in office when the Sister City project was started? She was there, but you apparently ignored her. Where is the rest of the story about the very important milestone of the 25th anniversary of this project? And when do you ask them the hard questions, like “With all of the social problems hitting us and our kids locally, why put so much into a project that only benefits another town in another country?” “What real, quantifiable benefit does it bring Arcata or Humboldt?” And “Can the average citizen track where the money is really going or is that a secret?”
Journal FAIL.
Archee wants the Journal to use their massive resources to cover the really tough stories.
Archee, Let me explain how that video came about. I was at the Farmers’ Market Saturday and someone introduced me to the delegates from Camoapa who were selling raffle tickets. I met the mayor (or former mayor) and asked her a few questions off the top of my head. It was not intended as some sort of investigative report exposing possible corruption in the sister city relationship. Maybe there was a former Arcata mayor around on Saturday, if so, I did not know about it. If you’ve got a gripe with helping out Camoapa, well, skip the IBlock Party.
Former Arcata Mayor Thea Gast met with former Camoapa Mayor Rosaura Altamirano about their 1985 efforts and was with her at the I Block Party, too.
Local kids benefit from building a relationship, communicating with people on their same continent, but having different experiences.
Frequently, local kids travel to another country (Nicaragua) and are embraced as sisters and brothers from a sister city. It’s a cultural exchange. It’s a good thing.
In short, chillaxe, anonymous blog poster Arhcee. Here’s a question for you: if your convictions are so full of vitality, why can’t you put your real name behind them?