City of Light Meets the City by the Bay

Our illustrious Paris mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, is in our illustrious American city of San Francisco this week promoting the cultural and economic ties between the ‘City of Light’ and the ‘City by the Bay.’ He and ‘Frisco’ Mayor Edwin Lee will be strengthening their ties through the signing of a new memorandum of cooperation, a tradition of trade generated between the two cities signed in 2006 and again in 2009.

Palace of the Legion of HonorLe Central bistrotThe Getty MansionFormer mayor Newsom and Delanoë in Paris

These exchanges have enabled the cities to cooperate in various fields, including the training of young adults in the use of new technologies and the development of links between the digital creation gurus of the two cities. It’s Delanoë’s first time in San Francisco in an official capacity.

His agenda is packed. Delanoë arrived yesterday and even before he was the guest of honor at a reception hosted by the Consul General of France in San Francisco, he managed to sneak in a photo exhibition of the 1906 earthquake at the Palace of the Legion of Honor (modeled after the 18th-century Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris).

Today he will be met by Edwin Lee where they will review the existing cooperation projects and those to come. Following this meeting, the memorandum of cooperation will be signed by the two mayors in the presence of the press. Lunch will be held together with the former mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, and Tom Horn, chair of the San Francisco Sister City Committee and Bay Area reporter/publisher at a French restaurant Le Central (but, of course!).

Soon after, the mayor will attend a reception hosted by Ron Conway, America’s “super angel” investor and key figure in the history of Silicon Valley. Development projects in the new digital technologies between Paris and Silicon Valley will be at the heart of discussions of this meeting. He will also get a tour of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio and attend the opening of the San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theater…followed by an official city dinner hosted by Lieutenant Governor of California and former S.F. mayor Gavin Newsom at the Getty mansion in Pacific Heights.

(Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of being present at several of the American mayors meetings with Bertrand Delanoë at the Paris City Hall, Newsom being among them in January of 2009. Read all about it at:
The Gallant Gentlemen of the Sister Cities)

San Francisco has been trying to get Delanoë in San Francisco for years. It is thought that his openly gay identity will be welcomed by the sister city as he has been outspoken on the subject of same-sex marriage and other human rights issues.

Ebar.com reported on the event, quoting Tom Horn as having said, “During this 10 years most projects have been cultural. We take our relationship to an even higher point today with the signing of the sister city digital media accord. Mr. Mayor, your presence here is testimony to the strength of the relationship between Paris and San Francisco. With this new accord, the possibilities are limitless.”

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris

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P.S. Upcoming events to enjoy:

* Thursday, September 27th, Paris PIN Meeting, where I will be talking in depth about “Developing Your Own Fractional Ownership Property,” 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at FIDAL, 12, blvd du General Leclerc, Neuilly-sur-Seine 92200 Paris (change of venue). Visit Conferences and Workshops for more information.

* Parler Paris Après Midi October 9th when American photographer Michael Honegger will be teaching us “Eye Phoned Paris™”…capturing images of the City of Light by phone! For details, visit Parler Paris Après Midi