Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

One man's fondness connects two cities

A businessman sees his work come to fruition as Tampa prepares to ally with its new sister city.

By SHERYL KAY
Published May 1, 2005

WESTCHASE - When Jack Ross became enamored of his Israeli wife Sharona, he also fell in love with her hometown of Ashdod, a then-sleepy port city with more than 3,000 years of history.

Ross, 41, a commercial real estate manager, took that passion with him when he and Sharona, 36, moved back to the United States. A decade later, in 2001, she was accepted to a surgical residency at the University of South Florida, and Ross found himself in Tampa. He immediately noticed some similarities between his new home and Ashdod.

"Both were deep water port cities. Both, at that time, had similar demographics in terms of numbers of people, both were experiencing exponential demographic and infrastructure growth, and both were the up-and-coming cities in their areas," said Ross, now living in Westchase.

Ross wanted a way to connect Tampa with Ashdod, the fifth-largest city in Israel today, so he volunteered to bring the two cities closer together through the program Sister Cities International.

Now, after a two-year cross-Atlantic barrage of e-mails and phone calls and arranging visits by dignitaries and delegations, Ross' work is about to pay off.

On Friday, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and Ashdod Mayor Zvi Zilker will sign a formal Sister Cities relationship in a private ceremony at Tampa's Old City Hall.

The night before that, on Thursday evening, the public is invited to opening celebrations at the Tampa Theatre. There will be a buffet of authentic Israeli foods at 6:15 p.m. and a presentation by the Shalom Israel Ashdod-National Dance Ensemble at 7:45. Tickets cost $18 for adults, $10 for children.

"For me personally, it will be euphoric," Ross said of the ceremonies. "It's the end of a process for me, but it's the beginning of a new process for the city."

Sister city relationships are hardly new, said John Spoto, 57, president of Sister Cities International's Tampa branch, which incorporated in 1967.

The goal is to foster mutual understanding through cultural, economic and professional exchanges between the people of the two cities.

"We're the liaison that makes those connections happen," Spoto said.

Tampa already has such relationships with Agrigento, Italy; Barranquilla, Colombia; Granada, Nicaragua; Izmir, Turkey; Le Havre, France; Oviedo, Spain; Veracruz-Llave, Mexico; and Boca Del Rio, Mexico.

One ardent supporter of creating the relationship between Ashdod and Tampa has been the Without Walls International Church, which over the years has sent more than a dozen delegations to Israel.

"We believe we have a spiritual connection to Israel, and we believe it's our responsibility to support the country," said Rod Moore, 57, chief operating officer at the church.

"Well, the question is "What can you do for Israel?' We found that by supporting the sister city relationship with Ashdod, it would be a great way for us to show our solidarity with Israel."

Ross helped coordinate visits to Ashdod by a delegation from Congregation Beth Am in Carrollwood, and by a group of eighth-graders from the Hillel School of Tampa who visited their counterparts there.

Several months ago he arranged for Mayor Zilker to visit Tampa with religious and business leaders.

"With both of our ports, there are homeland security issues we both face, first response concerns, exchanging agro- and biotechnologies, exchanging art and dance exhibitions, exchanging students, reviewing drug prevention programs," Ross said. "The relationship can only be limited by us limiting our own creativity. The possibilities for us to exchange with our counterparts in Ashdod are infinite."

- For more information on tickets for May 5, call the Tampa Theatre at (813) 274-8982 or call Cathy Gardner at (813) 264-9000.

Contact reporter Sheryl Kay at skreporter@hotmail.com

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 04:00:06]