North Park and Nasimi enter partnership

Por Ashley Mackin | Editor SDUN

The Switzer Highland neighborhood in North Park and the Nasimi District in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, became sister neighborhoods on Oct. 18 with a proclamation from Councilmember Todd Gloria and the City of San Diego.

Azerbaijan officials from Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Baku attended the ceremony, which included the official proclamation and a gift exchange between San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and the mayor of the Nasimi District of Baku, Nasim Mahamaliyev.

Martin Kruming of North Park, who helped organize the sister neighborhood program, said, “The Proclamation that formally recognizes the world’s first Sister Neighborhood Partnership is extremely important. It means that the two neighborhoods can begin moving forward on many projects that relate to the three elements of our mission,” which are education, arts and culture, and business.

“For instance,” Kruming added, “artists from Switzer Highland and Nasimi will be working together to design bird sculptures for Bird Park in Switzer Highland and a San Diego park in Nasimi District.”

In the gift exchange, Mayor Sanders’s office gave Mayor Mahamaliyev a book about San Diego, which his translator said he said he would keep in his office in Baku, and a wrapped gift the visiting mayor did not open at the ceremony. Mahamaliyev was also translated as saying, “We will always remember the smiling faces and the kindness of San Diego we’ve seen here.”

Azerbaijan officials gave Mayor Sanders a book about Azerbaijan history, a CD of an Azerbaijan pianist and a silk rug.

In keeping with the education facet of the sister neighborhood program, Azerbaijan representatives visited students at the Francis Parker School. While there, the children were able to ask questions about Azerbaijan culture.

Sixth grade teacher Christopher McGrath said, “Already, the students at Francis Parker are eagerly asking about Azerbaijan and what life is like for children there. As the [partnership with the school in Baku] takes shape, this excitement and goodwill will hopefully expand into a meaningful cultural exchange.”

As for how the program came to be, Kruming called the relationship serendipitous. “In the fall of 2007,” he explained, “11 youth sports instructors from Azerbaijan visited San Diego thanks to the San Diego Diplomacy Council and the U.S. Agency for International Development. One of them stayed with Geoff McCloud, a Switzer Highland resident…. We so enjoyed having [them] with us that we wanted to stay in touch.”

Kruming said after contacting the Azerbaijan Consulate General in Los Angeles, they were assigned the Nasimi District as a sister neighborhood.
“The concept of sister cities has been around for a long time, and I appreciate the opportunity to help formalize Switzer Highland’s relationship with the Nasimi District of Azerbaijan,” said Councilmember Gloria. “Exploring commonalities with other areas and other people of the world helps foster greater cultural understanding and tolerance.”

The Switzer Highland area of North Park is bordered by 30th street to the east, switzer canyon to the south, 28th street to the west, and Upas street to the north. Azerbaijan shares a border with Armenia and Iran, and is coasted by the Caspian Sea