Mexicali mayor Francisco Pérez Tejada Padilla
says San Felipe has the potential to join a list of
cities recognized worldwide for their sustainable development.
Cities like Santiago de Chile, Boston, Shanghai, Sydney
and Dubai are members of Fundación Metrópoli,
a global organization originating in Spain that believes
the future of the planet lies in the world's cities,
not its countries.
Fundación
Metrópoli belongs to the emerging generation
of "intellectual capital institutions" dedicated
to creating and sharing knowledge towards building a
sustainable future. It is an international organization
that aspires to contribute, from a global perspective,
to the innovation and development of cities and regions,
acting as a catalyst for the lasting and positive transformation
of our cities and landscapes in the 21st century.
Padilla says it is just a matter of developing urban
image projects, showcasing high-impact cultural events,
and adopting care and support programs for the environment.
These actions could make San Felipe a sustainable
city, he declared.
The Mayor conferred with a group of Fundación
Metrópoli urban experts and advisors and came
away from the meeting with the goal of making San Felipe
the kind of model city championed by the organization.
He was impressed by the nonprofit agency's dedication
to creating and disseminating knowledge about building
a sustainable future, from a global perspective and
using innovative developments.
Padilla Pérez Tejada insisted that the port
of San Felipe could well be up to the level of the foundation's
best flagship cities and was eager to work with the
Secretariat of Tourism and the private sector to pursue
the development of San Felipe as an urban center with
all the latest attraction, yet at the same time assuming
an environmentally posture.
Urban image projects, high profile cultural events,
conservation programs for the environment, are just
a few of the mayor's goals for the port town. He announced
that in a few weeks he would sign a cooperation agreement
between Metropolis Foundation and the XX Ayuntamiento
to determine the various course of action.
The chairman of Comité de Turismo y Convenciones
in Mexicali, Dipp Omar Nunez, indicated that the agency
had the academic support of prestigious universities
such as Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania,
among others.
Another advantage arising from the Fundación
Metrópoli is access to the Instituto de los Alcaldes,
a group of city mayors involved linked to the agency
who come together to share different experiences as
they move forward with their own cities' agendas.