The travel delegation to include the Mayor of Dunedin is an absolute must to both Sterling & Toronto. The inclusive, thoughtful, long lasting, & meaningful planning must begin immediately with notifications to our sister city officials of the delegations scheduled arrival. Dunedin has and always will harbour itself in mutual admiration, kinship, respect, & exchange. Do not fail by missing these important opportunities.

BAgpipe exchange program sounds like a worthwhile idea!

There are many options to cementing ties with both that do not include financing a vacation for elected or appointed city officials. How about the Chamber of Commerce sending a delegation and financing it? They are the beneficiaries for the most part. The student exchange sounds like a great idea

This is a no-brainer! In fact, I thought this was being done on a far more regular basis! The Mayor is our leader and if possible he should go represent us at both locations with the Asst Mayor being the back up if he can't go. There is no substitute for showing up, no other organization represents all the residents and business people like the Mayor does!

I think a continuing relationship with Scotland would be an excellent expenditure of time and money. The relationship with Toronto is not the same. The city has no impact on what the Blue Jays do, however, if you are trying to drum up your tourist business and using the Jays as a drawing card, then a visit to Toronto might be worthwhile ... but this needs to be thought through as it would not be a social "diplomatic" visit. The Blue Jay relationship should have the city meeting with the organization on a regular basis to insure a solid relationship exists.

Yes, we should always covet that relationship...it's important to Dunedin.

It's a good idea but not now. We have pressing problems. Dunedin needs to spend it's resources on fighting crime and making it safer on the Southside before those cities find out that we have a problem here. More patrols and arrests, better lighting, and constant vigilance. I see more PCSO presence for ballgames than I have all year for anything else. The time is over for superficial decorum. Priorities need to change before this really blows up. No trips now!

No trips now. Scotland and Toronto aren't going anywhere. But I tell you, as Karen said we have more pressing problems. If these problems aren't fixed (problems that are located close to the stadium, btw) who will want to come here anyway? All we need is for one of our lovely Canadian neighbors or friends from Europe to get assaulted or robbed....negative word of mouth would spread so fast, it wouldn't matter if our Mayor LIVED in Scotland. Please...let's be realistic.

I did not vote for our current Mayor, that being said I think He and his wife should take a trip to both places as soon as possible. It should be the first thing a new Mayor does. The cost is not anything we can't afford and the reward is 100 fold! Mayor Eggers will make us all proud if you will just give him the chance.

The idea of official visits by our elected representatives to these locations sounds fantastic, but I admit that it leaves a bit of a sour taste when you realize how finances and planning could/should be used to improve our own city. What if there was a happy medium? What if one official, say the Mayor, led a group of citizens on a trip? What if some sort of discounted plan, or partially city-sponsored travel arrangements could be made that would both save the city money and encourage a much broader spectrum of Dunedin-ites to participate?
As others have noted, of course we want to encourage travel and relationships between Dunedin, Toronto, and Sterling!.. but what would happen if one of our exchange guests were to be robbed or assaulted while visitng the stadium or other areas?

The mayor should go and we should invite their mayors here! We should make it free for them and them for us so the only expense is Air travel.

Thanks for all your comments regarding traveling to our Sister City, Scotland. We also have another Sister City, Prince Edward Island, Canada, which indeed has a Celtic connection. In the past, we have exchangee elected officials every three years between the three entities. In other words, we all rotate. And it is usually done around the time of an event. For instance, Stirling's Provost (Mayor) Fergus Woods came here to be our Chief of the Day @ our Highland Games a few years back. What should have occured is a representative from Dunedin to go the following year either to Stirling or Prince Edward Island for a similar event. In fact, in years past, these trips have sometimes been timed to happen when the High School Pipe Band made their trip for competition.

We have forgone those trips because of budget restraints and it's hard to justify it when you can't even give your employees a raise. However, things are starting to improve and given that the Blue Jay contract as well as the 700th Anniversary for Stirling is just around the corner, that's why it came up. Hope that ties up any loose ends.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback! Julie

As Dunedin City officials, we have a huge responsibility for working on behalf of Dunedin's betterment and future, and we have an equal responsibilty for assuring our residents that we do these wisely for our city and not for personal gain. Yes, we need to reciprocate in some fashion Dunedin's presence at important celebrations with our Sister Cities and with the Toronto Blue Jays home, as they have done with us. Practically speaking, I thought the idea of rotation was a good one, with the Mayor (or designee if he can't make it) leading a group of private citizens who pay their own way. In fact, my wife and I plan to attend Stirling's major celebration on our own dime in 2014. Might not this sort of balance be responsible, as we convey our mutual respects from time to time?

As long as the most important part of your job remains, convey your respect to the citizens of Dunedin who need to safely cross streets in order to get to school (watched the last 2 school board meetings and you weren't there speaking? Why not?) and the citizens of Dunedin who deserve to live in safe neighborhoods.