Declare the City of Lviv of Ukraine as an official Friendship City

WHEREAS, residents of Portland have recognized shared values with the City of Lviv in Ukraine; and WHEREAS, the intent to establish a Sister City relationship between Portland and Lviv first appeared in 2006 when Portland hosted a delegation through a USAID sponsored program on energy efficiency; and WHEREAS, a Ukrainian group was warmly welcomed to Oregon by our local Ukrainian American community as part of a delegation that visited Portland in 2008 at the invitation of former Mayor Tom Potter; and WHEREAS, the city-to-city connection between Portland and Lviv has continued to grow and foster mutual understanding; and WHEREAS, Portland and Lviv share a passion for culture and the arts; and in 2009, Lviv was designated the Cultural Capital of Ukraine; and WHEREAS, Portlanders have traveled to Lviv for business, education, tourism and volunteer work, and have ongoing personal and professional relationships with Lviv-based individuals, businesses, and educational and art institutions; and WHEREAS, per the City of Portland’s Sister City policy, a Friendship City association between two cities is designated on a one-year trial basis prior to establishing a formal Sister City relationship; and WHEREAS, true to the spirit of friendship cities, the connection between Portland and Lviv will help promote business, educational and cultural exchanges; and WHEREAS, one of Portland’s coffee houses offers a Lviv Latte based on the recipe brought to Portland from Ukraine by University of Oregon professor who recently volunteered in Lviv; and WHEREAS, the Lviv Latte has a Facebook page and was recently profiled in our local Ukrainian language magazine Kanon that outsources some of its design work to Lviv-based professionals; and WHEREAS, there is a significant population of Ukrainians in all professions and with diverse expertise who call Portland home, and who have contributed greatly to the cultural fabric of Portland; and WHEREAS, following the invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian American Cultural Association and Ukrainian Foundation have worked to provide humanitarian support in response to the war; and WHEREAS, the City of Lviv became a humanitarian hub in response to the invasion; and WHEREAS, the City of Portland stands with Ukraine and condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and WHEREAS, in 1956, Sister Cities were created as a means of increasing people-to-people diplomacy to not just impact the lives of the individuals in the communities, but to encourage world peace; and WHEREAS, in the current moment of heightened tension, grassroots diplomacy can play an important role to link local efforts across nations with the potential to contribute to peace; and NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of Portland, Oregon, do hereby proclaim September 28 th , 2022 to be the day when Portland and Lviv became official Friendship Cities.