Tarpon sister city may be part of growing family

Tarpon plans to hook up with the Greek island Kalymnos, but it also hopes to welcome more siblings.

By KATHERINE GAZELLA

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 1, 2000

TARPON SPRINGS -- As far back as 1979, this Greek-influenced town wanted a sister city, ideally one in Greece.

The first challenge was just finding a willing city overseas. The second was making sure that no one in Tarpon Springs felt that their ancestral home was being slighted.

Neither was easy.

"In this community, it's very difficult," said Kathy Monahan, community affairs administrator for the city. "Everyone feels very strongly about the place they came from."

Initially, Tarpon Springs officials decided to go after the island of Rhodes.

It seemed a natural choice: Rhodes is the capital of the Dodecanese Islands, the chain that is the birthplace of many Tarpon Springs residents or their ancestors.

Through the years, city officials wrote letters to the island. But in 1998, city officials learned that Rhodes was going to be the sister city of Greece, N.Y., Monahan said. That blocked Tarpon Springs from having Rhodes as its own sister city.

Sister Cities International, a non-profit, Virginia-based program, pairs cities around the world. The idea is for people from different countries to learn about one another. The program fosters exchanges among students, tourists, businesses, athletes and artists.

With Rhodes seemingly out of the running, Tarpon Springs started over. During the next two years, officials tried various ways to attract a city that would accept the invitation. They also wanted to name a sister city in a way that would not make anyone in Tarpon Springs feel excluded.

Greek families came to Tarpon Springs from many parts of Greece, but primarily from a few islands in the Dodecanese chain.

Every time the issue was brought up in the past decade, inter-city rivalries emerged, producing some noisy, raucous meetings.

At one point, in 1999, City Manager Ellen Posivach said that if everyone couldn't agree on a sister city, "I will be coming back with some propositions for cities in other countries."

Recently, however, a compromise has emerged that officials hope will please all sides. The city plans to accept Kalymnos in the Dodecanese Islands as Tarpon Springs' inaugural sister city and to keep the invitation open to any of the other islands that also want to become sister cities.

"As we get a response from each island, we'll add it to the list," Monahan said. "You want everybody to be included."

Kalymnos will become a sister city in large part because of the efforts of Michael Stergos, a Tarpon Springs native whose parents came from Kalymnos.

Stergos, 62, who lives in Tampa but spends much of his time in Tarpon Springs, contacted Kalymnos officials and asked the Greek ambassador's office in Washington, D.C., for assistance.

"I just thought it would be a wonderful thing for the two countries," he said.

He said people in Kalymnos were unfamiliar with the sister city program. But after his repeated efforts, including many phone calls and faxes, they warmed to the idea.

A year ago, officials from Kalymnos contacted their counterparts in Tarpon Springs and asked for the two to become sister cities. It wasn't agreed to immediately, Monahan said, because the city wanted to extend an invitation to the other Dodecanese Islands before making a decision.

Letters went out to the main islands in the chain, but Tarpon Springs received no response. Monahan contacted the Sister Cities International offices for guidance and they helped her find a solution.

At the advice of the organization, Tarpon Springs plans to name Kalymnos its inaugural sister city and leave the invitation open to other islands in the Dodecanese chain. The organization even gave special permission for Rhodes to be included, if officials there agree to it, because it is part of the island chain.

Kalymnos has a lot in common with Tarpon Springs, including the emphasis on a sponge diving industry. "The sponge fishers' island," a tourist guide calls it.

Stergos and some city officials hope Tarpon Springs will benefit from that connection, possibly by importing some sponge divers who can work in the city. They also hope to have student and artist exchanges.

City Clerk Kathy Alesafis is delighted about the choice of Kalymnos.

"I might be prejudiced because (my family) is from there," she said. "It's so beautiful."

If other islands respond, Tarpon Springs may rapidly change from a community without a sister city to one with many international partners.

City Commissioner Beverley Billiris said that until now, Tarpon Springs has been "far behind" in the sister cities program. Now that Kalymnos is expected to be named the first sister city, she said, other islands probably won't be far behind.

"Once the initial barrier has been broken . . . I think we may woo them," she said.

- Staff writer Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or gazella@sptimes.com.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright