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7:00am Thursday 10th July 2008
SOME people might think it sounds a bit far-fetched, but a bid is being made to twin Boscombe with Santa Monica in the USA.
Boscombe Area Forum is writing to civic chiefs in the Californian resort to suggest twinning the two communities because they have so much in common.
Headline by 2CR listener Sarah from Blandford
Winner of the headline challenge on the Paul Bunker show
The idea was the brainchild of Area Forum business portfolio holder Peter Castle, who had the idea after visiting California.
He says Santa Monica's regeneration - which brought internet firms Yahoo and Google to the city - has much in common with Boscombe's regeneration and developments like the Boscombe Spa Village Project.
The idea has received enthusiastic backing from Boscombe councillors including Chris Wakefield and Phil Stanley-Watts.
Mr Castle, who previously worked in business development, said: "I have been to Santa Monica and it has become a mini Silicon Valley.
"Like Boscombe, it is very cosmopolitan and has got a lot of artists.
"Boscombe has the new surf reef and a lot of opportunities for investment."
Mr Castle refuted suggestions that Santa Monica was a world away from Boscombe.
Part of the twinning vision also includes a plan to rename Roumelia Lane Roumelia Village, in a bid to encourage artists to live there and open an art gallery.
The plans could bring in vital investment and tourism for Boscombe, he added.
The Forum is also looking at twinning Boscombe with a number of other places, including Bondi Beach in Australia, Serra da Estrella in Portugal and Bodrum in Turkey.
Backing the plans, Boscombe West councillor Chris Wakefield said: "Why shouldn't Boscombe have a twin town?
"I think that twinning Boscombe with another town in another country would be very beneficial, especially with recent developments with the surf reef.
"I have heard that Santa Monica is a colourful place.
"Boscombe is not dull and boring and we have some fantastic, colourful people living in Boscombe.
"Why can't we have glamour in Boscombe?
"We also have tremendous community support which I also believe Santa Monica has. And we have our own unique identity.
"I would be very keen to investigate the possibilities."
Boscombe resident Katherine Edgar, who moved here from Agoura Hills near Malibu in California - just 20 miles from Santa Monica - agreed that Santa Monica has similarities to Boscombe.
But she suggested that Bournemouth would be a better twin for Santa Monica, with Boscombe more suited as a twin for its more bohemian neighbour Venice.
"Bournemouth is a bit similar to Santa Monica and Venice is similar to Boscombe," she said.
landy, Dorset says...
10:48am Thu 10 Jul 08
michael carpenter, BOSCOMBE says...
10:55am Thu 10 Jul 08
Mark, Bournemouth says...
11:22am Thu 10 Jul 08
Gastines, St.Malo ex Bournemouth says...
1:21pm Thu 10 Jul 08
beachcomber, Toft zigzag says...
1:49pm Thu 10 Jul 08
silky, Bournemouth says...
2:05pm Thu 10 Jul 08
Christopher, Wallisdown & Winton West says...
3:47pm Thu 10 Jul 08
Yokel Focal, Bournemouth says...
4:01pm Thu 10 Jul 08
bea, winton says...
4:18pm Thu 10 Jul 08
the owl, bere says...
5:24pm Thu 10 Jul 08
Gastines, St.Malo ex Bournemouth says...
5:32pm Thu 10 Jul 08
Derf, Wallisdown says...
6:24pm Thu 10 Jul 08
Quakers, Poole says...
6:57pm Thu 10 Jul 08
Nigel Gillespie, Bournemouth says...
8:33pm Thu 10 Jul 08
Christopher, Wallisdown & Winton West says...
8:57pm Thu 10 Jul 08
hoppity, hamworthy says...
7:39am Fri 11 Jul 08
bea wrote:which they probably claim back in expenses
Councillors going on twinning visits pay their own costs
fiona, Bournemouth says...
9:08am Fri 11 Jul 08
Nigel Gillespie wrote:This is the Echo reporters interpretation of that meeting
I thought the Forums were mean't to discuss important issues.This is plain farcical and i cannot believe that Councillors Wakefield and Stanley Watts have been distracted away from the important issues surrounding Boscombe and its future.
petercastle, boscombe says...
11:38pm Fri 11 Jul 08
PETE WOODLEY, says...
7:34pm Sat 12 Jul 08
colin.mc, Proud to live in Bournemouth! says...
6:47pm Sun 13 Jul 08
Steve (41dog), christchurch rd, boscombe says...
5:50pm Wed 13 Aug 08
Nigel Gillespie wrote:
I thought the Forums were mean't to discuss important issues.This is plain farcical and i cannot believe that Councillors Wakefield and Stanley Watts have been distracted away from the important issues surrounding Boscombe and its future.
The very idea of twinning Boscombe with Santa Monica or Bondi Beach is so obvious Im surprised no one thought if it sooner but why stop there? How about approaching St Lucia, or Cancun, or the moon?
"Boscombe is not dull and boring and we have some fantastic, colourful people living in Boscombe thats one way of putting it, you could argue that Strangeways prison has some colourful people living in it, so why not twin it with that?
Aim lower guys, a lot lower
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Ed, Bournemouth says...
9:54am Thu 10 Jul 08
Then when I read all the other places that they were planning to twin with I started to remember The Vicar Of Dibley.
I think that we should twin with Disney World, after all that is also run by a Mickey Mouse organisation.