Representatives of the Orchard Road Business Association, Singapore's sister to North Michigan Avenue, visited with GNMAA staff and key leaders in our community on Monday, September 10, 2007.
Camille Julmy, a member of the GNMAA Administration Committee and a past chairman of the Board, set up the meeting. My counterpart and eight other representatives learned about GNMAA's structure and operating practices before lunch at the Signature Room at the 95th (thanks to Angela Roman), a boat tour (thanks to Holly Agra), and a double-decker bus ride (thanks to John Curran). Greg Holland conducted a tour through Norstrom, Mitch Feldman narrated a tour of Water Tower Place, and they met Barry Graham at The 900 Shops for an explanation of this premier facility.
The group left Chicago overwhelmed with the beauty of the City and the hospitality of our people. I learned several interesting things about Singapore. For example, there are virtually no homeless people and panhandlers on Orchard Road due to local ordinances and severe punishment for offenders. Drug trafficking and the use of a gun in a crime are justifications for an "automatic death penalty." As one American youth you may recall from several years ago learned, the penalty for vandalism and many other lesser crimes is caning, an extremely harsh practice that our group attributed to police while the country was an English colony.
Interestingly, the City of Chicago and the city/state of Singapore are about the same size – about 225 square miles. Many comparisons hit home.
Camille and his Branding Committee are working on strengthening North Michigan Avenue's distinction as "One of the Ten Great Avenues of the World." Orchard Road, with many of the same high quality retail and hospitality businesses that have a presence on the Avenue, is another Great Avenue. Maintaining a relationship with the Orchard Road Business Association will have many benefits.
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