Title
Proclamation honoring the Pittsburgh Sakura Project for working with the Parks Department to integrate Japanese culture into Allegheny County.
Body
WHEREAS, the countless efforts of innumerable Allegheny County organizations promote our community's multicultural background to encourage us to coexist and learn more about one another; and
WHEREAS, founded in May 2007 under the Japanese Association of Greater Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Sakura Project's goal is to plant cherry trees around Allegheny County to share Japanese culture with County residents; and
WHEREAS, on April 25, 2009, the organization partnered with the Allegheny County Parks Department to plant 40 Sakura trees at North Park; and
WHEREAS, the Sakura tree is the unofficial national flower of Japan, and because of their brief blooming period, the trees represent in Japanese culture the briefness of life and how people should take full advantage of this brevity; and
WHEREAS, the trees have been given as gifts from Japan to the United States on multiple occasions, and the trees at North Park symbolize Allegheny County's Japanese community openly sharing their culture with residents of other national descents;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Allegheny County Council, on behalf of the citizens of the County, hereby commends the Pittsburgh Sakura Project and the Parks Department for working cooperatively to establish in North Park a staple of the Japanese culture. Furthermore, we recognize the Pittsburgh Sakura Project for their diligence to share Japanese culture with County citizens, and we hope more trees will be planted in our community in the future.