As part of the recent delegation to Thailand with Los Angeles Thai Consul General Jesda Katavetin; and Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge (who traveled to Thailand for the Friendship City Signing between Los Angeles and Bangkok), the Thai Community Development Center’s (Thai CDC) primary focus was to use this rare opportunity of having an actual elected official from the City of Los Angeles pitch investment in Thai Town in person in Thailand and serve as our champion for this area of need in Los Angeles and thereby, help fulfill the long term vision of making Thai Town into a thriving commercial and cultural hub through greater investments and economic development.
The Thai community owes a debt of gratitude to premier real estate developer, Tom Gilmore, who was part of the delegation and who is responsible for the renaissance of Downtown Los Angeles by turning the disinvested and blighted area around and making it a bustling and vibrant urban environment to live, work and play. To the Thai investors and businesses, he spoke passionately about the opportunities that exist in Thai Town right now. His powerful pitch spoke of now as being the time to invest in Thai Town. The same opportunities that existed in downtown twenty years ago are the same today in Thai Town. His enormous success, real world experience and brilliant business acumen provided the vision and insight needed to help investors realize the true potential of Thai Town and how the success of Thai Town lies solely on Thai investors. He spoke of the importance of investment coming from Thais for Thais because without it, the innate intelligence in creating a Thai Town that reflects Thai culture would be lost.
Other insights included the importance of trade and the role Los Angeles ports and harbors play as stated in remarks by Norman Arikawa another member of the delegation who represented the Port Authority of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Port is the largest port in the United States and one of the largest in the world.
The fervent support of the Thai community by Norman Arikawa and Tom Gilmore speak volumes to their confidence in seeing investment come to Thai Town any day now and clamoring outside its door.
Thai CDC maintained their focus on the serious work that lies ahead for the Thai community since official trips of this nature can be wrapped up in pomp, circumstance and ceremony. For Thai CDC, the business of the people will always come first and should never be lost on any ceremony. The Thai Community Development Center remains steadfast in its commitment towards making Thai Town the thriving cultural and economic center of East Hollywood in the City of Los Angeles. With enthusiastic encouragement from such visionaries as Tom Gilmore and Norman Arikawa, investors received the best and most sound advice from experts free of charge and from two individuals who have actually experienced success from investment and trade. No other individuals can offer a better testament to the promise that Thai Town holds for all and its future prosperity.
