To Russia with love

Author:    David Bradshaw Guest Columnist
Date: August 3, 2006
Section: Opinion
Copyright 2006 The Oak Ridger. All Rights Reserved.
I recently traveled to Russia as a part of Oak Ridge’s sister city relationship with Obninsk. I have never traveled outside of America’s borders, so I really did not know what to expect from this trip.

My impressions after the trip are many, and I want to relate some of these personal thoughts to you in this column.

From the beginning, our actual travel in planes, buses and trolleys was uneventful. It amazed me how uncomplicated it was to fly to an atomic city in the heart of a country that, until recently, was our Cold War rival. Security was not unusual, no one hassled me at customs, and no one tried to steal my passport.

Secondly, I found that I like the metric system. There are no pounds, miles per hour, or Fahrenheit (when I got up in the morning and it was 10 degrees outside, it was not about to snow). In our conversations, we used liters to describe filling up a fuel tank, kilometers to describe the distance to Obninsk, square meters to judge apartment sizes, degrees Celsius to complement the unseasonably cool weather, and hectares to describe the size of developments.

I suspect the U.S. won’t make the change to the metric system soon, but we might think more progressively about this in our own science city.

Thirdly, almost all citizens of Obninsk live in industrial strength, gargantuan apartment buildings. In fact, the ratio of apartment dwellers to homeowners is practically reversed between Oak Ridge and Obninsk. These buildings all look very similar in nature and line the major arterial streets through the city. Encouragingly, there are new apartments being developed privately that have a much-needed modern flair and architecture.

Next, just like in East Tennessee, the Russian people are friendly and helpful. I only learned a couple of Russian words on the trip, and the one I used most was spasibo, which means thank you. My old perceptions of scowling Russian personalities were from Soviet times; these impressions were wrong.

Next, I found that our friends in Russia are, in many ways, just like us. They laugh at corny jokes, they are concerned about the current unfolding world events, they want visitors to have a great impression of their community, they are proud of their city’s heritage, they are concerned about their elderly citizens and their veterans, and they know the value of a good education. As Russian and American relations continue to advance over time, I suspect that our two peoples will find ourselves more likely to be allied on world issues and less likely to be adversaries. I know there are those who disagree with this point; but, after being in Russia, I sense our camaraderie growing.

Lastly, I saw that Russian entrepreneurship and religion are thriving after being oppressed under the Soviet regime. It is truly amazing how much more one appreciates something when it has been taken away for a long time. The scientists are eager to learn about technology transfer and commercialization, something unheard of just a few years ago. There is a small business incubator in Obninsk that is very similar to Technology 2020 in Oak Ridge.

Small companies locate there, and the incubator management has programs to infuse capital into these businesses. When these businesses succeed, they are expected to return capital to the program. A new Russian Orthodox Church is being built right in the middle of Obninsk, and an ancient monastery is being repaired. Private developers are building modern apartments and houses, and private banks are competing for business. The pace of this change is accelerating.

This last area is where I think our cities can learn the most from each other. For example, Oak Ridge has already solved some of the developmental issues facing the citizens of Obninsk, and we should freely communicate this experience. On the other hand, the somewhat untapped potential of Russian knowledge applied to the commercial sector could lead to many innovative products and services for use in both countries.

Obninsk and Oak Ridge are already progressive individually. I look forward to how progressive we can be jointly as we continue to find ways to work together from 5,300 miles apart.

David Bradshaw is the mayor of Oak Ridge. Last week, he was a key figure in a local delegation which traveled to Oak Ridge sister city Obninsk, Russia, for that city’s 50th anniversary celebration.