FRESH from a recent China trip with some city officials, Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, now acting mayor of Dagupan, wants Shanghai, a city in northern China, to be a role model in development for Dagupan City.

Others who joined Fernandez in that trip were Councilors Michael Fernandez, Librada Reyna, Jesus Canto, Danilo Torio, Alfie Fernandez, Alfredo Quinto and Karlos Reyna.

Particularly catching the group’s fancy and now wants copied on a smaller scale is Shanghai’s urban renewal that rehabilitated its old downtown area while at the same time developing other growth centers that are now teeming in development.

She said Shanghai is now a model in urban planning throughout Asia and the whole world.

A businesswoman of great stature in Ilocos now with her chain of CSI malls, Fernandez said Shanghai’s urban renewal can be adopted in Dagupan’s downtown area which, many say, is now fast losing its luster after serving as nucleus of development for many years.

Since the big earthquake of July 16, 1990 that devastated about two-thirds of the city, the downtown area of Dagupan seemed to have lost its charm, she observed.

“I think, it would be good if the example in Shanghai could be adopted (for) the downtown area of Dagupan, with the cooperation of all businessmen in the area.

She said the downtown area of Dagupan can bloom once again if the storeowners can be asked to repair and repaint their establishments in the name of development with the city government coming in with some technical and financial support.