The Burnaby NOW asked every candidate running for office in the Oct. 20 civic election to fill out a questionnaire. We hope this helps you make an informed decision at the ballot box.
Candidates were given strict word limits and a deadline to submit their answers. Those who missed the deadline will not have their questionnaires posted and answers exceeding word limits will be cut off.
More candidate questionnaires can be found here and more of our election coverage can be found here.
Name: Francesca (Franca) Zumpano
Current occupation: Teacher
Tell us about yourself.
Being a mother, grandmother, community leader, teacher, businesswoman, community worker, and volunteer, I’m ready to be your voice at the City Hall.
I bring to this position a wealth of experience working with diverse groups to collaborate on making our lives and the lives of our children better. I devoted 40 years of service to Burnaby Schools as a teacher and a district coordinator in special education. I’ve served on the boards of Vancity, BCIT, SFU, Canadian Skin Cancer Foundation, and City of Burnaby committees. Hence, I’ve a proven track record of bringing forth visionary and workable ideas.
What are the top three issues in Burnaby right now and what would you do to fix them?
1. Housing and Affordability: Remove secondary suite taxes and encourage more secondary suites; permit the building of lane houses, and lower permit and CCD costs. Moreover, lease City lands for social housing as well as rezone areas near commercial sites and schools for greater density.
2. Community Planning: Need to engage community prior to adoption and make traffic studies essential to densifying area. Digiitalize mapping of services and work toward a model of opening up a road only once every five years instead of continuously (i.e., Lougheed).
3. Safety: It’s important to increase police and firefighters, focus on the safe building of the pipeline, to study the effects of retail marijuana prior to adopting licensing, and to increase lighting and videos in parks and walking trails.
If you have run for office before, what have you learned? If you have not, why are you running now?
Running for office is a humbling experience. You give selflessly and serve for the betterment of the community, but it is not always respected and valued. The amount of money a campaign raises tends to correlate with the vote count. Incumbents with no opposition have a distinct advantage because they have had continuous presence in the papers and loyalty from the favourable decisions they have made to groups such as developers and labour unions.
What is one achievement and one failure of Burnaby council in the last four years?
Achievement: Created a lot of employment in the building sector which then spins off to many other sectors (i.e., architects, planners, designers, financing, tradespersons, realtors, and advertising).
Failure: The pace and growth of residential developmental is not in sync with transportation. No traffic study was done in the amazing Brentwood development. Access to skytrain station is challenged, and Willingdon is no longer under consideration for expansion to 6 lanes. Ridesharing has not been promoted, and public transportation has not sufficed the growing needs.
What would make you a good councillor/mayor?
I bring the concerns of citizens to the table. In previous board positions, I listened and brought forth concerns of all stakeholders. And, I make my decision based on what is good for Burnaby. I have provided myself as an independent thinker and a cooperative team player.
What movie is most relevant to your life and why?
A relevant movie is Tears of Sun (2003), which is an action war-based story. A team of rescuers go many extra miles when they see those who needed to be saved. This movie represents our desire to take action to make a real difference in the lives of fellow humans.
How can voters reach you?
By phone: 604-299-6592, or email: [email protected]
