Age/occupation: 37, self-employed
When Massimo Mandarino looks at all the new developments sprouting up around the future Evergreen Line stations, he sees a lot of condos but not a lot of office space.
If he is elected to Coquitlam council on Nov. 15, the Maillardville resident said he will work to make sure commercial developments are included in future neighbourhood plans in order to bring more jobs to the city.
So how do you convince developers to build more office space if the market demand is not there for new commercial buildings?
"It's a chicken and egg thing - I get that," he said. "But the city could offer a lot of incentives to companies to move out here."
One of his ideas is to give new businesses starting in the city a five-year grace period on property tax. They could also get a break on business licensing fees until they are more established in the community.
"Small shops can't survive out here and that has a lot to do with taxes," he said. "This is one thing that we can give them."
Mandarino believes there is a lot of wasted money at city hall and said he would look at staff salaries as an area for potential savings. Even council salaries should be rolled back if it helps hold the line on taxes, he added.
If he could, Mandarino said he would even like to see property taxes cut but believes it would be difficult to convince council colleagues to support the move.
