Age/occupation: 27, VP of university relations with Simon Fraser Student Society
Moe Kopahi may be new to civic politics but that doesn't mean he is a rookie when it comes to campaigning. His role with the Simon Fraser Student Society is an elected position and he has succeeded in eight campus votes during his six years as a student.
Next summer, he will finish his degree in mechatronics engineering and is setting his sights on representing an even larger population with a seat on Coquitlam city council.
"The work I do at SFU is very similar," he said. "If it is doable for 30,000 people, which is the size of the community up there, it should be doable for 130,000 people."
Kopahi said the city needs to look at alternate sources of revenue in order to offset annual property tax increases.
He believes there are tourism opportunities that the city could take advantage of and thinks Coquitlam needs a convention centre to attract more businesses and visitors.
"Everyone that has a big convention centre makes good money from it," he said. "We don't have that in the Tri-Cities right now and if we had one it would be beneficial."
With the Evergreen Line expected to open during the next council term, Kopahi said he would like to see neighbourhood plans that put a cap on the number of people that could live in an area. He added that caps would let residents know whether they are moving into a high or low-density neighbourhood.
