City council candidates Susan Good and Paul Caprioglio sat before students
on Tuesday evening at the Satellite Student Union to talk about what they
would do for District 4, which covers the Fresno State area, if elected.
Both Caprioglio and Good live in District 4.
Dalton Runberg / The Collegian
City Council District 4 candidates Susan Good and Paul Caprioglio took part in a candidate forum hosted by Associated Students, Inc. Tuesday night at the Satellite Student Union to discuss issues relating to Fresno State students and their community.
Both Caprioglio and Good are graduates of Fresno State and have lived in Fresno for more than 20 years. Although they both have had leadership positions, Caprioglio is the only candidate that has previously served as interim councilmember of District 4. However, Good has 35 years of business and financial management experience.
The candidates answered questions that were submitted by Fresno State students and community members. The questions primarily focused on revitalization efforts, and city involvement in the Fresno State community.
One of the questions candidates were asked about were the results of the revitalization efforts here on campus and how they would continue to have it evolve.
Caprioglio said that he believes the best way to do this is through communication and coordination.
“The best thing to do would be to get students to volunteer to supplement city services,” Caprioglio said. “The second aspect would be to start a city-student corp. where students and the city work together to see projects all the way through. You’ll benefit and the city will benefit.”
Good believes continuing to utilize Fresno State students and dedicating a staff to work with them is key to revitalization efforts.
Paul Caprioglio
Dalton Runberg / The Collegian
“[Fresno State students’] talent and creativity is what city hall needs,” Good said. “We need to have the Ken Maddy Institute and humanities program as partners and the more we get [students] involved the better the city is going to be because the talent’s right there.”
Good said the key to keeping graduates in Fresno was to create more opportunities and jobs as well as affordable housing. One of her ideas was to give businesses incentives for hiring Fresno State graduates and rewarding good employers. She also said that there needs to be more of a focus on linking students and graduates up with prospective employers.
Caprioglio’s solution was to work with the business community to expand and help bring more companies and jobs to Fresno. He also proposed reducing overhead costs to help businesses have more money to hire more employees.
Caprioglio proposed creating more student programs and offering incentives such as extra credit and grants to keep students motivated and involved in the community.
Good said she planned to do this by seeking more student input while also engaging in dialogue with them via social media platforms such as Facebook.
Both Caprioglio and Good plan to be more accessible to others by maintaining an open-door policy.
“I will take care of you every way I can through visits, speaking, coming to your events at Fresno State and staying involved,” Caprioglio said.
“I will also commit to hiring one intern who will be dedicated to helping Fresno State and they would come from the university,” Good said.
The city council elections will happen on June 5.