Meet Sabina Zafar, Candidate For San Ramon Mayor

SAN RAMON, CA — Learn more about Sabina Zafar, a current council member and technology executive running to be San Ramon mayor. Some questions have been removed to avoid redundancy.

1. Why are you running for City Council?

I want to build upon the work that I have already done as a Councilmember and work to expand San Ramon's influence and leadership in the tri-valley, as well as bring a sense of community and belonging to the city itself. San Ramon as a city has changed significantly in the last 20 years and residents need to connect with a Mayor and city leader who represents the aspirations and desires of a young and energized population of San Ramon that expects more from their city leadership then the status quo which has existed for the last 40 years. As an executive at a fortune 100 company and as a mother I know how to keep a keen eye on our budget, economic development and making sure that the next 10 years are planned well for our city. While creating a sense of community and belonging for our residents.

2. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the city, and how do you plan to address them?

I have three clear goals that I plan to achieve in the next 2 years:

1- Economic Development and Re-investing in our existing shopping centers to revitalize our communities and neighborhoods. I plan to achieve this by directing existing housing funds and ear marking future housing funds for economic development. My vision is that this will create gathering places for each neighborhood like the city center has done for our downtown. It will address the retail leakage issue that we currently have in San Ramon and will attract better businesses for great experiences for our residents.

2- Bringing the community together by having a city wide parade is another vision for me. We need to find ways to build bridges and celebrate our community and what better way to do that than a parade.

3-A city wide wifi is something that I have been pushing for the last 4 years. That continues to be a priority for me which we can achieve through the advice of our Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee. This aligns with the changes in the workplace, as a city wide wifi would allow our residents to work from anywhere in our beautiful city, including parks.

3. What should be done to solve the affordable housing crisis?

By building downtown housing that is affordable by design is an important tool to create more livable affordable housing. Accessory dwelling units are another option for adding more affordable housing in our community. These policies do not compromise our home values but create additional places for our adult children, retired seniors, teachers and city workers.

4. What do you think the city can do to conserve water?

The city gets it's water from two different agencies, Dublin San Ramon Services District and East Bay MUD. We want to make sure that we are implementing the requirements coming from those agencies and educating our residents. City facilities also utilize 100% recycled water to water our city parks and in addition we are changing the grass landscape in the medians to drought tolerant landscaping.

4. What other issues are important to you?

Making the city more bike friendly is an important issue for me, safe speed limits and the safety of our drivers, bikers and pedestrians remains an important issue for me.

5. What differentiates you from the other candidates?

I have the experience and the energy to lead the city as a Mayor. I represent the aspirations and the ideas of a young, vibrant and highly educated community. In addition , I have experience serving on city council for the last four years so I know how city government works. I won't be learning on the job but instead building upon the relationships and the experience that I have gained in the last 4 years to effectively lead the city forward.

6. If applicable, what is your political party?

N/A

7. How long have you lived in San Ramon?

Since 2006.

8. If you didn’t grow up there, what brought you to the city?

I moved to San Ramon to raise my family in our wonderful schools and safe neighborhoods and to be closer to my childhood friend. I also started my career here in San Ramon.

9. What is your day job, and how will that prepare you to serve on the council?

I am a VP at Oracle leading transformations of legacy platforms to modern infrastructure. Which means helping my clients run their business more efficiently, securely and with agility. I lead a team of senior technologists and am responsible for millions of dollars in revenues. In my day job serving our customers with passion, leading my team with empathy and delivering our goals with focus will help me bring the same approach to local government.

10. What experience do you have serving the community?

I am currently elected to the San Ramon City Council, where I have served for the last 4 years. I was appointed to the City of San Ramon Valley Transportation Advisory Committee 2016/2017. I have served on the Board of Directors for San Ramon American Association of University Women and currently serve on the board of Bishop Ranch Intelligence Innovation Accelerator (BRIIA) as a mentor for early stage startups. I am a past board member of San Ramon Dougherty Valley Rotary Club, and a current Board member of Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Tri-Valley Chapter.

11. Of which accomplishments are you most proud?

In the last 4 years I am proud of so much, to name a few:

• Being a proponent of lighting up city hall to celebrate our community and celebrations.
• Advocating for the Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee

• Advocating for the bike and scooter share program soon to be rolled out in San Ramon
• Advocating for better outreach to our residents through the city social media and mailing list and my own social media channels and a monthly newsletter & youtube channel.
• Proclamations that have been open and inclusive
• A more transparent city government.
• Citywide License plate readers
• Advocating for small businesses during the pandemic
• Passing a balanced budget in the last 4 years
• Getting retail as a priority for the city council
• Advocating for our existing farmers markets and bringing a new one in dougherty valley
• Advocating for our Climate Action Plan as part of our general plan update

12. What is your education?

I did my BS in Computer and Information Sciences from the University of South Alabama.

13. Tell us about your family.

I raised my children in San Ramon, they are both adults now. My daughter goes to NYU where she is studying public policy & media and my son is a data engineer at a Fintech company.

14. What is the best advice you ever received?

Never let anything get to your head and always stay grounded.

15. Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Voters should know that the first decision that the new Mayor and council will make is hiring a new City Manager for San Ramon. A city manager is the CEO of the city and makes sure that she/he not only manages staff, but keeps the day to day operations of the city running and provides quality services to residents following the direction of the Mayor and the council. You need someone with experience and a vision for the future of San Ramon to be in the driver seat . We all love the San Ramon of today but we also have higher expectations from our city in the future and hiring a city manager will be a big decision in determining what that future could look like.

16. Please provide links to websites and social media.

Here are links to my social:

• https://www.sabinazafar.org/
• https://www.instagram.com/sabinaformayor/https://www.instagram.com/sabinaformayor/
• https://www.instagram.com/councilmember_sabinazafar/
• https://www.facebook.com/Councilmembersabinazafar/
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCpR4gEqIVjYfGf651vuAg/videos