By Adam Swift
The city council honored outgoing Councillor-at-Large Juan Pablo Jaramillo, the first immigrant elected to the council, during its last meeting of the year on Monday night.
Jaramillo lost a close election for a second term as an at-large councillor in November.
Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya said she was proud to have worked with Jaramillo on a number of issues over the past two years.
“In that time, we have collaborated on many projects and shared countless conversations about what’s best for our community,” she said. “Tonight, as he attends his final meeting as a city councilor, I want to sincerely thank him for his dedication, for his friendship, and his thoughtful approach to public service. He will be missed, and I wish him nothing but the best, no matter what the next chapter of his journey will be.”
Jaramillo said he served in the council chambers not in spite of the American promise, but because of it.
“A promise that remains a work in progress for many has been made possible for me by the hardworking people of Revere,” said Jaramillo.
The councilor said his foray into public life was a result of his sense of duty.
“A sense of duty that is more about the journey than the destination, a promise that is unfinished and that each generation has a duty to renew rooted in the values of community, hard work, entrepreneurship, and innovation that characterizes our city,” Jaramillo said.
Jaramillo noted that despite a sense of political division across the country, that trend has been defied in Revere.
“We defy that trend in Revere, first with my election to the city council as the first immigrant to be elected to city government and the first formerly undocumented immigrant to be elected,” he said. “But we also defy the trend in setting in place ordinances that prioritize the preparation in the face of human-caused climate change and the preservation of our homes. We defy the trend by adopting the most rigorous pro-worker ordinance in all of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one that returns dignity to the workers in Revere back to them.”
Jaramillo said he will take the insight he has learned from his time on the council and from his fellow councilors into his future endeavors.
“To close, I want to first thank my wife,” he said. “The amount of work that being an elected official brings is not one that is burdened only on the shoulders of the elected official, but also on their family. Crystal has been nothing but gracious with her time, with her love, and her dedication not just with me throughout this process, but to the residents of our city of Revere.”
Jaramillo also thanked his parents for their dedication and hard work.
