The owner of the Nelson Boxing Club will sit on city council after he was elected with 46 percent of voters choosing his name.
“I don’t know if I was shocked,” says councillor-elect Jesse Pineiro. “I don’t know if I identify as regular city council material.”
Pineiro says he was a little bit surprised when the results came in, but at the same time he wasn’t. He thinks there is an appetite for people who are genuine and not playing politics.
“I don’t even own a real pair of pants,” he says. “I just wear track suits, because that is who I am and what I do.”
Pineiro says he gave his campaign his best, honest, shot after jumping into the nomination ring for council back in September not expecting anything in return.
“I didn’t know anything about running a campaign because I have never done it,” he says. “What people heard was legitimately me, and from what I heard people gravitated towards that.”
Pinerio says his campaign focused on what residents told him and he just relayed what he heard with his opinion and added it, and that is why it genuinely resonated with the residents of Nelson.
He wants to start putting “what he ran on” to work with the rest of council in order to address the issues in the city, but says starting small will allow the bigger issues to be more easily addressed.
“There isn’t just one issue, everything intersects together,” he says. “If we try to find houses for everyone then it will make finding workers a lot easier, which will help take care of other issues.”
Pineiro says he is looking forward to working with the other councillors, and mayor, to put their “best foot forward” for the residents of Nelson.