Javier Jiménez (mayor)

Puerto Rican politician

Javier Jiménez


Mayor of San Sebastián
Incumbent
Assumed office January 14, 2005
Preceded by	Justo Medina Estévez

Personal details
Born	(1961-11-12) November 12, 1961 (age 62)
Citizenship	American
Political party	New Progressive (until 2023) PD (2023–present)
Other political affiliations	Republican
Alma mater	University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (BBA)
Occupation	Politician accountant Presbyterian elder (formerly)

Javier Jiménez Pérez (born November 12, 1961), is a Puerto Rican politician and the current mayor of San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. Jiménez was affiliated with the New Progressive Party (PNP) until 2023 and has served as mayor since 2005.^[1]^[2]

Education

Has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez.

Career

He was President of the San Sebastian Municipal Legislature from 1993 to 1995. On the 2nd of November 2004, he was elected Mayor. In 2005 he was elected as Co-Chairman of the Board of the Municipal Revenue Collection Center (CRIM), exercising until 2008. In 2009, he was elected Chairman of the Board of CRIM until 2012.

On September 2023, Jiménez left the New Progressive Party and joined Project Dignity. On January 27, 2024 he took the presidency Project Dignity and announced his candidacy in the 2024 gubernatorial election.^[3]

Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria, on September 20, 2017, triggered numerous landslides in San Sebastián with the significant amount of rain that fell. The hurricane winds knocked the power out and the entire municipality was left in the dark, as was the rest or Puerto Rico.^[4]^[5]

Two weeks after the hurricane decimated the island, Jiménez noticed that help was not on the way. He decided that San Sebastián would not wait for the AEE brigades to come. He assembled an ad hoc team of volunteers, some who were retired AEE electricians and their mandate was to get the electrical power back up and running, for the people of San Sebastián. They were able to restore 92% of the electricity within two months.^[6] A monument honoring the accomplishments of the Pepino Power Authority, as they were quickly named, was erected in Plaza de la Identidad Pepiniana in San Sebastián barrio-pueblo.^[7]

In early 2019, Jiménez received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) for mitigating the power failure.^[8]

References

^ "Alcalde de San Sebastián, Elecciones Generales 2004". CEEPUR. Archived from the original on 2012-10-06.
^ "BIOGRAFÍA Hon. Javier D. Jiménez Pérez Alcalde de San Sebastián" (PDF). www.camarapr.org/. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
^ "Preliminary Locations of Landslide Impacts from Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico". USGS Landslide Hazards Program. USGS.
^ "Preliminary Locations of Landslide Impacts from Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico" (PDF). USGS Landslide Hazards Program. USGS.
^ "Pepino Power Authority será galardonada en Luisiana". El Nuevo Dia. 23 April 2019.
^ "Pepino Power Authority es una iniciativa de pueblo". El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). 29 December 2017.
^ Notiséis 360 (25 April 2019). "Reconocen a la "Pepino Power Authority" en Estados Unidos • WIPR".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)