The first Asian-American elected to the Jersey City City Council will be

The first Asian-American elected to the Jersey City City Council will be sworn-in today, in an historic ceremony that will include a flag-raising and playing of the national anthem of the Philippines.

Rolando Lavarro, 41, a New Jersey City University administrator, was the second-place finisher in the November 8 special election to fill two at-large vacancies on the council. Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson, Lavarro’s running mate, was the top vote-getter, and will be sworn in this afternoon as well.

Lavarro’s victory elated the city’s Filipino population, which for years saw Filipino candidates unsuccessfully run for council seats, including former deputy mayor Linda Mayo in 2001 and real-estate agent Greg Raceli in 2005.

Mayo, executive director of Jersey City-based Pan American Concerned Citizens Action League, said the Filipino community for various reasons had divided allegiances, and were never able to unite behind one candidate.

That changed in 2009, she said, when community leaders gathered to take a straw poll on who they wanted to see on the council.

“It was kind of like a little election within us,” Mayo said. “And we kind of like made a promise that whoever wins will be supported, and only one candidate will run.”

That candidate was Lavarro, and he almost made it in 2009, when he forced Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano into a run-off. Lavarro lost, but he came close enough that the Filipino community decided to back him again in this year’s special election.

Two days after this year’s election, Lavarro said his near-win in 2009 helped the community overcome “skepticism” that a Filipino candidate would ever win a council seat.

“I think folks, after they saw the results in 2009 and saw that we came close to winning in that, it gave people a sense of hope … that it is possibility,” he said.

The swearing-in ceremony begins today at 4 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/11/lavarro_richardson_to_be_sworn.html