by Kenia Marrufo
Ronaldo Fierro, the well-known Local restauranteur among locals for owning the first-ever gastropub, The Salted Pig and the popular bar in Riverside, W. Wolfskill, is one of the high-profile candidates running for city council in Ward 3 among millennials.
The Riverside native has been a prominent resident in Ward 3 and has been a member of the city’s budget engagement commission.
To bring awareness of his campaign, many locals and business-owners supported him at the campaign kick-off at W. Wolfskill on March 24.
“As someone who started a business at twenty-five, you know I certainly had my share of issues in building a business into this town and I would like to see young people feel that they can open businesses here and succeed versus having to leave,” Fierro said. “I honestly believe if we diversify the economy and we bring higher paying jobs to the city then we can change from being the suburban commuter town that we were and become a busy urban metropolis that I honestly think we can possibly be.”
The CEO of Riverside Personnel Services INC, Sue Mitchell, agrees with the hopes of change due to the past rise and fall issues of the economic growth happening in the progressive city.
“I have watched when we don’t have strong leadership and when we do, you have people willing to access federal funds to do the big projects you have to think big, it’s a whole different ball game,” Mitchell said. “It just takes having people that can think a little bit bigger and that’s where I think Ronaldo comes in because he’s a small business and a survivor of a bad economy.”
As the growth of millennials moving to the Inland Empire continues to increase, specifically in the city of Riverside, most business owners truly believe in Fierro’s vision of it becoming the new commercial city by implementing new housing projects, creating new job opportunities and helping reduce the issue of homelessness.
Laura McGowan, a teacher and a local resident of Ward 3 for the past twenty years expressed her thoughts about the ignorance of former city councilman, Mike Soubirous, lacking and providing a plan to help those in need.
“In the last two years I have become much more interested into what’s happening locally, because what happens locally then happens nationally,” McGowan said. “If you ruin the homeless problem or turn them into the problem we it won’t solve anything.”
Many locals and supporters have reflected upon Fierro to be the ultimate candidate to decide what is best for the critical issues occurring in the city.
“Riverside is going to keep growing so we need to make sure whoever is making decisions for our city in terms of growth are making good decisions, so we can continue to try to attract the type of jobs we want for our city,” Board of Education committee member Brent Lee said.
Ever since Fierro’s business chains have made an impact in the city of Riverside, it has presented and motivated many millennials to acknowledge the race for city council.
“As a millennial we also want to have a bigger platform for young leaders to have a voice in the process and to be more dynamic with the way we incorporate technology and also the priorities in terms what matters to us, what’s the quality of life, the social amenities of the city, the type of things we want to attract. I think that mindset of a millennial is very valuable,” President of Riverside Unified School District Board of Education Angelov Farooq said.
There will be a fundraiser in support of Ronaldo Fierro on April 4 at Mind & Mill.
