Candidate Interview: Ray Bonilla Jr.
In Which: I summarize a candidate interview with Ray Bonilla Jr. in an attempt to learn his vision for the City of Hayward.
This is the last interview with the incumbents for City Council. There’s been some updated information on who has pulled papers for the Council seats, so keep an eye out for more on that next week. In the meantime, if you have a story you’d like to tell on the Herald, hit me up.
Meeting Ray Bonilla Jr.
I met with Ray Bonilla Jr. at Atlas Coffee in downtown Hayward on July 17th. It had been a while since I had reached out for an interview, but was happy to make the time to chat. He was dressed casually and seemed in good spirits—he even turned out to be a hugger.
Bonilla’s presentation couldn’t have been more different than on the dais. He was animated and effusive, while during Council meetings it can feel like he pre-writes his comments before giving them. He spoke passionately about his vision for the City in a way that felt more like a campaign pitch than other interviews.
Who is Ray Bonilla Jr.?
Ray Bonilla Jr. was born and raised in Hayward at St. Rose Hospital and has been involved in local civics for a long time. He started as a Hayward Youth Commissioner, then served on the Community Services Commission, and finally the Planning Commission. By his own admission, he didn’t grow up well-off—his parents were evicted when he was 18 months old and they moved in with his grandmother.
Bonilla went to CSU East Bay (formerly Hayward) and got an MBA at USF. He’s spent a lot of time working for big private corporations: Kaiser, PG&E, Meta (formerly Facebook), and now Elevance Health. His focus is on “resilience”—disaster management to you and me.
Over the course of our conversation, I tried to find out what Bonilla’s vision for Hayward is—where he wants to take our City as one of its elected leaders. Below are some highlights of what we talked about.
Safety Beyond Policing
With his background in corporate disaster preparedness, it’s not surprising that Ray Bonilla Jr. views “safety” in a very broad sense. He helped create the Public Safety Committee—after some encouragement—and views it as one of his tentpole issues. “Public safety,” he said, “is a foundation that we build everything on top of.”
“[It’s about] making sure we have the right resources to meet the right need at the right time,” Bonilla said. Although PD plays a role, it’s a very specific one. “Police [have a] very clearly defined part.” He also tied in public works, hospital availability—specifically St. Rose—and even walkability. “Reducing our reliance on cars is safety,” he said.
A unique piece of Bonilla’s public safety vision is natural disaster preparedness. Hayward, he said, is “not known for preparedness. Hayward should be a leader in earthquake preparedness.” According to a 2018 article from the USGS, the Hayward Fault is the most dangerous fault in the US. “Our lack of readiness to deal with a large earthquake on the Hayward fault,” was something he worried about explicitly.
Finally, Bonilla wants community input. “Looking at [public safety] through a multi-dimensional lens with input from the community,” he said. “That’s the only way we’re going to have a community that feels safe.” He talked about how different communities have different values, and the importance of having culturally competent services to meet their needs.
“Everybody Deserves A Place To Call Home”
Of the topics we covered, Ray Bonilla Jr. had the most to say about housing and homelessness—which he views as two separate issues. “Everyone deserves a place to call home,” he said. This is as close as anyone on City Council has come to saying that housing is a human right.
“How do we address the root causes [of homelessness]?” Bonilla asked. “Engage with people with lived expertise… [to] help reshape a more responsive and more equitable system.” He celebrated the St. Regis project for its wrap-around services and views it as a means to encourage wealth-building for unhoused residents. He stressed needing to be “experience led” to create a system that is “adaptive and responsive.”
Having served on the EveryOne Home board for at least 7 years, Bonilla knows that homelessness can be complicated. He said there needs to be a “continuum of services and housing options,” because it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. He’s a big proponent of inclusionary affordable housing. “[We] see a more immediate result,” he said, despite the arguments for in-lieu fees from City Staff.
Bonilla recognized that Hayward is “almost 50% renters” and is concerned about renter protections and services. “[We need a] way of managing rent increases,” he said. “[We need the] right mix between rental and home ownership,” he said, “[to] get people the opportunity to buy.”
Bonilla’s continuum framing extends to market-rate housing, as well. “Homeownership is a path to wealth and stabilization,” he said, but he also recognized that it wasn’t attainable or even desirable for everyone.
Private Sector Experience
Ray Bonilla Jr. has considerable experience in the upper reaches of corporate culture, and that colors some of his views. One of his most vocal public stances has been on the City budget and rebuilding reserves to 20% is one of his top priorities. “We don’t know when we’re going to need to dip into those reserves,” he said.
But rather than frame it as austerity, Bonilla ties it to equity. “It’s not about cutting services,” he said. “[It’s about] managing our own expenses… [making sure residents are] not burdened.” Much like Mayor Salinas, he positions this as something residents deserve, “High quality services for reasonable taxes,” he said. “Thinking smarter with how we spend this money.”
Bonilla wants to bring tech into the industrial area of Hayward—formerly Russell City. “[We have] untapped potential,” he said. He compared Hayward to Palo Alto, where partnerships between Meta and Stanford allow students to intern for 6-figure salaries. “Why can’t we build the same opportunities in Hayward?” he asked. “[This can] increase the tax base without increasing the tax rate.”
What Does It All Mean?
Having been appointed to City Council in early 2023, Ray Bonilla Jr. is the newest incumbent—though more than half of Council has only been in office since 2022. He was plucked from the Planning Commission by City Council and may have spent the last year finding his footing. During the past year on Council, he hasn’t taken many bold stances on his tentpole issues aside from the budget.
Perhaps he doesn’t feel like he has a mandate yet—the Bonilla I interviewed felt like a different elected official from the one during Council meetings. The vision he put forward was the most far-reaching one I’ve heard from incumbents: safety beyond policing, walkable housing for everyone, and a balanced budget. Although he didn’t outline specific policies to make it happen, it’s an ambitious set of goals.
Bonilla wants people to be housed, educated, and safe with good jobs so they can pay their bills. It’s not dismantling capitalism, but it would be an improvement over where we are now. If Hayward voters like Bonilla’s vision, they’ll also have to ask whether he’ll do what’s necessary to make it happen.
CORRECTION: Tuesday’s article erroneously stated that Sara Prada had once worked for a charter school. The article has been updated and we regret the error.