Alameda City Council Race: Maria Bondonno

So, Maria, in your bio, you mentioned being a proud member.

granddaughter of Mexican and Italian immigrants who came to this country in search for a better life, in search for the American dream, that immigrant story.

I would love for you to tell us a little bit about your family lineage, your family history, and a little bit about your personal history.

Okay.

Well, my mom was Mexican.

She was born in Calexico, which is on the border of California and Mexicali.

So she was actually born in the United States.

But then they lived back and forth between Calexico and Mexicali.

And then they moved to San Diego and they lived between San Diego and Tijuana because my grandmother was deported.

with her six children so my grandfather stayed he owned a barber shop in san diego but they for some reason they did not deport him i don't know how that happened nobody's clear on how that happened but so my mother they ended up staying with their father going to school in san diego and then going back to tijuana on the weekends and then going back to tijuana for the summers So, and then my dad is, was actually born in a house, if you can believe it, in San Francisco, and he's a son of Italian immigrants.

Unfortunately, both my parents have passed.

My mom just passed in March of 2025.

So I spent a lot of time like the last five years with her, taking care of her.

And I think I had really excellent parents.

I'm very grateful.

Oh, wonderful.

I'm sorry about the loss of your mom.

Yeah, it was a hard

heart

loss.

So you are actually originally from the Bay Area.

Is that where you grew up here in the Bay Area? Tell us a little bit about that.

You're

growing up years here.

Well, I was born in San Francisco.