William Smith, a medical device engineer with eight years of R&D experience, has announced his campaign for the Ward 6 City Council seat in the 2026 election.
Smith, who served as COO and CFO of the Orange County Hispanic Youth Chamber of Commerce, told the Raincross Gazette he would apply his FDA compliance training to evaluate development proposals and infrastructure decisions through risk assessment.
"In my industry, if I ignore a minor risk in a design, the device fails and lives are at stake," Smith said. "In City Hall, if we ignore technical debt and infrastructure decay, our community fails."
He joins Board of Ethics Vice Chair Luis Hernandez and Arlington Business Partnership Executive Director Oz Puerta in the race to succeed Councilmember Jim Perry. The three-term councilmember announced earlier this year he will not seek re-election, ending a tenure that began in 2013.
Smith grew up in a union household—his father worked as a Local 12 Operating Engineers Union member—with a Mexican immigrant mother who faced communication barriers and economic instability.
"A politician might look at the architectural drawings," Smith said. "As an engineer, I look at the system. If we add 200 high-density units to a corridor, the failure mode isn't just traffic—it's the strain on our aging water mains and the decrease in emergency response times." He said he would require developers to mitigate infrastructure impacts upfront rather than passing costs to taxpayers.
At the Orange County Hispanic Youth Chamber of Commerce, Smith said he diversified the organization's focus beyond business majors to include STEM fields, bringing in local IT companies and engineering firms to engage with students. He oversaw scholarship programs directing supporter funds to students' education needs.
"First-generation students weren't just getting degrees—they were getting access to high-paying industries like finance and engineering through the roundtables I hosted with local professionals," Smith said.
"Every dollar spent is an investment that has to be tracked for its return on investment," Smith said. "By being proactive with maintenance, we ensure our city budget isn't swallowed up by emergency repairs."
On public safety, Smith emphasized prevention over reaction. "Crime often fills the vacuum where opportunity doesn't exist," he said. "When youth are engaged and empowered, they become stakeholders in their neighborhood's safety rather than risks to it."
He proposes a tiered response system deploying mental health professionals or homeless outreach coordinators to non-violent calls, keeping police available for emergencies.
On homelessness, Smith supports enforcing camping bans only with alternatives in place. "I use what I call the 'stroller test,'" he said. "If a parent can't safely push a stroller down a sidewalk or enjoy a park, we're failing. Our public spaces must be safe and usable for families."
On development, Smith said he won't approve new projects unless the city can handle them. "If a project overloads our systems, it shouldn't move forward."
Discussing Ward 6's economic diversity from Arlanza to La Sierra Hills, Smith emphasized perseverance. "Working class perseverance isn't just about how much you earn; it's about the grit it takes to build a life here," Smith said. "Whether you're a first-time homebuyer in Arlanza or a business owner in La Sierra, you're invested in the same thing: the belief that hard work should result in a safe, thriving community for your children."
If elected, Smith's top priority would be establishing a Riverside Fellowship program modeled on the OC Fellowship he experienced, partnering with Riverside County employers to provide paid internships and mentorship for high school and college students in STEM, trades, and finance.
"By the end of my first term, we will have established the fellowship program, with a measurable outcome of more than 100 student placements into internships or mentorship tracks with local Riverside County employers," Smith said. He did not specify funding sources or which employers have committed to the program.
He also plans to appoint neighborhood liaisons from across Ward 6 to serve as an "early warning system" for infrastructure issues.
"Communication at City Hall shouldn't be a one-way street or limited to whoever can attend a Tuesday night meeting," he said. "I will move us beyond reactive communication to a proactive, multi-channel system."
He said Ward 6's diversity under boundaries redrawn in 2023—including Arlanza, La Sierra, La Sierra Hills, La Sierra South, and portions of Arlington—requires fair resource distribution.
"I won't play neighborhoods against each other," Smith said. "I will use clear data to decide where city resources go—based on safety, urgency, and results, not politics."
Riverside voters will choose City Council representatives for Wards 2, 4, and 6 in the June 2, 2026 primary election, with runoffs in November if no candidate wins at least 50 percent of the vote.
For more information about Smith's campaign, visit vote4williamsmithriverside.com.
