Ravi S. Bhalla

Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, United States

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla is an 22-year resident of Hoboken, serving eight years on the Hoboken City Council before being elected Mayor in November 2017.

Ravi first set his roots in Hoboken at the age of 26, a bachelor fresh out of law school starting his first job at a small law firm in Newark, New Jersey. Ravi developed expertise as a civil rights lawyer, earning national recognition from The New York Times for his legal advocacy after suffering a violation of his own constitutional and civil rights during a jail visit to a client. The incident motivated Ravi to lead a successful campaign to reform the federal government’s visitation policies at correctional facilities nationwide.

Ravi successfully ran for Hoboken City Council, promising to restore honesty, professionalism, and fiscal responsibility to Hoboken. Once in office, Ravi worked hard to establish tangible reforms to the way government is run in Hoboken. Municipal taxes were reduced and Hoboken’s finances were put on a responsible long-term path. The City’s bond rating was improved from junk bond status in 2009 to AA+ in 2013, the second highest rating, and had a responsible cash surplus for the first time in years.

As Mayor, Ravi has pledged to make the City of Hoboken more resilient to climate change signing the City’s Climate Action Plan in 2019 with the goal of the City of Hoboken being net zero energy by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2050. Under his leadership, the City launched its citywide special improvement district (SID), the City’s first and only SID to help support the local business community. To adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Bhalla and the City created the Business Recovery Plan which provided outdoor dining options like streateries and parklets for businesses, initiated new grant funding opportunities delivering over $4 million in funding to small business and nonprofits, and worked with residents to launch and provide additional funding through the Hoboken Relief Fund, and provided COVID-19 testing to businesses in need so they could continue to operate safely.

He received his undergraduate education from the University of California at Berkeley, where he received a B.A. in Political Psychology. Upon graduation, he attended the London School of Economics (L.S.E.) in the United Kingdom and received a Master of Science degree in Public Administration and Public Policy, and a Juris Doctor Degree from Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Ravi and his wife Bindya live in Hoboken with their two children, Arza Kaur, age 15, and Shabegh Singh, age 10.