Schools, gardens and libraries likely winners in this year’s participatory budgeting vote

Balloting opens March 30

March 26, 2019 Mary Frost

Residents can vote to fund local projects starting March 30 through participatory budgeting in New York City. One project in Councilmember Stephen Levin’s District would supply AV equipment for P.S. 307 in Vinegar Hill. Eagle photo by Mary Frost.

P.S. 307 in Vinegar Hill. Eagle photo by Mary Frost.

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Vote week opens on Saturday for participatory budgeting in New York City, and dozens of schools, libraries, gardens and senior centers have their fingers crossed.

Participatory budgeting allows neighborhood residents to vote to fund community projects that are important to them but are often overlooked in the city’s standard budgeting process.

Brooklyn’s City Council districts have been the leaders in this grassroots effort throughout its eight years of operation. In New York City, voters in the participating districts — 11 of 16 in Brooklyn — get to decide how to spend more than $1 million of their councilmember’s $5 million discretionary budget.

Local schools, parks, senior centers and libraries are often the beneficiaries, but many people are not even aware of the vote, which is open to all residents of participating council districts, citizens and non-citizens alike, from the 6th grade up.

Brooklyn residents have submitted hundreds of ideas they hope to get funded in this year’s round. But only a tiny fraction of eligible voters actually participate, though the rate is increasing every year. This means a group of involved individuals who get out the vote have a greater chance of swinging money toward their project.

Councilmember Stephen Levin, of Brooklyn Heights and Greenpoint, has allocated $1,520,000 from his budget this year to participatory budget voting. Projects range from buying books for the Williamsburg Library branch to expanding garden plots at the Gowanus Houses, buying laptop carts for the Dock Street school in DUMBO, outfitting the Vinegar Hill Community Garden with water and electricity, and buying AV equipment for P.S. 307 in Vinegar Hill.

Participatory budgeting requires substantial work to solicit and vet ideas from the community. Volunteers help develop the ideas into proposals that go onto the voting ballot.

Luckily, voting is easy — it can be done in person, online or on LinkNYC street kiosks. This year, you can vote for as many as five project proposals on your district ballot.

Each councilmember gets about $5 million to spend as he or she sees fit. Of that pool, Councilmember Brad Lander set aside $1.55 million for voters to allocate in 2018. Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, of Sunset Park and Red Hook, put up more than $2.8 million.

Even if a project doesn’t win the vote, it might still get funded by other means now that it’s been identified, according to a study by the Urban Justice Center. Lander has added projects to his district’s budgets that were initially suggested in the participatory budgeting process.

Voting runs from March 30 to April 7.