Analysis shows vast majority of voters ignore
chance to infl uence public spending
COURIER LIFE, JANUARY 17-23, 2020 5
BY BEN VERDE
He gets an “F” for participation.
An annual participatory
budgeting process organized
by Bedford-Stuyvesant Councilman
Robert Cornegy Jr. has
the lowest voter turnout of any
district in the borough, with
just one percent of voters deciding
the fate of millions of
dollars in public spending, according
to data analyzed by the
Brooklyn Paper.
Each year, the majority of
Kings County Council members
set aside a portion of their
discretionary funds to be spent
through the city’s so-called
participatory budgeting process,
which allows constituents
to vote on how to spend
their hard-earned tax money
over a several-week-long period
each fall.
Projects may include the
renovation of parks and public
spaces, new classrooms and
school upgrades, and improvements
to road and transit infrastructure,
with nominations
selected by a group of volunteer
delegates and advertised
largely by the individual council
members and their staff.
For the past four years,
however, Cornegy — who
was named the world’s tallest
elected offi cial by Guiness last
year — has only been able to
scrape together a measly 6,951
votes for more than $4 million
worth of Council funding, with
an average annual voter turnout
of only 1,738 people in a district
of roughly 150,000 Brooklynites,
according to the most
recent census data available
through the city, which dates
back to 2010.
Last year, only 1,562 people
voted on allocations totaling
$1.2 million, with projects
including renovations to the
gymnasium at PS 3, and upgrades
to Troy Avenue’s Harmony
Park and the Tompkins
Houses Community Center
Turnout for Cornegy’s participatory
budgeting process
stands in stark contrast to
those organized by Sunset Park
Councilman Carlos Menchaca,
who topped the charts with a
total 32,441 voters participating
over a period of four years,
and an average annual 8,110
civic enthusiasts taking part
since 2016.
Menchaca credited the
roughly $2 million he makes
available annually for the democratic
budgeting process —
signifi cantly more than other
Brooklyn council members set
aside — for the comparatively
high turnout in his district.
The Sunset Park councilman
also attributed the high
turnout to his district’s large
foreign-born population,
claiming immigrants and fi rstgeneration
Brooklynites often
take a greater interest in local
government than their more
settled counterparts.
“The energy around participatory
budgeting is rooted
in an immigrant, youth energy,”
said Menchaca. “When
you think about people who
are franchised in the political
world, that’s not always the
case here.”
Still, Menchaca’s relatively
large turnout remains small
when compared to the roughly
160,000 people residing in the
38th Council District, with
only about fi ve percent of residents
turning out for votes
that have decided more than
$8.5 million worth of spending
since 2016 alone.
Last year, Menchaca was
outdone by Bushwick Councilman
Anthony Reynoso,
who gathered 8,349 votes, and
Park Slope Councilman Brad
Lander, who attracted 7,689
voters to his participatory budgeting
process, as opposed to
the Sunset Park councilman’s
6,399. Those fi gures amount
to roughly six, fi ve, and four
percent of their districts’ total
population respectively.
On the other end of the spectrum,
Bay Ridge Councilman
Justin Brannan and Brownsville
Councilwoman Alicka
Ampry-Samuel edged out Cornegy
— who had the absolute
worst voter turnout — with
1,654 and 1,853 voters last year
respectively. Those numbers
all factor out to around one
percent of their districts’ total
population.
One government watchdog
questioned the effectiveness of
participatory budgeting, claiming
that the novel approach to
spending rarely refl ects the
will of the people, but rather a
small group of dedicated civic
gurus.
“It’s often people who are
really engaged and in the
know,” said Maria Doulis, Vice
President of the Citizens Budget
Committee. “Are they representative
of the broader community?”
Conergy declined to comment.
Bed-Stuy Councilman Robert Cornegy has the lowest participatory budgeting
turnout of any lawmaker in the borough. Photo by Trey Pentecost
Tall councilman
suffers low turnout
Sunset Park Councilman Carlos Menchaca scraped together more participatory
budgeting votes in the last four years than any other Brooklyn
lawmaker. Photo by Natalie Musumeci