DEMOCRACY IN ACTION! YOUR VOTE COUNTS
Show us the money!
What’s getting Participatory Budgeting funding in Bklyn this year!
BY KEVIN DUGGAN &
JESSICA PARKS
The votes have been tallied,
and the winners of this
year’s participatory budgeting
process have been announced
— with funds going towards a
down payment for a skatepark,
a permanent food pantry at a
Williamsburg public housing
development, and better WiFi
at local public schools.
Brooklyn city councilmembers
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COURIER L 4 IFE, APR. 30-MAY 6, 2021
Brad Lander, Stephen
Levin, and Carlos Menchaca
revived Participatory Budgeting
in their districts this year
after a pandemic-induced
pause in 2020.
The program allows members
of the council to dedicate
some of their discretionary
budget, which each member
receives yearly, and put them
up for all of their constituents
aged 11 or older to vote on what
the funds should be used for.
If a particular project wins
enough votes, it will get money
from the next city budget,
which takes effect on July 1.
The program has sometimes
been criticized for the
low turnout of the voting process.
In District 43, for example,
which is represented by Councilmember
Robert Cornegy,
an average of just 1,738 people
voted each year in the participatory
budgeting process,
despite the area boasting a
population of roughly 150,000,
according to census data. Cornegy
has not dedicated funds
to the program this year.
With millions potentially
up for grabs, and only a few
thousand votes cast, those organizations
— oftens schools
and community groups — who
can organize large numbers of
people benefi t the most, leaving
out potentially more needy
projects with less communal
mobilization behind them.
On the conray, proponents
of the idea claim that participatory
budgeting makes the
process of distributing funds
more democratic, and more
open to the young — as people
between the ages of 11 and 17
can vote to allocate funds, but
cannot vote in elections for
their council rep.
“The energy around participatory
budgeting is rooted
in an immigrant, youth energy,”
said Menchaca last
year. “When you think about
people who are franchised in
the political world, that’s not
always the case here.”
This year, almost $3 million
was up for grabs from
the three legislators’ discretionary
funds to pay for projects
— including $2 million in
Menchaca’s district, $1.5 million
in Lander’s, and $30,000
in Levin’s.
Here are the proposals that
won enough votes for funds:
$30,000 available, with voters being
able to vote for four projects. A total of
2,432 residents cast their vote.
• $5,000 for the Brooklyn Book Bodega to
distribute 5,000 books to kids across the
district this summer at parks and public
housing developments (45 percent
with 1085 votes)
• $10,000 for gardening supplies at the
three public housing complexes Warren
Street Houses, Gowanus Houses,
and Wyckoff Gardens (37 percent with
893 votes).
• $5,000 for an introduction to trade careers
by TownSquare for students at
IS 318 and Williamsburg High School
of Architecture and Design (34 percent
with 817 votes).
• $10,000 will go toward a permanent
food pantry at the Taylor-Wythe public
housing complex, operated by community
groups Los Sures and El Puente.
The proposal got 47 percent of the votes
with 1142 votes.
“Thank you to all the volunteers and
voters for making this process a success
in these diffi cult times,” said Levin in a
statement.
$5,000: Brooklyn Book Bodega File photo
DISTICT 33
STEPHEN LEVIN
Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights,
Brooklyn Navy Yard, Downtown
Brooklyn, Dumbo, Greenpoint, Vinegar
Hill, and parts of Williamsburg
$10,000: Food pantry Wikimedia
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