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  
 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.  
 in  an  immigrant,  youth  energy,” 
 year. “When you think about  
 people who are franchised in  
 the political world, that’s not  
 always the case here.”  
 the  three  legislators’  discretionary  
 Menchaca’s district, $1.5 million  
 in Levin’s. 
 won enough votes for funds: 
 DISTICT 33 
 STEPHEN LEVIN 
 Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights,  
 Brooklyn Navy Yard, Downtown  
 Brooklyn, Dumbo, Greenpoint, Vinegar  
 Hill, and parts of Williamsburg 
 $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  
 $5,000: Brooklyn Book Bodega  File photo 
 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  
 $10,000: Food pantry  Wikimedia 
 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.  
  
 INSIDE 
 Your entertainment 
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 Police Blotter ..........................8 
 Opinion .................................... 18 
 Letters ..................................... 19 
 Education ............................... 14 
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 COURIER L 2     IFE, APR. 30-MAY 6, 2021 
  
  
 “The energy around participatory  
 budgeting is rooted  
   said  Menchaca  last  
 This  year,  almost  $3  million  
 was up for grabs from  
 funds to pay for projects  
 — including $2 million in  
 in Lander’s, and $30,000  
 Here are the proposals that  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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