Call on Community to Submit Ideas for Projects they want to See Funded

City Hall, New York – Speaker Corey Johnson and the New York City Council announced the kickoff to Participatory Budgeting Cycle 8 today, and called on the public to submit ideas on what projects they want to see funded. This year, 32 Council districts will be participating in Cycle 8, which also included a renewed $1 million commitment from Borough President Eric L. Adams to go towards participating Council Member districts in Brooklyn. Vote Week for Cycle 8 will be held from March 30 through April 7, 2019.

“I’m so excited that the City Council is kicking off Cycle 8 of Participatory Budgeting, the largest demonstration in North America,” said Speaker Johnson. “New Yorkers, this is your money, so please get involved. No one knows your community better than you, so let us know how to you want us to spend $1 million in your neighborhood. This is democracy in action and we are looking forward to all your wonderful ideas.”

“Participatory budgeting is based on a simple but powerful truth: residents are in the best position to bring positive changes to their communities and decide which projects should be given priority in their neighborhoods,” said City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, Chair of the Committee on Immigration. “And what we’ve seen year after year is that residents are eager to make these decisions. The proof is in the numbers: more people voted last year on projects in my district than they did in my district’s primary election. What I love about this process is that it is open to everyone who lives in New York City regardless of status, and now, for the first time, this process will include the input of residents as young as middle school. We’re creating a culture of civic engagement – of showing New Yorkers that they have the power, literally, to strengthen their communities. I look forward to another historic year.”

“At the heart of participatory budgeting is the power of local decision-making to shape the future of our public spaces including parks, schools, and recreational spaces,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams. “I’m proud to have partnered with the City Council to amplify the voices of our constituents through this exciting initiative. I look forward to another election cycle where Brooklynites will get to choose from a range of innovative projects that will undoubtedly benefit everyone in our communities.”

Here are some highlights in Cycle 8:

• There is now a total of 32 participating districts, which is about 60% of the Council and  participation from all 5 boroughs
• We are collecting ideas from all New Yorkers; How would you spend $1 million in your district?
• This cycle, the Council is continuing partnerships with the Brooklyn Borough President’s office and with CORO NY.

In June, Speaker Johnson, Council Member Carlos Menchaca and the New York City Council announced the voting results and winning proposals of the 2017-2018 Participatory Budgeting cycle. During the voting period of April 7 through April 15, over 99,250 New Yorkers voted to allocate over $36 million in capital funding for a total of 122 locally developed capital projects across 27 Council Districts in New York City.

Along with traditional paper ballots, residents in participating districts were also able to vote online, and through the 1,700 Link kiosks throughout the five boroughs thanks to a partnership with LinkNYC and the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT). The Participatory Budget app was opened on Link over 5,000 times in the course of 7 days during the voting period. The average number of voters participating per district last cycle was 3,676 totaling in over 268 vote sites throughout participating districts. New Yorkers cast 29,465 electronic votes and 69,787 paper ballots in the 2017-2018 Participatory Budgeting cycle.

Ballots for the 2017-2018 Participatory Budgeting cycle were available in 13 languages other than English (86%): Spanish (7.9%), Chinese (5.4%), Bangla (0.3), French Creole (0.2%), Russian (0.2), and eight other languages (0.4%).

Voting in Participatory Budgeting is open to all residents of participating districts 11 years of age and older. The sole identification requirement is proof of residency in the district, removing traditional obstacles to full civic participation such as youth, income status, English-language proficiency and citizenship status.

For more information, visit www.council.nyc.gov/pb

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