Read the full article here.

By Gus Saltonstall

Tis’ the season and we don’t mean the holidays. The Participatory Budget process has reopened again in the neighborhood, and you can currently submit ideas for projects to get funded on the Upper West Side and in Morningside Heights.

Recycling bins at the entrance to Riverside Park at West 72nd Street, a playground specifically for senior citizens at West 85th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, more street lighting throughout the UWS District 6, and an elevator at the West 110th Street 1 train station are some of the suggestions already submitted in the Participatory Budgeting process for the next fiscal year.

Councilmembers Gale Brewer and Shaun Abreu are both spearheading the process for their respective districts.

Residents have until November 10 to submit ideas for projects at ideas.pbnyc.org. Submitted projects must cost at least $50,000 and have a lifespan of at least five years. Once the ideas are submitted, the list is then whittled down to a set of finalists, which is subsequently voted on by the community.

Past projects to receive funding through Participatory Budgeting on the Upper West Side in recent years include: security cameras on four avenues in the neighborhood, school infrastructure improvements at P.S. 199, and new tree guards on Broadway above West 72nd Street.

Both Brewer and Abreu are looking for locals to be budget delegates, who help decide which idea submission make it to the final ballot, which will be voted on between April 6 and April 14, 2024. Interested volunteers in District 6 can email chornig@council.nyc.gov and those in District 7 can email district7@council.nyc.gov.

Abreu is also hosting information sessions on the process on November 2 and November 8, which you can register for HERE and HERE.