NYC Council Member Julie Menin Announces Participatory Budgeting Vote Week Starts March 25 For All District 5 Residents 11 Years And Older - $300 Thousand Upgrade Of Roosevelt Island PS/IS 217 Bathrooms On The Ballot

 Roosevelt Island's NYC Council Member Julie Menin reports:

Participatory Budgeting Vote Week will kick off on Saturday, March 25th, and run until Sunday, April 2nd. This year, residents age 11 and older of Council District 5 (Yorkville, Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, Roosevelt Island, Midtown East, Sutton Place, and El Barrio in East Harlem) will be able to vote online at https://vote.pbnyc.org/. 

Roosevelt Island residents can vote in person at the Roosevelt Island Library (504 Main Street).

Ms Menin adds:

In September 2022, my office was allocated one million dollars of capital funding to continue participatory budgeting for the residents of New York City Council District 5. Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget on capital projects. About 50 project proposals were submitted and vetted by City agencies to ensure compliance and feasibility. Ballot items must be a physical infrastructure project that benefits the public, has an estimated cost of at least $50,000 but not more than $550,000, and has a lifespan of at least 5 years.

 I am  pleased to announce a list of 10 items—each ranging in cost from $100,000 to $500,000—that will be put for a vote between March 25th through April 2nd. The projects with the most votes up until $1 million has been accounted for will be funded. 

Among the District 5 Participatory Budgeting projects on the ballot to be voted on is a $300 Thousand upgrading of local school PS/IS 217 bathrooms. 

Roosevelt Island projects not approved for Participatory Budget funding were:

• To modernize the Motorgate entrance by removing the escalator and adding a staircase.
• Housing for the Homeless we have on the Island!
• Replant Mature Trees slated for Removal on Roosevelt Island
• Tree guards for sidewalk trees on Roosevelt Island.
• Hire an artist to create a mural to beautify the exterior of the Roosevelt Island F train station

The full NYC Council District 5 Participatory Budgeting Ballot is below.

According to a press release from Ms Menin's office:

Winning projects will be announced in May and included in the City’s budget at adoption in June 2023.

In last year’s cycle, Council Member Julie Menin announced the results of her first annual participatory budgeting process within New York City Council District 5, which garnered a total of 1,838 votes and a tie for first place between the top two projects. Council Member Menin had previously announced that projects with the most votes up until $1 million has been accounted for will be funded. As a result of last year's success, Council Member Menin allocated additional capital funding in order to fully fund the top six voted projects totaling $1,380,000.

“Since I served on the Board of Citizens Union, I have been a longtime proponent of Participatory Budgeting and am thrilled with last year's success. Government must ensure that New Yorkers have civic engagement opportunities and have a voice in the budgetary process. As we approach voting week, filling out a ballot is a great way to be involved with the pulse of the community and determine the best use of city dollars,” said Council Member Julie Menin.

Confirmed voting locations are:

Council Member Julie Menin’s District Office (444 E 75th St, Unit 1B, New York, NY 10021)

Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center (415 E 93rd St, New York, NY 10128)

Webster Library (1465 York Ave, New York, NY 10075)

Roosevelt Island Library (504 Main St, New York, NY 10044)

67th Street Library (328 E 67th St, New York, NY 10065)

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House (331 E 70th St, New York, NY 10021)

Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright’s District Office (1485 York Ave, New York, NY 10075)

Asphalt Green - Upper East Side Campus (555 E 90th St, New York, NY 10128)

Check the Council Member’s website Participatory Budgeting 2023 - Julie Menin (nyc.gov) for scheduling and all voting sites. For more details or to request a paper ballot, please contact the Office of Council Member Julie Menin at 212-860-1950 or email District5@council.nyc.gov. 

Last year, the Roosevelt Island Public Library was among the District 5 libraries to share a portion of $250 thousand in Participatory Budget funding for technology upgrades. In 2016, Roosevelt Island's PS/IS 217 received $500,000 in Participatory Budget Funding for a Green Roof from former Council Member Ben Kallos which was completed in 2021.

New Yorkers, Participatory Budgeting is back for its twelfth cycle! This is your opportunity to voice your opinion on how city funding will be spent to directly improve your neighborhood. The process is underway. Learn more here: https://t.co/6Ajdlymo25 pic.twitter.com/x00TxVnOcS

— New York City Council (@NYCCouncil) September 16, 2022

Participatory budgeting does have critics.

The joke re: participatory budgeting is that these things are all going to be funded anyway, they just need to give you the illusion of having a voice. (Ask them how much it costs to pay the PB nonprofit to administer the election and you’ll see what a grift it is.) https://t.co/Uvtl0MpQmX

— Queens Crapper (@QueensCrapper) March 23, 2023