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Jamaica Performance Spaces, Roads and Schools to Split $1 Million

 The Jamaica Performing Arts Center will receive $120,000 to purchase new equipment and to upgrade its sound and lighting systems.
The Jamaica Performing Arts Center will receive $120,000 to purchase new equipment and to upgrade its sound and lighting systems.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

QUEENS — Performance spaces, local roads and schools in Jamaica will split $1 million under the City Council's participatory budgeting program.

The projects were selected by residents in the 10-month process led by City Councilman Daneek Miller, who represents portions of Jamaica, St. Albans and Hollis. 

From 23 projects that appeared on the ballot, the five top-voted ones will receive at least $1 million in funding between them.

Nearly half of the money — $450,000 — will go towards upgrades at an outdoor performance space at Roy Wilkins Park in St. Albans, where readings and small concerts take place. 

The Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Downtown Jamaica will receive $120,000 to purchase new equipment and to upgrade its sound and lighting systems.

Some $400,000 will be used to resurface several major streets in the neighborhood, which locals said require immediate repairs. Community boards 12 and 13, which include Jamaica, St. Albans, Rosedale and Queens Village, will select which roads should be repaired, according to Miller.

Two local schools will also receive funding for equipment.

I.S. 59 in St. Albans will get $60,000 to buy 10 smart boards and an overhead projector, and York Early College Academy in Jamaica will use $94,000 to buy 13 smart boards with an overhead projector and a laptop cart.

Other proposed projects which didn't make the cut, included a request to resurface a basketball court and install new backboards in Cambria Park and to renovate handball courts in St. Albans Park. Numerous schools were also hoping to receive funding for equipment.

Nearly 2,000 residents voted for the projects which will now be covered by the councilman's discretionary capital funds.

Miller said that participatory budgeting "has been a tool to engage, empower, and organize our residents." 

“We’ve seen people come together — youths and senior and people from all different walks of life — to improve our neighborhoods and collaborate on meaningful projects,” Miller said in a statement.