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How Would You Spend $1M to Improve Crown Heights and Ft. Greene?

 Councilmember Laurie Cumbo speaks at her State of the District speech at the Brooklyn Museum in March. Cumbo is opening up participatory budgeting in District 35 this year.
Councilmember Laurie Cumbo speaks at her State of the District speech at the Brooklyn Museum in March. Cumbo is opening up participatory budgeting in District 35 this year.
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DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith

CROWN HEIGHTS — A new way to bring money to the neighborhood starts next week with the first of three participatory budget meetings hosted by the area’s council member, Laurie Cumbo.

For the first time, Cumbo is allowing residents of the 35th Council District — which covers Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and Crown Heights — to nominate and vote on neighborhood projects they would like to see funded.

Approximately $1 million will be earmarked for the yet-to-be-created participatory budget, Cumbo’s staff said, and will be awarded according to the most popular ideas to come out of a series of public forums set to take place in the district over the next three weeks at the following times and locations:

► Sept. 9, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.,  Medgar Evers College, 1650 Bedford Ave., 2nd Fl., Crown Heights

► Sept. 16, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Friends of Crown Heights, 671 Prospect Pl., Crown Heights

► Sept. 21, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Ingersoll Community Center, 177 Myrtle Ave., Ft. Greene

The money allocated for the participatory budget process comes from the council member’s capital budget, meaning projects meant to improve the district’s physical spaces, such as parks, schools, libraries and streets, will be considered.

It is the first time District 35 will take part in the participatory budget process. Last year, Cumbo’s office declined to join the year-long project, telling the Fort Greene Focus it was an “ambitious undertaking.”

Implementing any new projects proposed at the public forums could take months, according to a schedule of the process from the city council. After initial public meetings take place, “volunteer budget delegates” form committees to create formal funding proposals, present them to the public, who vote to accept or reject them. If approved, the local council member takes them to the city council to be included in the city budget next year.

For more information about District 35’s participatory budget forums or how the process works, visit the website of Councilmember Laurie Cumbo or the City Council.