KENSINGTON — A dog run in Kensington, new trees on Prospect Park Southwest and a repaved schoolyard at P.S. 130 could soon be funded by taxpayer dollars.
Residents suggested the neighborhood improvements at a Tuesday brainstorming session for City Councilman Brad Lander's participatory budgeting program.
Now in its fifth year, the budgeting program lets locals decide how to spend $1.5 million of Lander's discretionary funds on neighborhood upgrades.
In Lander's 39th District, participatory budgeting has funded 29 projects, from Church Avenue pedestrian safety improvements to a storytelling garden at the Park Slope public library.
The process works like this: residents suggest projects for funding, volunteers research the ideas to see which ones are most feasible and then selected projects are put on a ballot. Anyone in Lander's district can vote for their favorite projects. The top vote-getters receive funding.
Lander hosted two public brainstorming workshops recently to kick off this year's round of participatory budgeting.
At Tuesday's session, residents sat at tables in the P.S. 230 cafeteria and dreamed up project ideas. One man suggested signage that would guide people to getting better exercise in Prospect Park; someone else said they wanted compost bins in Kensington.
"It's a good idea," said Brooklyn Community Board 12 member Mamnun Haq of the budgeting program. "Who knows more than the community what they need in their area? You can easily hear the people's voice."
Participants at Tuesday's workshop included P.S. 230 principal Maria Della Ragione. "We love it," Della Ragione said. "Walk our classrooms and you'll see PB in action. We've gotten smartboards, we've gotten laptops."
This year Della Ragione said she's hoping P.S. 230 can win funding to air condition its stifling hot cafeteria.
Lander was one of the first four City Council Members to bring participatory budgeting to New York; this year, 27 council members are using the budgeting tool.
Traditionally participatory budgeting dollars have been restricted to capital projects that cost more than $35,000, but this year there's funding available in Lander's district for lower cost projects.
Also new this year is the voting age — it's been lowered to 14 in Lander's district.
People can submit participatory budgeting ideas online until mid-October. The ballot will be released in the spring.
