CHELSEA — The Penn South Playground, the Hudson Park Library and the Humanities Educational Complex are a few of the sites that could secure funding for upgrades this year.
Residents who live in City Council District 3 — which includes Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, the West Village and parts of the Upper West Side, SoHo and Flatiron — will have a little over a week to cast their votes for 15 projects they think should receive part of at least $1 million in funding.
Councilman Corey Johnson’s office allocates money to the West Side projects that receive the most votes each year as part of the city’s participatory budgeting process.
Last year, residents voted to spend more than $1 million on projects including planting new trees throughout the district and replacing the Muhlenberg Library’s HVAC cooling unit.
Here are the 15 projects on District 3's ballot this year:
► $300,000 to make the bathroom facilities in the Hudson Park Library, at 66 Leroy St. near Seventh Avenue South, ADA accessible.
► $150,000 to provide air conditioning for the library at P.S. 111, at 440 W. 53rd St., between Ninth and 10th avenues.
► $144,000 for 12 new water fountains with water filtration systems and environmentally-friendly bottle filling stations at the Lab & Museum schools at 333 W. 17th St., between Eighth and Ninth avenues.
► $150,000 to upgrade electrical panels and install two new quad outlets in 40 rooms at P.S. 3, at 490 Hudson St., at Grove Street.
► $60,000 to buy additional computers and printers for the High School of Fashion Industries at 225 W. 24th St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues.
► $500,000 for new playground fencing, renovated walkways and revitalized garden areas at the Elliott-Chelsea Houses, between West 25th and West 27th streets and Ninth and 10th avenues.
► $300,000 to renovate and re-vision the Penn South Playground on West 26th Street.
► $175,000 to replace the northern chain-link fence at the Jefferson Market Garden, on Greenwich Avenue between Christopher and West 10th streets, and construct a new shed to house tools.
► $200,000 to build a new park on an empty lot in Hell’s Kitchen on 10th Avenue between West 48th and West 49th streets.
► $450,000 to repair and replace the safety surfacing and play equipment roofs at the Bleecker Street Playground, at the intersection of Hudson, Bleecker and West 11th streets. The funding will also go toward planting new trees and replanting green space.
► $125,000 to install electronic boards that display real-time bus arrival information at five “key bus stops” throughout the district.
► $176,000 to replace the old street lighting on Seventh Avenue South, between Christopher and Bleecker streets, with historic lampposts.
► $575,000 to repave and repaint the basketball court at Chelsea Park, on West 27th Street at 10th Avenue, and install new hoops.
► $300,000 to repair a fifth grade bathroom and a library bathroom at the Humanities Educational Complex at 351 W. 18th St., near Ninth Avenue.
► $500,000 to resurface the toddler sprinkler area at the Fulton Houses, between West 16th and 19th streets and Ninth and 10th avenues.
Voting will kick off on March 25 and end on April 2. A full list of voting locations and the times at which they'll be open can be found on the councilman’s website.
Residents can learn more about the projects — and vote early — at a participatory budgeting expo taking place at P.S. 340 at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21.
