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Fitness Center, Playgrounds Win Funding in Uptown Participatory Budgeting

 Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez.
Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez.
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DNAinfo/Carolina Pichardo

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — An outdoor gym, playgrounds and a school science lab are among the projects that will receive $1 million through the City Council's participatory process.

More than 2,200 residents from District 10 — which covers Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill in The Bronx — voted last month for the five winning projects last month out of 13 ideas submitted by the public. That number was more than double the amount of people who voted last year, according to Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez.

"We expect to improve even more next year through outreach and participatory budget education in lower-income and Spanish-speaking communities that can stand to benefit from some of these great projects and more," said Rodriguez's deputy chief of staff, Russell Murphy.

► $350,000 for the District 6 STEAM (Science, Technology, Arts and Math) Center's science and media lab (1,170 votes)

► $250,000 to create a "Get Fit For Free" outdoor fitness facility at the J. Hood Wright Park that will feature structures such as pullup bars (1,019 votes)

► $500,000 to upgrade the playground at P.S. 152/M.S. 178 on Nagle Avenue (1,015 votes)

In addition to these community picks, Rodriguez said he's also funding two projects from the 2015 participatory budgeting ballot: 

► $100,000 to upgrade the bathrooms and plumbing at the Amistad Dual Language School/P.S. 314 Muscota New School

► $200,000 to complete the playground at Dos Puentes/P.S. 132. (Rodriguez allocated $200,000 for the first phase of the playground installation during last year's participatory budgeting process.) 

Although the projects exceeded $1 million, Rodriguez said he'll be tapping into the capital budget to fund the projects. 

"It is a pleasure to offer this empowering initiative to the Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill communities," he said in an email. "I congratulate the winners, thank our staff and volunteers, but most of all, am happy to see community-driven improvements coming to our schools and parks uptown!"