BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Got a million-dollar idea?
Residents in Bedford-Stuyvesant and northern Crown Heights can share their proposals on how to improve their neighborhoods as the participatory budgeting process continues this fall in City Council District 36.
Participants can decide how city funds will be spent by providing input on projects they’d like to see funded in central Brooklyn.
Councilman Robert Cornegy is expected to allot a total of $1 million to the winning ideas that will be voted on by mid-2017, according to Stefani Zinerman, Cornegy’s chief of staff.
On Aug. 19, Cornegy’s office kicked off the process with an event at Restoration Plaza where staff members helped locals put forward their ideas.
Participants can also volunteer as budget delegates who will work over the course of several months to shape the proposals.
This year, five ideas won in Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights, including new laptops for P.S. 59, new basketball court surfaces at Brower Park and smart boards for five neighborhood schools.
“I think the schools’ ability to really rally their students and parents was the perfect example of what participatory budgeting should be, just in terms of an example of true democracy,” Zinerman said.
“You have a visceral evidence of what your voice and what your participation can mean.”
People as young as 14 can vote and give input on projects and Cornegy’s office has already begun its outreach to local schools, churches and other organizations, Zinerman added.
Community idea meetings will continue through the fall with the following events:
► Monday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m.
P.S. 308, 616 Quincy St.
► Thursday, Sept. 29, 6 p.m.
P.S. 256, 114 Kosciuszko St.
► Monday, Oct. 3, 6 p.m.
M.S. 35, 272 MacDonough St.
► Wednesday, Oct. 5, 6 p.m.
Brooklyn Brownstone School, 272 MacDonough St.
► Thursday, Oct. 6, 6 p.m.
Friends of Crown Heights, 671 Prospect Place
► Thursday, Oct. 11, 6 p.m.
P.S. 81, 990 DeKalb Ave.
