Engaging with Participatory Budgeting Op-Ed
By Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal
Participatory Budgeting returns for its third year on the Upper West Side. With $1 million of taxpayer funds placed directly in your hands, the participatory budgeting process is an extraordinary opportunity to engage with government. Throughout September, I’ll be hosting neighborhood assemblies and attending community events (listed below) to collect your ideas for what we can build or fix to improve our community. Bring your questions, concerns and, most importantly, your creativity as we brainstorm what we can do to make the Upper West Side a better place to live, play, go to school or just walk down the street.
Throughout PB’s first two years, I’ve been so impressed with the community’s thoughtful engagement with the process. Residents have come up with hundreds of ideas and dozens of volunteers from across the community have worked together to turn those ideas into real proposals. Over the first two years, more than 4,000 votes have been cast to allocate roughly $2 million of taxpayer money, including $800,000 for public schools and more than $500,000 for neighborhood parks.
More than any numbers or any specific project, though, it’s the experience of PB that has me so excited for this year’s cycle. As someone who thinks civic engagement is the key to a strong community, I can hardly express my joy at visiting a polling site last spring to see a high schooler and a senior citizen passionately discuss the pros and cons of various projects, listening to, respecting, and engaging one another as equal members of the community. It’s a special forum that allows the best of our community to shine through like that.
Recently, a resident came up to me at Fairway to let me know about her father, an immigrant who is not yet a U.S. citizen, who voted (for the first time ever) in participatory budgeting last year. She introduced me to her father. Although he didn’t speak much English, I understood his smile and the gratitude in his eyes. Of course I got goosebumps.
What will this year’s projects be? That is, what will be the subject of debate come spring? That’s entirely up to you! Let us know what you think the city should build or fix to make our community a better place. Come to one of our neighborhood assemblies, stop by or call my office, or log onto my website, www.helenrosenthal.com/pb, to submit ideas or get more involved in the process. As you may know, students from our local Frank McCourt High School have assisted us with participatory budgeting for the past two years and I want to thank them in advance of their hard work this year. (And, here’s where I’ll take a chance to thank our all of our wonderful volunteers, and to note that more help is always needed.)
Especially in an election year such as this one, it can be easy to get frustrated and fed up with some strains of our public discourse. I’ve found that a people-driven process like participatory budgeting is the perfect antidote to that weariness. It’s an opportunity to make your voice heard and to engage your neighbors in a positive discussion about how to make our community better, in the spirit of our best civic traditions here on the Upper West Side.
List of events where you can participate:
Neighborhood Assembly
Thursday, Sept. 15, 6-8 p.m.
Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center
250 West 65th St., between Amsterdam and West End Avenue
Helen’s Open House
Tuesday, Sept. 27, 5:30-7 p.m.
District Office of Councilwoman Rosenthal, 563 Columbus Ave., at 87th Street
Neighborhood Assembly
Thursday, Sept. 29, 6-8 p.m.
P.S. 75, 735 West End Ave., entrance on 95th Street
Also look for us at pop-up assemblies throughout the month, including:
Sunday, Sept. 18, 1-4:30 p.m.
Columbus Avenue Street Fair, table in the mid-70s
Sunday, Oct. 2, 1-4:30 p.m.
Broadway Street Fair, table between 96th to 103rd
Visit www.helenrosenthal.com/pb for additional information and to submit your idea directly!