NYC participatory budgeting group calls on council to revive the initiative
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New York City’s Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee has urged the Council to revive the initiative, which they say drives civic engagement. In this photo, Brooklyn children learn their school has been selected for renovations in a 2018 participatory budgeting vote. Photo by Jeff Reed/City Council Photography
By David Brand
A committee that helps guide New York City’s annual participatory budgeting process has urged the City Council to revive the community-focused initiative after it was indefinitely suspended last month.
The process allows each councilmember to allocate money to proposals voted on by residents of their district, and is a crucial way to drive civic engagement, the Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee wrote in a letter to Speaker Corey Johnson Wednesday. They urged Johnson and the Council to meet with them and develop a plan to relaunch participatory budgeting by Nov. 9.
“Participatory budgeting is more important than ever,” the Steering Committee members wrote. “PB provides exactly what New Yorkers need right now to feel connected and empowered to create change.”
The latest suspension comes after the COVID pandemic forced the Council to cancel the last participatory budgeting, or PB, vote in March.
In 2019, 32 of the council’s 51 members opted in to participatory budgeting, enabling constituents as young as 11 to choose where to allocate a total of $39 million. The qualifying proposals must be physical infrastructure projects that benefit the public, last for at least five years and cost $50,000 or more. They include school bathroom upgrades, park renovations and new technology at public library branches.
While some councilmembers say the process is a drain on their limited resources and their aides’ time, the majority have enacted PB in their districts since the initiative first began in 2011. Supporters say participatory budgeting gives residents a direct say in city spending and has a lasting impact on civic engagement.
“This year, more than any other, New Yorkers need things to celebrate and inspire us, and democracy needs to be elevated,” the Steering Committee wrote in their letter. “Especially in the specter of growing authoritarianism and increasingly polarized governance in this country, one major accomplishment has been the growth of participatory democracy in New York City.”
A handful of councilmembers have committed to bringing participatory budgeting back to their districts this fiscal year, but the initiative is complicated by a lack of centralized Council support.
As the Eagle reported last week, none of Queens’ 14 councilmembers have committed to participatory budgeting without central staff backing. Council staffers and interns assist with administrative tasks like graphic design, printing ballots and website development that are expensive and time-consuming for members’ district staffs
A spokesperson for the City Council said participatory budgeting will resume once the city is on firmer financial footing.
"The COVID-19 pandemic brought on difficult budget decisions due to the dire economic situation we are facing,” the spokesperson said. “The priority of the City Council is to protect jobs and to keep employees safe. Participatory democracy is important to the communities we serve. Once we are safe from COVID-19, the Council will work to bring this initiative back."
