If your neighbors gave you $1.5 million dollars, what would you change
about your neighborhood? Safer streets and sidewalks? Subway station upgrades?
Improvements to one of our much-loved parks or public libraries?
It’s almost your time to decide.
Over the last several months, your neighbors have been considering these
questions. Our volunteer “budget delegates” have reviewed
hundreds of ideas that you suggested and put together a slate of a dozen
potential projects. Now, we’re turning it over to you to decide
which ones will be funded and implemented in our neighborhoods.
This year I’m increasing my commitment to “participatory budgeting”
from $1 million to $1.5 million – more funds than ever before . But the process only works if you take part.
So make sure you
pledge to vote in this year’s election, between April 14th and April 19th.
To find out more about times and locations for voting,
click here or see below
-
Tuesday, April 14th through Thursday, April 16
th
, 8 am to 7 pm
- My district office (456 5th Ave., 3rd Floor, between 9th and 10th Streets)
-
Thursday, April 16, 2:30 – 7:30 pm
- Borough Park Library (1265 43rd St. at 13th Ave.)
-
Saturday, April 18, 10 am – 6 pm
- Carroll Gardens Library (396 Clinton St. at Union St.)
- PS 282 (180 6th Ave. between Berkeley and Lincoln Pls.)
- Windsor Terrace Library (160 East 5th St. at Ft. Hamilton Pkwy)
-
Sunday, April 19, 10 am – 6 pm
- Carroll Park House (Smith St. between President and Carroll Sts.)
- Park Slope Armory (361 15th St. between 7th and 8th Aves.)
- PS 230 (1 Albemarle Rd at McDonald Ave)
Any resident of the district – even if you are not a registered voter – can take part in the process. All you need is an ID, a utility bill, or some other documentation stating your address. You can make sure you live in my district (or another one that participates in participatory budgeting) by typing in your address here.
Whether it’s improving school technology or making our neighborhood
more sustainable, there will be something on the ballot for everyone.
Over the next few weeks keep an eye on your inboxes and on the
participatory budgeting section of my website for a sample ballot and full descriptions of this year’s projects.
Please
pledge to vote right now (and pass on the word to your friends and neighbors).
We need a lot of volunteers to make Participatory Budgeting work. If you’d
like to help get the word out about this year’s vote, volunteer
to canvass your neighborhood, do other outreach, or help at voting sites then
sign up here to get involved.
I guess it’s obvious … but it’s called
participatory budgeting because we want you to be a part of it. Whether you help volunteer,
tell all your neighbors, or just come out to cast your vote in April,
we can’t do it without you.
See you at the voting booths,
-Brad [Lander]