Hills & Gardens: Self-government’s appeal
So who knows our neighborhood needs better than we do? A rhetorical question, of course, but one that gets at the heart of a City Council initiative called Participatory Budgeting.
In 2011-2012, Brad Lander was one of four NYC Councilmembers leading their districts in a program first hatched in Brazil and launched in this country in Chicago. The success of the actions taken in NYC’s four forward-thinking districts led to the program’s doubling—eight councilmembers, representing over one million New Yorkers, have dedicated a total of at least $10 million in NYC discretionary capital funds for the 2012-2013 program. It is we, the constituents, who decide how the money is spent.
In Lander’s district, the 39th, 2,200 neighbors came out last March to vote for the projects on which to spend an allotted $1 million. Among those that received the most votes were the renovation of two malfunctioning bathrooms at a public school, a community composting system near the Gowanus Canal designed to turn 1 ton of food waste into soil every day, and the planting of 100 new trees in areas that lack shade and greenery.