About

Starting in the fall of 2011, New York City Council Members Brad Lander, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Eric Ulrich, and Jumaane Williams are using participatory budgeting to allocate part of their capital discretionary funds.

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. PB gives ordinary people real decision-making power over real money. Discretionary funds are resources that the Council Members can allocate as they desire. Capital funds can only be used for physical infrastructure projects on city-owned or non-city-owned land.

Between October 2011 and April 2012, the four Council Members will invite residents to directly decide how to spend at least $1 million of their discretionary capital funds in each of the four districts – a total of around $6 million. Residents of each district will propose and vote on local infrastructure projects, such as improvements to schools, parks, libraries, and housing. The Council Members will then submit the projects with the most votes to Council.

More information about how participatory budgeting works.

More information about participatory budgeting in New York City.