Friday, September 16, 2011

Will participatory budgeting be fair?


From the NY Times:

Four City Council members, intrigued by experiments begun in Brazil to let ordinary citizens determine how government uses tax dollars, say they plan to allow their constituents to decide how $4 million is spent next year.

Through a process known as participatory budgeting, constituents in each of the four Council districts will be enlisted to develop and choose among proposals for local capital projects like street repairs, new parks and public artworks. The money — $1 million in each district — will come out of the council members’ discretionary funds. (Among the city’s Council districts, discretionary funds range in size from $1.5 million to $6 million.)

Three Democrats, Brad Lander and Jumaane D. Williams of Brooklyn, and Melissa Mark-Viverito of Manhattan, and one Republican, Eric Ulrich of Queens, are taking part.

The process will begin this fall, with neighborhood assemblies at which constituents can suggest needs in their communities and ideas for projects.

The most active volunteers will meet over the fall and winter to discuss the suggested ideas, determine their costs and then present the options to the public; residents at least 18 years old will then cast ballots on which projects they want to see financed. Those projects will then become part of the city’s 2013 capital budget.


Is this legit or just another tweeding effort? "The most active volunteers" come up with the list? Who determines who they are?

20 comments:

georgetheatheist said...

According to Williams "undocumented", i.e. ILLEGALS - aren't semantics grand? - will have their voices heard.

Anonymous said...

EGG-ZAKTLY....
just another tweeding effort!

If these "involved" regular citizens are hand picked political machine shills, then there's no recourse.

If the rest of the constituency cries "foul" on any decision....the electeds merely state that these guys represent you....just like community boards are supposed to and we all know that these phony stacked CBs really don't!

This latest move is pure baloney....and it's grade "B" USDA at that!

In this way the pols no longer have to be the direct link as defendants in any city council ethics or DOI corruption investigations.

Anonymous said...

$1 mil in gov project-speak buys not much.

Anonymous said...

Why experiment with $4M?

Return it to the tax payters or save 40 teaching positions.

Where did this luxury monet come from?

Anonymous said...

Return it to the tax payters or save 40 teaching positions.

Hell if the library board of developers can go apeshit on $250,000 reading rooms and $30 million children's study facility while cutting back on hours and staff and book purchases, who cares about teachers.

This is chicken shit.

I want to hear about how the capital budget money gets divvied up.

Anonymous said...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that the idea, sort of, about non participatory, useless,Community Board system in New York.

Joe said...

$1 million in each district is a friggan joke if Illegal scum can continue to cost districts hundreds of millions $$ in tweeding handouts, neighborhood degradation, police overtime and court costs constantly getting arrested and creating 911 calls.
I can no longer find a buyer for my house in Ridgewood.
Its become a dirty "south "of the border" slum below Seneca ave...(pink and lime green doorways, garbage, bling on buildings, mariachi music blasting at 4AM ?
The cherry on the cake was the woman in front of me with 3 dirty feral brats and a packed shopping cart of groceries, steak, diapers (paid with a food voucher card) then loaded it all into a brand new NISSON 2010 Xterra with fancy aftermarket chrome wheels.

I'm angry along with many other taxpayers who get ZERO representation from the local government afraid to stand up to the scum, enforce laws and continue to blow my tax money on trespassing human 3rd world garbage here committing fraud to "work the system" and "get over"
This city WILL soon be completely bankrupt. I'm willing to think Bloomberg may not seek another term. He must know the outer boroughs are a packed runaway train of dynamite headed to a turn. Perhaps that was the plan.

Better put that money into some serious hardware for the police.
Massive riots like what happened in Madrid, ARE coming and with a bonus of massive looting and civilian property damage.
Anybody who thinks the police are going to be around to keep the animals from coming through your windows & storefronts is an idiot.
-Joe

Anonymous said...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that the idea, sort of, about non participatory, useless,Community Board system in New York.
-------
Believe me if the mayor wants to bulldoze a community into oblivion, and a local community group decided to stop it - they would get jack shit.

Anonymous said...

Weren't the community boards created to fulfill this function?

Anonymous said...

Hey, Joe - Didn't you think that the riots were going to happen as a result of the hurricane?

Didn't happen then; won't happen now.

Sorry to spoil the fantasy again.

georgetheatheist said...

Joe, have you tried calling 311?

Anonymous said...

when your n.y.c. leadership has broken the U.S. Immigration Laws ,(SANCTUARY CITY), the cost to taxpayers is UNSUSTAINABLE.

"Mayor DOOMSBERG would have plenty of jobs for N.Y.C. citizens , if he would obey the U.S. Immigration Laws. " said RUSH LIMBAUGH.

RE: possible future job riots in N.Y.C.

Joe said...

Hey, Joe - Didn't you think that the riots were going to happen as a result of the hurricane?
---
Clueless Asswipe:---Dont you know the NYC area didn't have the cat 2-3 hurricane that was projected.
No Hurricane at all
Had a cat 2 or 3+ hurricane happened Id still stand by my comment and more.

Joe said...

Joe, have you tried calling 311?
--------
Yea, the gas pipe & shut of valve pulled up by the trees rootball is still jutting up through the broken sidewalk and curb waiting for a car to take it out (and perhaps light it up)
Then will only then be considered a priority.

Anonymous said...

"Mayor DOOMSBERG would have plenty of jobs for N.Y.C. citizens , if he would obey the U.S. Immigration Laws. " said RUSH LIMBAUGH."

Great, quote some bloated, drug addicted AM radio huckster.

The people you so dislike took over those jobs beginning right after Reagan's Dec. 1986 amnesty.

Big business want them to make a cheap , non-union pool of slaves and frankly, they turned out to be good workers.

BTW: If you are so enamoured of limbaugh, you may have to follow him to one of "god's waiting room" markets to hear him.
The parent Co. of WABC was sold today and with a median listener age of 62 and rising...there is not much viability left in 770KHZ.

Ned said...

ROTFLMO
Poppa Disney's median listener age is 62 ?
Does Micky, Britney and Olive Oil know about this ?

Anonymous said...

ng gne is above the law, illegal aliens,solyndra and fake GREEN industries and illegal bike restaurant jockeys on the U.E.S. did you buy the license plates yet ? how many pedestrians did you injure from your bike illegals this year.

did you pay their F.I.C.A. ?

Anonymous said...

"Mayor DOOMSBERG would have plenty of jobs for N.Y.C. citizens , if he would obey the U.S. Immigration Laws. " said RUSH LIMBAUGH."

Great, quote some bloated, drug addicted AM radio huckster. What that has to do with wheather limbaugh is right or wrong I don't have to explain!! I just put another layer of tinfoil in my hat to block out talk radio mind control rays.

I am Commubot 3000 my mega-wisdom cannot be questioned! So don't think im some greasy hypocritical punk who only spouts off on illegal alien, I mean undocumented workers, because I want cheep slave labour I can exploit in my restaurant and not pay any taxes on!!! I am a jenius so SHADDUP!!

The people you so dislike took over those jobs beginning right after Reagan's Dec. 1986 amnesty to my economic benefit. SO SHADDUP!!

Big business want them to make a cheap , non-union pool of slaves and frankly, they turned out to be good workers. I love them slaves toiling away in my kitchen and love the fact I pay no social secirity taxes or benefets on them. They love it when I whip them!

BTW: If you are so enamoured of limbaugh, you may have to follow him to one of "god's waiting room" markets to hear him. I HATE YOU HERETICS WHO DONT BELIEVE IN THE ONE TRUE RELIGEON OF SOCIALISM! FALL IN LINE AND GOOSE STEP WITH US OR DIE!!!
The parent Co. of WABC was sold today and with a median listener age of 62 and rising...there is not much viability left in 770KHZ. What this has to do with anything, I don't have to explain to you! SO Shaddup!!!
Commubot 3000 has SPOKEN!

Anonymous said...

fact : Limbaugh's radio talk (EXCELLENCE IN BROADCASTING) E.I.B.Network show is now aired in the Washington listening Market . and he does not need a teleprompter, to refute the lies of his competitor there.

a network would never curtail his programs Capitalist income to their profit statement.

btw" where did left/wing Air America and Allen Coombs disappear to ?

Anonymous said...

Nah, Gramps. Limbaugh doesn't need any teleprompter. He just makes everything up in his drug-addled mind.

I don'd know anything about Alan Coombs, but there's some information on Alan Colmes and his radio show:

http://www.alan.com/category/radio-show/