Community participation highly lacking in participatory budgeting program

 

Queens Eagle

There’s millions of dollars of taxpayer funds on the line – and a select few Queens residents are going to help decide how it gets spent.

With the new City Council in place, participatory budgeting season has begun. The process allows each councilmember to allocate money to project proposals voted on by residents of their district. The money must go to physical infrastructure projects that benefit the public, last for at least five years and cost $50,000 or more. Residents as young as 11 are eligible to vote.

However, councilmembers can choose whether or not they do participatory budgeting, and this year in Queens only a few neighborhoods will have the opportunity to participate.

Of the 15 councilmembers whose district is either entirely or partially in Queens, only three are doing participatory budgeting this year. They include Councilmembers Tiffany Cabán (Astoria, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Woodside), Adrienne Adams (Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Rochdale Village and South Ozone Park) and Jennifer Gutiérrez (Ridgewood, Bushwick and Williamsburg).

With the exception of Staten Island, where none of the borough’s three councilmembers are participating in the program, Queens has the lowest rate of participating members when compared to the other boroughs.

Though those doing participatory budgeting are in the minority in each borough, four of Manhattan’s 10 members are participating, four of the Bronx’s nine members are participating and 4 of Brooklyn’s 15 members are participating.

Participatory budgeting was suspended at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and councilmembers were slow to restart it last year, with only a handful from around the city participating.

The program, in its eleventh year, began informally in 2011, when then-Councilmembers Brad Lander, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Eric Ulrich and Jumaane Williams first started a voting process to dole out discretionary funds.

The program became more formalized in 2018 through a charter revision that tasked the city’s Civic Engagement Commission with expanding participatory budgeting citywide.

Prior to the pandemic, a majority of the council took advantage of the program. In 2019, 33 members participated – more than double the members that are participating this year.

Former City Councilmember Costa Constantinides, who served from 2014 until 2021, said community members would get excited over the program and launch campaigns to make sure their projects got the most votes.

One group, who was looking to clean up a dog park near the entrance to the RFK Bridge, made stickers and buttons to hand out to residents urging them to vote for the project. The project was a winner, and although many of those behind the campaign ended up moving, Constantinides said he was proud of their efforts.

“It’s not about them, it’s about the community,” he said.

You can suggest an idea to be funded

There's a website for Participatory Budgeting and if you live in one of the districts that has it, you might want to get your suggestions in. The one above, I assume, is tongue-in-cheek, but then again I can see Van Bramer tossing some money to Queens Council on the Arts for it.

My personal feelings on PB is that $1M is a paltry sum, and all this does is pit people against each other with the outcome being exactly what it would be if there was no PB - the more organized factions of the community and friends of pols will get the dough.

Halloran's participatory budgeting projects will be funded

From the Queens Courier:

The district represented by indicted Councilmember Dan Halloran will receive funding for all seven participatory budget items and then some.

Nearly $3.2 million in capital and expense projects will be honored by the City Council, according to the legislative body’s Queens delegation.

“Northeast Queens is home to many of the borough’s great cultural institutions, not-for-profits and some of the best schools in the entire city,” said Councilmember Leroy Comrie, the deputy majority leader and chair of the delegation.

“I was pleased to have had the opportunity to work with my colleagues in the delegation to ensure residents can continue to thrive, and the funds we provided will make sure the quality of life in these community’s remains strong,” he added.

The Council stripped Halloran of his committee assignments and funding allocations in April when the lawmaker was charged in a conspiracy and bribery scheme.

Power to distribute his district’s funds fell to Speaker Christine Quinn’s office and the borough delegation, which said they would dole out money for 23 community projects. Those include all seven the district voted on during its second annual participatory budget process.

Halloran loses staff, pisses off Quinn

From the Daily News:

Queens City Councilman Dan Halloran is losing another top aide in the wake of his arrest on federal corruption charges.

halloran by hagen.jpgI tweeted earlier about Legislative Director John Mulvey's plan to leave Halloran's staff this Friday.

Beating him to the door after bombshell allegations that Halloran conspired to help state Sen. Malcolm Smith get into the GOP primary for mayor: The councilman's trusty chief of staff, Chrissy Voskerichian, who took off on Monday.

AND

Tabone has emailed friends and acquaintances, offering to perform legal work at cut-rate prices.

“I find that this is the year where I need to focus my energies on growing my law practice,” Tabone wrote, according to a copy of the email obtained by the Daily News.

“If you are spread thin and can not make an appearance or a transaction doesn’t fit your parameters please keep me in mind!”

Tabone’s plea made no mention of the legal jam he’s in.

From the NY Post:

Halloran’s office issued a delusional press release yesterday about capital spending — without mentioning that he’s lost his legislative powers after being charged with taking a bribe in a sensational federal corruption case that also ensnared state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) and two Republican Party leaders.

“I thank my hard-working staff and all the constituents who put so much time and effort into this process over the past several months,” Halloran is quoted saying in the release.

“We learned a great deal. I especially congratulate the winners and encourage even more participation next year in every district.”

Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced last week that she and the Queens council delegation were assuming control of Halloran’s funds, so he’s out of the picture.

“He doesn’t have any fund-making decisions,” said Jamie McShane, Quinn’s spokesman. “He was stripped.”

The constituent recommendations are “nonbinding,” McShane noted.

From the Gotham Gazette:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn called Councilman Dan Halloran's press release celebrating his district's participatory budget "stupid" and "outrageous."

Quinn spoke about the embattled Republican councilman during a press conference in City Hall today, referencing one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's oft-used turns of phrase.

"I don't usually quote Mike Bloomberg, but it's one of the stupidest things I have ever seen," Quinn said, adding that Halloran would have no say in how discretionary funds would be allocated for the projects his residents voted on last week.

"I don't care how many stupid press releases he issues," she said.

Why the voter ID double standard?

Photo from Daily News

As a civic leader in eastern Queens I made it my business to vote in the Participatory Budgeting Process that my Councilman, Mark Weprin was sponsoring. Last week I traveled to the Samuel Field Y in Little Neck where the Councilman's staff were working the tables and providing ballots for those who wished to vote. When I asked for a ballot I was told I must first fill out a short form and provide photo id. I thought this was odd since Councilman Weprin and so many other NYC legislators are so strongly opposed to a photo ID requirement for voting in real elections. If it's not OK to ask for photo ID when voting for President or Governor, why is it OK to do so with Participatory Budgeting?

Nevertheless, I presented my drivers license and filled out the ballot access form which asked for my name, address, telephone number and date of birth. As someone who has been victimized by identity theft in the past, I refused to write down my date of birth. There are three pieces of information I do not readily provide; date of birth, social security number and mothers maiden name. I asked why it was necessary to write down my date of birth since they could easily check it on my drivers license. Refusing to do so, I was denied ballot access. So I asked the Weprin staff member to call the Councilman's office and get permission to give me a ballot so I could vote for funding of specific community projects that would help our local schools and the Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

The Weprin staff member in charge of the Participatory Budget project for the Councilman said that if I refused to write down my date of birth I could not vote! Was I the only disenfranchised voter? Later that day, I learned that 2 other people had also been disenfranchised because they also refused to provide their date of birth. I wonder how many others were disenfranchised. And I wonder still, why the voting process for participatory budgeting was so much more rigorous then the one put in place for voting in real elections for Mayor, Governor or President.

I try not to be cynical but I can't help but think that the Participatory Budget process is being used as a way for Councilmembers to harvest voter data information for their use in upcoming elections. How else to explain being denied the right to vote and the photo ID requirement?

Bob Friedrich
Glen Oaks

Council District 32 residents participate in budgeting

From the Daily News:

Residents of Rockaway and Broad Channel can finally let their elected officials know exactly what they would do with $1 million of government spending.

They are hitting the polls this week and voting on a number of capital projects as part of a citywide initiative on “participatory budgeting.”

The projects vary from year-round heated bathrooms on the Rockaway boardwalk to a library vending machine in Breezy Point and technology upgrades at several local schools.

Those receiving the most votes will get funded.

Four City Council districts throughout the city are hosting participatory budgeting initiatives. The only Queens site is a portion of the 32nd District, represented by Councilman Eric Ulrich.

Voting is taking place at local libraries, schools, Ulrich’s district office and other locations through 7 p.m. on Saturday.

A sample ballot and polling sites can be found at www.pbnyc.org.

Over the past few months, people from Rockaway and Broad Channel gathered for several neighborhood assemblies to suggest and select projects for the ballot.

They settled on 16 projects. Residents 18 and older can vote for five items.