Park Slope Got Millions In NYC's 2022 Budget: Here's Where

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — The record-high $99 billion budget passed by the City Council last week includes millions of dollars flowing to the Park Slope area.

Billed as a "recovery budget" by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the spending package for the 2022 fiscal year — which starts Oct. 1 of this year — was bolstered by billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds.

Besides major citywide items like a $15 million "baby bonds program" and $4 million for CUNY scholarships, the budget also includes smaller neighborhood funding allocated by Park Slope Council Member Brad Lander.

Among them are several projects neighbors voted on as part of the council member's participatory budget — money that constituents brainstorm, pitch and vote on how to spend.

Patch reviewed the two public budget documents and picked out some notable neighborhood funds — here they are:

Participatory Budget Winners:

• Expenses
  • $15,000 for a study by the Department of Transportation and the Prospect Park Alliance of Prospect Park Drive to make it "most useful for walkers, joggers, cyclists, and folks on scooters, now that cars are prohibited." Brooklyn's Backyard became car-free in 2018 after a successful trial of removing cars the year before.
  • $10,000 for the Brooklyn Diaper Project to start a direct-to-community diaper distribution in the district.
  • $7,000 to plant 12 new trees in Kensington, where there are fewer trees than other areas in the district. It will be led by the New York City Street Tree Consortium.
  • $20,000 for a fresh farm stand in Kensington and a "place for local women to earn income and gain financial independence."
• Capital Projects
  • $425,000 for improvements to the Prospect Park Children's corner.
  • $650,000 for bathroom renovations at P.S. 131 in Borough Park.
  • $300,000 for a Brooklyn Skate Garden was also among the participatory budget winners.

On top of the roadway study, another $34,000 in funding will go toward the Prospect Park Alliance.

Another local organization, the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation, will get $15,000 to analyze industrial businesses in and around Gowanus to improve "workforce opportunities for low & moderate income residents." The study comes as the city's contentious plan to rezone Gowanus, and thus transform the once-industrial neighborhood, moves through the city's review process.

More than 30 schools in Lander's district will get a $50,000 technology grant.

$750,000 for Mercy Home and $400,000 for the Fifth Avenue Committee will both be used for affordable housing initiatives.

$1 million will be used for infrastructure upgrades at the Pacific Library.

$300,000 is allocated for improvements to Mount Prospect Park, the seven-acre park that sits north of Prospect Park.

Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.