Voting Opens For Brad Lander's Participatory Budget Money

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — The time has come to decide how to spend the roughly $1.5 million in Council Member Brad Lander's Participatory Budget.

Voting officially opened Monday for neighbors in District 39's Participatory Budgeting, which lets residents choose how to spend a portion of city funding.

The vote comes after months of residents brainstorming, researching and pitching their ideas for the Participatory Budgeting process. This year, six proposals in District 39 are up for the $1.5 million capital project funding, which goes to large-scale physical improvements, and nine suggestions are on the ballot for $50,000 of expense funding, or money for smaller programs or services.

Brooklynites in the district — which stretches from Carroll Gardens down to Borough Park — can choose three capital projects and four expense projects they'd like to see get the money.

Voting will be open through April 14 on the PB39 website.

Here's a look at the projects on the ballot:

Capital Projects

Two-Way Bike Lane for Ocean Avenue & Prospect Park ($300K)Build a two-way raised bike lane and repair sidewalk adjacent to Prospect Park on Ocean Avenue.

Renovate Handball Courts at Greenwood Playground($750K)Renovate crumbling Greenwood Playground handball wall. The children/adults who play there deserve a usable, safe wall.

PS131 Bathroom Renovations ($650K)Update and renovate up to four (4) of these ancient bathrooms at a Title I school which serves students from largely low income immigrant families.

Prospect Park Children Corner Improvements ($425K)Restore the carousel's historic Wurlitzer organ, replace the broken water fountain with a new ADA compliant fountain/bottle filler, and repave deteriorated pathways to be safe and accessible.

MS 51 Dance Floor Refurbishment ($300K)Upgrade the worn out dance floor at this arts based middle school so their students can soar!

Downpayment to Create the Brooklyn Skate Garden ($300K)Let's build the most innovative, inclusive, world class skatepark & garden greenspace in Brooklyn.

Expense Projects

Redesign Prospect Park Drive ($15,000)This study by DOT and the Prospect Park Alliance will identify changes needed to make Prospect Park's roadway most useful for walkers, joggers, cyclists, and folks on scooters now that cars are prohibited. This could include restriping the roadway, adding more crosswalks, as well as other changes.

Pop-up Programs to Transform Open Streets ($8,000)Street Lab will offer ten (10) days of open streets programs for youth and families such as their PLAY NYC program (a no-touch obstacle course), READ NYC, a portable reading room, DRAW NYC, a portable drawing studio, and Homework Hubs.

Neighborhood Farm Stand + Women's Crafts Outlet ($20,000)People in Need will help address food insecurity by providing access to fresh farm stand produce in southern Kensington, which currently has no local options, as well as a place for local women to earn income and gain financial independence by selling their own crafts.

More Trees for Kensington Streets ($7,000)NYC Street Tree Consortium will plant approximately twelve (12) new street and community trees in Kensington, where there are fewer trees than in other areas of District 39. Street trees will be planted in existing beds. Community trees are planted in containers and live on public property like schools, libraries, building courtyards, and parks.

Mobile STEAM (or STEM+Art) Family Projects ($6,570)Mobile STEAM Workshops with the Beam Center Truck: Activating imagination & exploring science in outdoor learning settings such as open streets, playgrounds or parks across District 39.

Kensington Tenant Rights ($15,400)Fifth Avenue Committee, which has advocated for tenant rights in South Brooklyn for the past 40 years will create and distribute a multi-lingual "Know Your Rights" brochure for tenants in six (6) languages represented in Kensington: Spanish, Bengali, Urdu, Hebrew, Russian, and Uzbek.

Furnish Teen Spaces at Two Libraries ($10,000)Brooklyn Public Library is committed to having spaces for teens & young adults. The Pacific Street and Park Slope branches will receive furniture to create inviting spaces.

Community Garden Concerts ($5,000)Brooklyn-based artists + musicians will perform in this series of live, outdoor musical pop-ups in District 39 community gardens sponsored by the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

100,000 Eco-Friendly Diapers for Brooklyn Families in Need($10,000)Brooklyn Diaper Project will expand their current work with existing nonprofit organizations to pilot a new model of direct-to-community diaper distribution in District 39, working with existing public sites to form a network of support and awareness for diaper need and provide aid freely and directly to those in need.