5 Washington Heights-Inwood Projects Funded Through Participatory Budgeting

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — Five community improvement projects, benefitting Washington Heights and Inwood schools, parks and transportation, were fully funded during this year's participatory budgeting cycle.

More than 3,500 votes — more than 1,500 more than last year — were cast to chose five winners from 13 potential projects, a spokesman for City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez said.

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The winning projects are:

• $200,000 for the City College Academy of the Arts to provide laptops for 600 low-income middle school and high school students (1,792 votes)
• $125,000 for PS 178 to purchase science carts to improve science and technology teaching (1,770 votes)
• $280,000 to add trees on streets around the district and to purchase tree guards for new and existing young trees (1,416 votes)
• $300,000 for Castle Bridge and PS 128 for air conditioning improvements to the building (1,395 votes)
• $200,000 to install bus countdown clocks at eight transit stops around the district (1,227 votes)

The total cost of the improvements exceeds the $1 million allotted for participatory budgeting projects, but Councilman Rodriguez plans to chip in $105,000 from his capital budget to make sure the projects are fully funded, his spokesman said.

"Encouraging direct democracy and community control over processes like budgeting can promote better governance overall," Rodriguez told Patch in March.

Screenshot courtesy of NY City Council