Submissions Open For Park Slope District's Participatory Budget

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — The time of year has come again for Brooklynites in Park Slope's 39th District to decide how to spend more than $1.5 million in their neighborhood.

The Participatory Budgeting process — which has residents brainstorm, pitch and vote on ideas for local funding — has opened in District 39, which stretches from Carroll Gardens down to Borough Park.

This year, the process includes a new interactive platform that will let community members submit ideas and explore or comment on submissions.

The start of the budget process begins as Council Member Brad Lander, elected the city's next comptroller, prepares to pass the reigns in District 39 to Council Member-Elect Shahana Hanif at the end of the year.

Hanif said she is looking forward to continuing the participatory budgeting tradition, which she once helped run as one of Lander's staff members.

“Now more than ever as we recover from a global pandemic and seek ways to reinvest in our communities to address and end systemic racism in our City, we must center budget justice which I believe comes from direct engagement and co-governance with youth, our undocumented and immigrant neighbors, and neighbors impacted by the lack of parks, litter baskets, arts programming, and more," Hanif said. "I was proud to lead PB as a staffer in Council Member Brad Lander’s office, and I’m even prouder to soon be able to showcase PB’s full potential with my incoming colleagues.”

Spearheaded by Lander, participatory budgeting was first brought to New York City in 2011.

This year, 10 City Council Districts will participate in the interactive process, which has struggled to gain momentum in the full legislature since a pandemic pause in 2020. In Brooklyn, those. include 34 in North Brooklyn, 38 in Sunset Park and 40 in Flatbush.

In District 39, the council member will award $1.5 million for capital projects, or larger one-time expenses, and more funding for expense projects, or small services projects.

Once ideas are submitted, the new online platform will host a vote in the spring to decide winners for each district.

Last year in District 39, the participatory budget winners included a first-of-its-kind skate garden, a new farm stand, upgrades in Brooklyn's backyard

Find the District 39 page for this year's budget here.