Help UWS Council Members Spend $1M On Neighborhood

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Want the chance to help spend at least $1 million to fund public improvements in your neighborhood? You're in luck, because it's time to vote in this year's New York City Council participatory budgeting cycle.

Voting opens on March 30 and end April 7 for New York City's eighth participatory budgeting cycle, city officials said. Residents of the Upper West Side will vote on whether to fund projects selected as finalists by City Council members Helen Rosenthal or Mark Levine, depending on whether they live within the council's fourth or fifth district.

Projects selected as finalists for participatory budgeting address community needs such as housing and school improvements, park upgrades, public safety and senior services. Most projects don't carry a funding value of $1 million, so multiple projects can win funding. If certain projects prove popular, city council members may chose to allocate even more funds.

There are nine finalists in Council District 6 (Rosenthal) and nine finalists in Council District 7 (Levine) this year. Residents can vote online or in person at a number of different polling places in the districts.

Here's a list of projects on the ballot for district 6:

• Bathroom upgrades at two UWS elementary schools: $400,000
• Technology upgrades at four district schools: $400,000
• Garden rehabilitation at PS 75: $300,000
• Auditorium upgrades at MLK Educational Campus: $500,000
• Wast management system at NYCHA buildings: $150,000
• Plaza renovation for Amsterdam Avenue: $500,000
• Repaving Riverside Drive between West 95th and 96th streets: $145,000
• Safety surfacing at River Run Playground: $390,000
• Neighborhood tree planting and tree guards: $110,000

And here are the projects on the ballot for district 7:

• Air conditioning at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Elementary School: $200,000
• Sound system upgrades at MS 54: $100,000
• AC and water fountains at PS 165: $240,000
• Computer upgrades at Community Health Academy of the Heights: $200,000
• Grant Houses security camera upgrades: $500,000
• Douglass Houses lighting upgrades: $500,000
• Seating at Jacob Schiff Playground: $675,000
• 142nd Street Dog Run renovation: $315,000
• Bus countdown clocks: $200,000