3 School ACs, 2 Restrooms & Riverside Park Wall Get Funded

Five different community-proposed projects will get to spilt $1 million among themselves, after the participatory budget vote winners were unveiled by City Council Member Gale Brewer for her Upper West Side district.

”Thank you to everyone who participated—whether by submitting ideas, volunteering, or casting a vote. Your involvement continues to make a real difference in shaping our community,” Brewer wrote in her weekly email to constituents where the results were revealed.

The winners are as follows, with the descriptions provided by Council Member Brewer’s office:

*Bathroom Upgrade at PS84, the Lillian Weber School of the Arts ($300,000)–Renovate two student bathrooms in poor condition at to improve usability and comfort for students.

*Gymnasium Cooling System Upgrade at William O’Shea School Complex ($250,000)–Install a new cooling system in the gymnasium improving comfort and safety for students, staff, and community members including MS247 and MS245.

*Gymnasium Cooling System Upgrade at William O’Shea School Complex ($250,000)–Install a new cooling system in the gymnasium improving comfort and safety for students, staff, and community members including MS247 and MS245.

*Cooling System Upgrade at Frank McCourt High School ($250,000)– Upgrade the school’s cooling system to ensure a more comfortable and climate-resilient environment for students and staff.

*Riverside Park Wall Repair ($100,000)–Restore the deteriorating retaining wall at West 72nd St. by replacing mortar and reinstalling missing stones to improve safety and structural integrity.

*Tree Guard Installation ($160,000)–Install 100 tree guards around street trees throughout the district to protect them from damage, support healthy growth, and enhance the streetscape.”

Brewer added that her office would put up the money for two more projects on the ballot that didn’t make the final cut, telling The Spirit that the money would be drawn from additional discretionary funding. These are:

*Auditorium Upgrade for the High School for Environmental Studies ($250,000)–Upgrading the auditorium with new equipment and needed structural repairs, enhancing student, staff, and audience accessibility.

*Broadway Mall Beautification ($200,000)–Replacing and repairing post-and-chain fencing; repair rotted bench slats on the center medians on Broadway between West 81st and 92nd Sts.

The New York City Council’s annual tradition of participatory budgeting, which began in 2011, involves local residents devising projects that they believe will improve their communities. Anybody aged 11 or up can vote, regardless of whether they’re a citizen or not, as long as they live in the district they’re voting in. This year’s voting took place between March 29 and April 6.

In an interview held right before voting began, Brewer told The Spirit that such projects are also run by city agencies in order to test their feasibility. “You know, the Department of Transportation, the Parks Department, and the Department of Education,” she said. “We have to make sure they agree with the project. If they don’t, you’re gonna send the money into the atmosphere, and it’s not gonna get spent. It can be frustrating when I think there’s a good idea, but the agencies don’t think so.”

There is no hard deadline to announce the winners of participatory budgeting, and City Council Members can choose not to provide it in their districts. In fact, many Council Members create unique voting processes and winner announcements. This year, Brewer held a one-day participatory budgeting “pop-up” at the American Natural History Museum on the afternoon of April 6, where the first 100 people to vote received a ticket to one movie screening at the museum that they could cash in over the next year.