If you had $1 million to spend on improving the Upper West Side, would you upgrade the restrooms at Jessie Isadore Straus School ($300,000), or add adult fitness equipment in Riverside Park ($300,000)? You can do both and still have enough money for trees and tree guards on Broadway ($250,000).

By the way, you do have $1 million to spend on these projects and others. It’s called Participatory Budgeting (PB), which means residents of the district get to allocate money to capital projects they want rather than leaving it up to the City Council to decide.

If you are concerned about public safety, you can spend $600,000 on security cameras for Westside Urban Renewal Brownstones, and another $320,000 on security cameras on Broadway, Amsterdam, Columbus, and Riverside Drive. And you’d be able to add another $72,000 for security cameras at De Hostos Houses as well.

The PB process started in January, when Councilperson Gale Brewer put out the call for capital projects that cost at least $50,000 and have a lifespan of at least five years. Seventy-one projects were suggested by district residents. Volunteers and city agencies pared the list down to nine. Now, everyone — age 11 and up — gets to vote on the combination of projects they want for that $1 million.

Starting on April 2nd you can vote in person at one of several polling places throughout the district. Or you can vote online. Just do it before April 10th when the polls close.

Here are the nine 2022 Participatory Budgeting finalists, courtesy of CM Gale Brewer. You can choose three.

1. Sarah Anderson School Technology Grant: $117,000 [P.S. 9, grades K-5, 100 W. 84th St.] Purchase 12 Promethean Boards & 30 laptops with 1 laptop cart to ensure each classroom has a smart board & laptops that are connected to the smart boards. This project will ensure that the school has technology deployed to the classrooms to support an enriched & interactive learning experience.

2. Center School Technology Grant: $117,000 [M.S. 243, grades 5-8, 100 W. 84th St.] Purchase 12 Promethean Boards & 30 laptops with 1 laptop cart to ensure each classroom has a smart board & laptops that are connected to the smart boards. This project will ensure that the school has technology deployed to the classrooms to support an enriched & interactive learning experience.

3. Jessie Isadore Straus School Infrastructure Improvements: $300,000 [P.S. 199, grades K-5, 270 W. 70th St.] Upgrade & repair 2 existing student restrooms (replace fixtures, stalls, floor/wall tiling, ADA accessibility).

4. Adult Fitness Equipment for Riverside Park: $300,000 Create an area with exercise equipment for adult use that includes a section for group classes and a cooling mist fixture.

5. Greening Broadway: $250,000 [Trees & Tree Guards for Broadway Above 72nd St.] Install approximately 35 trees & tree guards on the sidewalks along Broadway. This would make the avenue a more attractive destination, is environmentally sound, & offers additional shade.

6. Bus Countdown Timers on Broadway: $320,000 [Intersection placement to be determined by DOT.] Install four bus arrival time countdown timers on northbound & southbound multiple-route bus stops on Broadway, where they intersect with crosstown routes.

7. Security Cameras on Broadway, Amsterdam, Columbus, & Riverside Drive: $320,000 [Locations determined in consultation with NYPD.] Install eight security cameras on Broadway, Amsterdam, Columbus, and Riverside Drive to deter crime and and ensure public safety.

8. Security Cameras for Westside Urban Renewal Brownstones: $600,000 [NYCHA, West 90th St.] Install approximately 15 security cameras at Westside Urban Renewal Brownstones to deter crime and ensure public safety.

9. Security Cameras for De Hostos Houses: $72,000 [NYCHA, 201 W. 93rd St.] Install four security cameras for the ground floor of De Hostos Houses to deter crime & and ensure public safety.

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There is no point. Parents vote in all the school projects. Separate the school projects from the other projects.

You are absolutely correct, and the less diverse schools with wealthier parents win once more.

So why don’t the other schools get their acts together and mobilize. This is about as easy as it gets. It is very well publicized and easy to submit an idea then vote.

Their principals and/or PAs really need to get on the ball. Or else they need to stop complaining.

I’m in favor of an adult fitness center in Riverside Park.

There’s a very big outdoor fitness center on the East River near Chinatown that’s very popular. We should have one like that in our neighborhood.

Is is possible to see why some of these things so much money? Why do 15 security camera cost $600k? Each security camera is 40k? And what kind of laptops are these kids getting? Even with a MacBook it shouldn’t be 100k for these items.

What type of security cameras (and installation) cost $40,000 (outdoor) and $18,000 (indoor), respectively? I’d love to see those detailed invoices.

I like #4 (adult fitness) and #7 because the security cameras will be in common areas used by the general public. The cost of #8 is really high, $600,000 for 15 cameras, did they submit invoices for that estimate?

Please do waste money on bus countdown timers, it will do nothing to improve service and bus safety. Building better lighting and actual bus shelters at the bus stops would be a better use of money. A few years ago, participatory budget money was wasted on bus countdown timers that broke right away.

** correction .. please do not waste money on count down timers. Sorry for the typo.

the BUSTIME app on a phone works very well

Much more info is needed to make informed choices. Can we see detailed bids/estimates/components of the projects? Some seem rather exorbitant for what is listed — for example, $40,000 per security camera or $80,000 per bus countdown timer. Do the bids include the hardware only, or also wiring, labor, installation, ongoing maintenance, operating costs, warranty, insurance, etc. Can the entities receiving the grants afford to operate, maintain, and repair the items, and were they required to prove that in the application?

Who are the entities making grant requests and receiving funds? Why do the applicants themselves not provide such services? NYCHA (or the RAD private entities that are taking over management) should already be required to provide security including cameras. Further NYCHA as a city agency does not seem eligible (or even capable) as a grant applicant. Is the applicant actually the tenant association? Do the tenants want the cameras?

For the Broadway trees ($7143 per tree and guard), who is the applicant? Is this a consortium of property owners? Property owners are responsible for tree guards in front of their buildings, and Broadway property owners should be able to afford the guards. They already can get free street trees from the city . And there already is a city program for discount tree guards . So why use the PB program for something already covered in city budgets?

Links to the free tree and tree guard programs:

Request a street tree: https://www.nycgovparks.org/trees/street-tree-planting/request

Tree guard program: https://www.nycgovparks.org/trees/tree-care/tree-guards

Security cameras will be my vote. This way we can have a recording of a perpetrator or an actual crime which is a positive step in fighting crime regardless what the current laws are like. Recording is a recording, it is a valuable evidence.

Most of the projects seem to be the same. In the past, there was a much wider variety in the types of projects to be voted on. And they seemed much more grassroots. I understand there is no $, but it is baffling to have in school bathrooms on here- I can understand the ones at the school linked playgrounds.

Whoever designed this I appreciate the gesture and encourage more of this sort of thing. In order to make a good decision one needs good information. Is there a way to see the full proposals?

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