Locals get to decide this week if the 72nd Street Dog Run gets an upgrade, local auxiliary police officers get a new van or schools get new technology. (Or all of the above.)
It’s participatory budgeting week and residents of each City Council district that participates can vote on several proposed projects in the neighborhood. The ideas were submitted by community members in the fall.
Each council district that participates gets to decide on how to spend $1 million or more.
For Helen Rosenthal’s district, which covers much of the neighborhood, primarily below 96th, the projects are? listed below. And the voting times and locations are here. You can also vote online.
Cultural and Community Facilities
Renovations at Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center
Renovations to the entrance of the LSNC, including installation of new automatic doors (New York City Housing Authority)
Location: Lincoln Square N’hood Center, 250 W. 65th St.
Cost: $500,000
Digital Projection System for Performing Arts Library
Purchase of a new, modern digital projection system for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Location: NYPL Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza
Cost: $250,000
Parks and Recreation
Basketball Court Renovations at Wise Towers
Resurfacing and repairs to the existing basketball court (New York City Housing Authority)
Location: Wise Towers, 141 W. 90th St.
Cost: $175,000
Upgrades to 72nd Street Dog Run
Upgrades to the 72nd Street Dog Run with the installation of permanent water stations
Location: Riverside Park Dog Run on 72nd Street
Cost: $150,000
Beautification and Renovation of Broadway Malls
Upgrades to one of the the Broadway Mall Islands, including upgraded seating and a greening package with plantings
Location: Broadway Mall Island to be chosen by Parks
Cost: $350,000
Public Safety
Van for 24th Precinct Auxiliary
Purchase of a van for use by the 24th Precinct Auxiliary volunteers
Location: 24th Precinct, 151 W. 100th St.
Cost: $60,000
Schools and Education
Technology Upgrades at Frank McCourt High School
Technology upgrades including 11 new SmartBoards and a 30 computer laptop cart for use at Frank McCourt High School
Location: Frank McCourt High School, 145 W. 84th St.
Cost: $125,000
Library Upgrade for P.S. 166
Upgrades to the library at P.S. 166, including work to enlarge the library and creation of a new reading space
Location: P.S. 166, 132 W. 89th St.
Cost: $295,000
Video Surveillance System for P.S. 75 and M.S. 250
Installation of a video surveillance system to be used by the school security staff at P.S. 75 and M.S. 250
Location: P.S. 75 and M.S. 250, 735 West End Avenue
Cost: $400,000
Air Conditioning for P.S. 9 and Center School Gym
Installation of a split system air conditioning system in the gymnasium shared by P.S. 9 and the Center School
Location: P.S. 9 and Center School, 100 W. 84th St.
Cost: $400,000
Schoolyard Renovation at P.S. 84
Renovation of the playground, converting the asphalt to synthetic turf at P.S. 84 Schoolyard, the Sol Bloom Playground
Location: Sol Bloom Playground, P.S. 84 32 W. 92nd St.
Cost: $450,000
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For Mark Levine’s district, which encompasses parts of the Upper West Side (mostly above 96th), the voting times and location are here. And the projects are listed below.
PARKS & RECREATION
PS125 Courtyard / Playground Upgrade
TRANSPORTATION
Real-Time Automated Bus Schedules at Four Bus Stops along Amsterdam Avenue
Illuminate Cherry Walk on Hudson River Greenway, Henry Hudson Parkway South
SCHOOLS
PS125 Cafeteria Upgrade
PS/MS165 Playground Renovation
M195 Restroom Renovation/Upgrade
NYC HOUSING AUTHORITY
Security Cameras at St. Mary’s Nursing Home
Douglass Housing Exterior Lighting & Grounds Work
Grant Houses’ Ground & Pavement Repair
Manhattanville Housing Outdoor Terrace Lighting
Riverstone Senior Center Exterior Lighting Upgrade
Is it the top voters until they hit $1 million or the top ones that get her to $1 million. For example, if PS9, PS75 and Frank McCourt are the top 3 and get her to $925,000, with the dog run next, would the dog run also get funded ($150k), even though that puts it over $1 million, or would the van get funded ($60k) as that keeps it under $1 million, or neither?
Yes, this is not explained well is it.
and nothing regarding bicycles – how can that be?
None of the projects in Helen Rosenthal’s district affect a majority of people in the district. What about making the M79 bus a “select bus” like the M86? It makes a huge difference in crosstown time.
The Select bus machines are soon to be installed at the Columbus/81st Street stop for the M79.
We don’t need to encourage dog ownership in Manhattan. If you want a dog, move to the ‘burbs.
Also, PS9 sure has some nerve asking for AC, when none of the other schools in the district have AC. Maybe they can tap their multi-million dollar PTA to fund that.
Finally, I’m pretty sure that precinct van is just going to be used to give out more parking tickets… haha.
I allocated all my votes to the schools (except PS9’s ridiculous request).
Dogs do cause their share of problems and challenges for the City. I don’t think anyone being objective and honest could deny that much. Perhaps there are too many dogs here now. Or at least, as I have seen others here claim, too many dogs that are too large to be humanely kept in their owners’ apartments.
But do you really mean to suggest that there shouldn’t be any dogs in Manhattan? Or even that the canine population here should be a mere fraction of what it currently is? I certainly hope that such a drastic change to the City and the neighborhood as I’ve know them throughout the years that I’ve lived here is not actually necessary; that we can find some other way to balance all of the conflicting needs and interests in this situation. In finding the thought of any drastic reduction in the local canine population a downright depressing one, I am surely far from alone. (Same for the population of children.)
……
Concerning the air-conditioners for the school, I am inclined to agree with you that the PTA should come-up with the dough for that if it is important enough to them. (Incidentally, there was no air-conditioning back in the days when I attended the local P.S. 75. Nor, to the best of my memory, was there in any of the other schools I attended, both public and private, through high school.)
None of the other schools in the district have AC? You sure about that?
The building that houses Anderson, Computer School and (for now) ps 452 does not have reconditioning in the auditorium, gym or cafeteria. Window units in classrooms are paid for by PTAs
I’m pretty sure this is the case for other schools in the neighborhood, but PS87’s AC was paid by the PA.
Yeah.
Freedom is for losers.
This is the worst use of public money ever. We elect “leaders” to make these kinds of decisions. By doing so, they would then responsible for how they spend public money and use resources. By outsourcing this to a public “competition” is an example of paying off your constituents to suit your shallow policy decisions and shirking the reason why we elect our public officials in the first place.
I like any number of the above proposals, in fact, they might all be worthy of some financing, but this is not the responsible way to spend public money.
This is just a weak excuse for council members to be photographed in front of projects they did not initiate, but are very will to take credit for — just wait for their “newsletters”. This is not serious governing.
@ “first name unknown”:
That was perhaps one of the best comments I’ve ever seen at WSR. Cogent points.
Can you actually vote online?
I don’t see how, the linked site just lists the issues up for vote, times and locations of where to physically vote.
Hints appreciated.
All I found was a list of places to vote and not the actual ability to cast a vote online.
https://council.nyc.gov/pb/vote/
Scroll down and it says “Vote Here”. Click on that spot.
Duh! Thank you.
I clicked on the district number first and got lost in the issues page.
Here’s a direct link to “Vote Here!”
https://pbnyc2017.d21.me/
Click on the “vote online” link in the story and it takes you to the website to vote online.
Click on the “vote online” link in the story and it takes you to the website to vote online.
You have to have a cell phone in order to vote electronically, so that they can send you an SMS text message.
I don’t think these are the best projects and I think in the past they were better. That being said, this is not the first time she has done this, so if you have a preferred project, put some resources behind it and get it on the next ballot, instead of complaining.
I think a good use of money would be to fix the curbs at corners so that there aren’t huge lakes after every snow storm. It shouldn’t be that hard to flatten out the worst offending corners.
I nominate dealing with the standing water inside the Broadway/72 Street subway station at the 73rd Street entrance every time it rains or snows. This problem affects a majority of the population.
While I agree that is a problem, I don’t agree that it affects “the majority of the population”.
It affects the people who use that particular subway entrance.
I believe that the majority of the neigborhood population uses the subway, and I imagine this is not the only subway entrance with this problem.
Or just buy a push broom for about $20, push the water toward the drain, and that problem is solved. All of these proposals seem like they are severely overpriced. $350,000 to beautify a broadway mall? Really? The technology for the McCourt proposal would be halftime that. Van is about $40,000-$45,000. Maybe if those tasked with spending the money actually attempted to get the best deal, we wouldn’t have to vote for top 3 but just maybe there would be enough funds to do a few more
Given the huge puddles this morning (especially 98th & Broadway)I would definitely support this!
Leon for Mayor
I don’t suppose opening a new subway exit on the north end of the 79th and 86th Street uptown stations would ever cross any of their minds.
$1 million would be a drop in the bucket towards that. Someone should have thought about that before they started doing the construction at the SW corner of 80th and Broadway as it probably could have been easy to include in that project and some of the costs could have even been passed on to that developer as a condition of a building permit.
Why should the cost of a public improvement be passed on to a private developer? That’s the definition of someone being a chazzer.
It’s actually pretty common. Look at all the subway exits in midtown with signs saying they are “maintained by x building “. It’s part of the building permit because all the new people will put addition stress on the subway infrastructure.
No, that’s not the reason subway entrances are in buildings that maintain them. Those entrances always existed and buildings were there before the newer ones were built.
Those buildings got variances after agreeing to allocate space and maintain them. At the time those decisions were made, there was considerable controversy about the need to rely on private developers for public needs. It was considered to be a failure of governance that the city’s most basic needs couldn’t be met unless a developer was putting up a building.
I see Levine is peddling sanctuary city fake news on his Twitter feed. “NYC is the safest big city in America” because of non-enforcement of federal immigration law, he implies ludicrously. I thought we were the safest because of our super high sales tax. Silly me. When it comes to wacky causation theories, I can’t compete with the far left.
Stop paying for free legal services for illegals picked up for serious crimes and you suddenly have lots of money for basketball courts.
this is just replete with myths.
undocumented charged and convicted of serious crimes can be deported. a small percentage of “serious crimes” in NYC are committed by undocumented.
you have no idea what the legal aid costs for defending undocumented accused of “serious crimes” are to the NYC taxpayer, nor do i. my bet is that they are small.
finally, undocumented charged with crimes deserve their day in court with a qualified lawyer, like anyone else. unless you want to convict first, ask questions later.
Well it wouldn’t be a proper WSR thread without BB peddling his usual nonsense, presenting no facts whatsoever while bemoaning a paucity of facts from the OP. One thing we do know is there is a specific federal program called SCAAP where NYC gets reimbursed for the costs of imprisoning illegal immigrants. It’s not a small program. Of course certain apologists would have Riker’s just release them all, ’cause illegal immigrants make us safer (that IS today’s talking point isn’t it?).
i don’t expect the recitation of facts to get in the way of pre-conceived ideas, but:
it’s very easy to research facts on the matter, and find that crime rates among immigrants are much lower than the general population. these include both documented and undocumented.
here’s one study, from 2007, from the National Bureau of Economic Research. i will link to it below. the abstract says:
“The perception that immigration adversely affects crime rates led to legislation in the 1990s that particularly increased punishment of criminal aliens. In fact, immigrants have much lower institutionalization (incarceration)
rates than the native born – on the order of one-fifth the rate of natives. More recently arrived immigrants have the lowest relative incarceration rates, and this difference increased from 1980 to 2000. We examine whether the improvement in immigrants’ relative incarceration rates over the last three decades is linked to increased deportation, immigrant self-selection, or deterrence. Our evidence suggests that deportation
does not drive the results. Rather, the process of migration selects individuals who either have lower criminal propensities or are more responsive to deterrent effects than the average native. Immigrants who were already in the country reduced their relative institutionalization probability over the decades; and the newly arrived immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s seem to be particularly unlikely to be involved
in criminal activity, consistent with increasingly positive selection along this dimension.”
https://www.nber.org/papers/w13229.pdf
Hey Scott,
Just want to let you know it’s nice to see a fellow Deplorable here. Take care and who knows, maybe we’ll meet one day,
Independent (a.k.a. UWS Dissident)
Those weren’t myths.
They were alternative facts.
Does anybody know how these costs are estimated? How can a video surveillance system for one building possibly cost $400,000? That does not seem fiscally responsible.
Kind of sad to see some of these projects which
1) seemingly do not particularly serve community residents or
2) seem to serve the “haves” as opposed to those who are more in need…
Surprised to see the NYPL Performing Arts Library – one would expect corporate funding here. It is a great library but not what I’d call a community library.
Sad also to see a dog run project here but only one NYCHA project?
It’s a community library in the same way that any public library is.
I’d like to see money spent for L.S.N.C. and whatever public schools need to improve the quality of educational experiences for children!
Give the money back to its rightful owners: the people who earned it.
Taxation=theft.
Please consider voting for the public school projects. They need your help.
These all seem to be great projects, worthy of funding. All of them could be if the $100 million the council member has given to the museum of natural history were otherwise dispersed. Meanwhile, she makes a mockery of ‘participatory budgeting’ when she requests
$8 million more of our taxes for the proposed expansion.