Red Hook/Sunset Park City Councilman Carlos Menchaca‘s constituents showed the best involvement in government as they had the largest turnout of the 24 city council districts involved in Fiscal Year 2016 Participatory Budgeting New York City (PBNYC) initiative.
PBNYC is a growing national initiative in which constituents vote to choose what projects they would like to see funded in their district through discretionary funds given to local elected officials.
In total, Menchaca’s 38th Council District 38 gathered about 6,300 votes—almost two-thirds of which were cast in non-English languages: Spanish or Chinese, who chose to spend over $2 million or almost half of Menchaca’s discretionary budget.
The top vote getter in the district was to allocate nearly $1 million to improving access to technology for nine neighborhood schools including P.S.1, M.S. 88, P.S. 676, P.S. 105, P.S. 310, P.S. 69 and New Voices Middle School.
Menchaca said at the center of the PBNYC initiative is addressing the hunger of local communities to be engaged with municipal government decision-making process. This is a model of engagement that offers everyday New York residents — no matter their immigration status or their English language proficiency — the opportunity
to speak directly to government about what matters most to them, he said.
“There is no question that a budget should reflect the priorities of a people, and in this
case, we are seeing what our communities are thinking about most: access to technology for their children, safer schools, maintained parks, and stronger libraries,” said Menchaca.
“These commonsense projects make clear that in the neighborhoods of District 38, residents are unwavering in their resolve to maintain a strengthened network of community based resources,” he added.
