6th Ward Participatory Budgeting Project List (UPDATED)
A year’s worth of hard work by numerous volunteers paid off Saturday afternoon as 6th ward residents checked out 13 projects submitted by fellow 6th ward residents, and refined into legitimate projects by volunteers, also from the 6th ward.
This reminded me of competing in science fairs in middle & high school, standing next to our project board as each judge stopped by, asking tough questions. Zach Chasnoff & Michelle Whithaus have logged hundreds of hours bringing Participatory Budgeting to St. Louis, big thanks to both of them. Also to 6th ward alderman Christine Ingrassia for being open minded enough to begin her first term in office with this project.
Of the 27 other aldermen, only Scott Ogilvie representing the 24th ward came out to see the projects and process, he remains on the fence. If you think your alderman should adopt Participatory budgeting I urge you to contact them by phone or email (list or find your alderman). Don’t live in the city but like the idea of voting on projects in your community? Contact the elected officials where you live!
$100,000 of 6th ward funds have been set aside to build the winning projects, residents will select their top three. Votes will be tabulated and winning projects announced. Here is a list of the projects:
- Neighborhood signs, $28,000
- New landscaping & planters, $90,000
- Trash cans, $15,000
- Eads Park Improvements, $20,000
- Fox Park Restroom Renovation, $30,000
- Perk Up Buder Park, $15,000
- Decorative Bike Racks, $17,000
- Crosswalk Light Jefferson and Park, $25,000
- Bike Lanes, $30,000
- Median at Jefferson and Park, $80,000
- Traffic Calming on Compton, $50,000
- Street Lighting, $50,000
- Security Cameras, $30,000
I don’t have the final descriptions of the above, I’ll update this post once I receive the text that’ll appear on the ballots. UPDATE 3/31 @ 9:50AM: SEE SAMPLE BALLOT HERE!
Voting starts tomorrow and continues everyday for over a week:
Tuesday, April 1st
- 8-11 a.m. @ Diner’s Delight, 1504 Compton Ave.
- 5-8 p.m. @ Van Gohz’s, 3200 Shenandoah Ave.
Wednesday, April 2nd
- 8-11 a.m. @ Save A Lot, 3427 S. Jefferson Ave.
- 5-8 p.m. @ Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust
Thursday, April 3rd
- 4:30-7:30 p.m. @ Field’s Foods, 1500 Lafayette Ave.
Friday, April 4th
- 5-8 p.m. @ The Purple Martin, 2800 Shenandoah Ave.
Saturday, April 5th
- 9 a.m-noon @ Blast Fitness, 1601 S. Jefferson Ave.
- 5-7 p.m. @ Clinton Peabody, 1401 LaSalle Ave.
Sunday, April 6th
- noon-3 p.m. @ Washeteria, 2901 Shenandoah Ave.
Monday, April 7th
- Lafayette Town Apartments, 1410 Ohio Ave.
Tuesday, April 8th
- 6 a.m.-7 p.m. @ Heritage House Apartments, 2800 Olive Blvd.
- 7 p.m. Lafayette Square Neighborhood Meeting
- 7:30 p.m. Compton Hill Neighborhood Meeting
If you live in the 6th Ward, or knows someone who does, please make sure they vote!
— Steve Patterson
While the process is laudable, it’s sad that it’s only for $100,000 and in only one ward. In perspective, the city budget is about $1 billion, with about $450,000,000 spent on defense (the cops), (or maybe cops and fire), another third spent on city public schools, and the rest on things like employee pensions, streets, parks, refuse, etc. Sort of like the federal budget – very little is spent on discretionary spending. The good news for the city, though, is at least the city budget is balanced.
not sure where you got your numbers, but they are not right. you must be including the airport in those budget numbers, the actual budget the city controls is more like the 450mil you claim they spent on cops, not true, they spend more like 100mil on cops. dont just make things up
Sorry, wump. I wouldn’t want to put out bad info. So I’m thinking the real #s are your $450 million general budget (not counting the airport), almost a quarter of it on “defense” (cops), maybe another 1/4-13 on city schools, then the balance on the fire department, public employee pensions, refuse, streets, parks, water department, etc. So that $100,000 in only one ward is really a tiny fraction of spending. It would be interesting to know just how much of that $450 million is discretionary, and how much of that discretionary budget could go the participatory budgeting route…