Participatory Budgeting Next Steps: Project Expo & Citizen Voting
A year ago Participatory Budgeting in St. Louis was just an idea advanced by 6th Ward aldermanic candidate Michelle Witthaus. In a poll in March 2013, readers supported the concept of Participatory Budgeting. The idea could’ve ended with the March primary election, when Christine Ingrassia won the 3-way race. Ingrassia liked the idea, asking Witthaus to spearhead the effort. They’ve worked together on this for a year now, along with many others. I’ve had the privilege of being able to sit in on meetings, events. After months of planning & strategy meetings the 6th ward assemblies took place in October 2013, gathering ideas from residents.
I should back up and explain what Participatory Budgeting is, for those who haven’t heard of it before:
In St. Louis, each ward is allocated a yearly budget for ward improvements. The budget is spent to improve things like sidewalks, streets, lighting, parks, etc. Usually the alderperson decides what projects get funded throughout the ward each year. Through participatory budgeting residents come together to share ideas on how they think the money should be spent, they create projects, then the entire ward gets to vote on which projects get funded for the year. It is a much more inclusive way of doing democracy. Essentially it gives more power back to people and allows the community to take more control of the decision-making process than ever before. (pbstl.org)
Since ideas were gathered in October, volunteer “delegates” have been busy working with city staff to turn the ideas into real projects, with real budgets. From 3pm-5pm on Saturday March 29, 2014 a “project expo” will be held. Here residents can come see all the projects and begin to decide how they plan to vote, helping decide how their ward funds are spent. The expo will be held at the Moulin event space, 2017 Chouteau.
Voting will take place 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
Hopefully 6th ward residents will come out in large numbers to vote. I look forward to seeing the projects and them seeing which were selected by residents. Hopefully other aldermen will adopt this process for at least a few of the other 27 wards. Half are up for reelection next year…
— Steve Patterson