• District-wide Priorities: Senior Centers ($250,000): $250,000 additional funds for NYC’s seniors for a total of nearly a million dollars. This includes a new security system for senior public housing home Robbins Plaza, a new accessible door for Robbins Plaza and a large grant to Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center, which serves seniors in need.
• Bus Time: West Bound Crosstown Bus Stops ($300,000): Fifteen electronic signs will be installed along the M96, M86, M79 and M66 crosstown routes to tell riders when the next bus will arrive in real-time.
• District-wide Priorities: Public Schools ($250,000):  $250,000 additional funds for NYC’s public schools, including more than a million dollars to fund science, technology, engineering and math education in schools, the sectors with the most promising job opportunities for young adults. The funding includes:
  • MS 114 East Side Middle School ($105,540): Purchase 128 laptops and 8 laptop carts.
  • PS 151 Yorkville Community School ($52,400): Classroom Laptops and Carts- 30 Laptops and a cart per class
  • PS 158 Bayard Taylor School ($117,627): Replace 144 ibooks in 4 carts of 36 each that are now past useful life and cannot run current software. Purchase 144 Lenovo X131E laptops (longer useful life of 6-10 years), divided into 9 carts of 16 laptops each. 
  • PS 217 The Roosevelt Island School ($225,000): Technology update to further support the STEM programs that will be incorporated into the curriculum. Need of updated Active Boards, computers, laptops, smart devices including tablets, iPads, chrome books, and document cameras.
  •  PS 290 -The Manhattan New School ($40,000): One laptop cart
  • PS 183 - Robert Louis Stevenson School ($104,305): 4 Mobile Laptop Computer Storage Carts and Mac Server
  • MS 167 – Robert Wagner School ($150,000): Science lab upgrade for 8th grade classroom
  • Manhattan International High School ($164,632 ): 30 laptop computers and cart for each of 4 teams of teachers (120 laptops and 4 carts). 
  • PS 183 Robert Louis Stevenson School ($115,349): 4 mobile carts for K-2 classrooms, 1 Macbook Pro per classroom (13 total), 1 server.

But the money set aside for participatory budgeting was not sufficient to fund the great projects that you selected in our neighborhood. Discretionary funds were allocated to other top vote-getters on the ballot, including:

• Bus Time: M31 Downtown & Crosstown Timers ($340,000): Downtown buses to receive bus clocks.
• Cleaner Parks: Maintenance Machine ($65,000): A “tool cat” multi-purpose vehicle to help keep parks clean through tough weather conditions.
• A Safer Library: Replace 67^th Street Library Branch Security System($40,000): The old CCTV security system updated with a full turn-key security system.
• A Greener Stanley Isaacs & Holmes Towers: New Gardens ($150,000): Old planting throughout the residence replaced with fresh, vibrant gardens.
• Lexington Houses: New Fridges & Stoves ($430,000): Out of date fridges and stoves for Lexington Houses residents replaced (4 buildings with 448 apartments).

Thank you for voting in participatory budgeting! Over the course of 10 days, 2,140 of you turned out to vote a total for a total of 6,963 votes. I am pleased to announce the top vote getters for the $1,000,000 were green roofs for PS/IS 217 and PS 151. Both projects will cost more than the $500,000 that each won this year and are likely to be back on the ballot next year or until they are fully funded.

So that you can learn more and better organize for next year, we are releasing the total votes for each project as well as paper ballot results by project and poll site. Wherever a project was tied to a physical location, we did our best to bring at least one poll site to that location. You can see the more detailed results below or download the Excel Spreadsheet or the Open Document Format Spreadsheet which can be viewed and edited for free using LibreOffice.

Learn more about Participatory Budgeting and if you are interested in becoming a Participatory Budgeting Delegate next year or simply becoming more engaged in the process, please contact 212-860-1950 or bkallos@benkallos.com.

Congratulations to the winners and all who participated. Profiles of our winners--and how they successfully mobilized the community--are below:

 

PS/IS 217

PS/IS 217, a unique international school on Roosevelt Island serving pre-k through eighth grade, wanted additional outdoor space and an educational green roof for their 543 students. Roosevelt Island is a tight-knit and highly-engaged community, so they mobilized together. 

The PS/IS 217 PTA, Girl Scouts troops 3001 and 3244, Roosevelt Island Garden Club, Roosevelt Island Parents' Network and Sharon Bermon from the NYPL Roosevelt Island Branch were just a few of the community members who came together to support the students.

Principal Mandana Beckman acknowledged the community efforts, saying " It truly does take a village and we have a great one here on Roosevelt Island.The Principal explained:

"Our PTA co-presidents used the 217 PTA website parent blog to deliver frequent messages about the project and the voting process.  Flyers, memos, even bookmarks were printed as reminders and sources of information.  The Main Street Wire and the Roosevelt Islander blog, featured several articles on the Green Roof and voting information. RI Residents Association (RIRA) discussed the process and the project in their regular news Wire column.  Nearly every business, club, group or organization, participated in spreading the word about the project and the opportunity to vote.  Flyers were also published and distributed on the Upper East Side and Midtown East to explain and support this project on New York’s other Island.  RI’s Earth Day Celebration drew in a large voting crowd on one of the ballot days. City Council Member Ben Kallos and his teams came out to the Island to meet with the community to talk about the project and encourage voters to participate."

"217PTA was thrilled to have the opportunity to engage our parents and students in Council member Ben Kallos’ Participatory Budget process," said PTA co-presidents Olga Shchuchinov and Natalia Starkova.

"The green roof will serve as a great educational resource for the community." Ali Schwayri, President of the Roosevelt Island Garden Club, said, "We believe in the benefits of the Green Roof for our community, and I speak for secretary, Julia Ferguson, and the entire membership, when I say we all look forward to sharing our expertise and passion."

Eva Bosbach, the Founder of the Roosevelt Island Parents' Network, and Jeff Escobar, President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association both also noted how excited they were to support the projects. Community member Sharon Bermon said, "Dozens of individuals and organizations worked together to increase awareness of the Participatory Balloting process and to convince people to take the time to vote."

Local girl scouts on the Island also poured their energy into the project. Their troop leaders, Janine Schaefer of troup 3244 and Aiesha Eleusizov, leader of troup 3001, said:

"Girl Scout Troops 3001 and 3244 dedicated countless hours at the subway, in front of the school, at our community's Earth Day event and simply walking down the street passing out bookmarks about the community projects, meeting with constituents at our local Expo, drawing pictures about the Green Roof, making and posting on social media a YouTube video to encourage voting, and simply spreading the word to encourage Roosevelt Island residents to exercise their right to vote for the Green Roof project at PS/IS 217...This has been an excellent opportunity for our youth to learn first hand the power of the vote, the community and working hard to achieve your dreams."

Council Member Kallos did multiple mobile sessions on Roosevelt Island, as he did at dozens of locations across the district.

Congratulations, PS/IS 217!

 

PS 151

PS 151, or the Yorkville Community School, is a K-5 school that opened its doors in 2009 and now has around 500 students. The children were crunched for space to play, move, and enjoy the outdoors. Parent leaders, along with Principal Samantha Kaplan, became involved in the participatory budgeting process to gain the funds for the school green roof.

PTA Co-Presidents Nesli Ciner and Michael Rawlings, along with other parent leaders, got involved.

Council Member Kallos' office offered mobile sites to all locations with projects on the ballot--and PS 151 scheduled one. This mobile voting location was the most well-attended of all the mobile sites, thanks to the hard work of community activists, volunteers and students who peppered their

neighbors' doors with material advertising the vote.

Principal Samantha Kaplan said:

"This multi-step process began with me presenting my YCS roof top recreational space project plan to Council Member Kallos, as well as the PTA Executive Board. From there, three members of the Exec. board took the reigns and ensured that our school's project plan was present at all Participatory Budget Expos, as well as sharing with the larger community through varied messaging. This team effort helped to educate our community in regards to the specific needs this project would fulfill for our school and how their voice mattered through the process. The Participatory Budget allocation will now be combined with Capital funding we have received in the past, to begin planning for our new educational/recreational roof top space."

She stated that the school was extremely excited to have participatory budgeting through a strong show of neighborhood support.

"Yorkville Community School is ecstatic to have won the Participatory Budget Vote. Thanks to the  community support, ourstudents will now be able to enjoy a much needed outdoor play space and educational garden. I would also like to thank Council Member Kallos for providing the opportunity to engage in this community centered process."

Both green roof winners acknowledged that this was the beginning of a multi-year funding process that they were excited to embark upon. Council Member Kallos' office looks forward to working with them to make the green roofs a reality.

 

Results

Download the Excel Spreadsheet or the Open Document Format Spreadsheet which can be viewed and edited for free using LibreOffice.

Digital and Paper Ballots

Ballot #	Paper Votes	Digital Votes	Total Votes	Project Name
1	354	127	481	Cool Reading
2	143	95	238	Bright Minds
3	364	377	741	Study of Sight and Sound
4	618	136	754	Rooftop Recreation for PS 151
5	453	392	845	Green Roof for PS/IS 217
6	348	124	472	School Stage for Eleanor Roosevelt High
7	231	118	349	School's Cool for PS198/PS 77
8	256	140	396	STEM Education for High School
9	182	101	283	Security Cameras for Holmes Towers
10	378	106	484	Security Cameras for Lexington Houses
11	195	107	302	Community Garden for Lexington Houses
12	152	87	239	Full Court Press
13	215	121	336	Irrigate the Esplanade
14	311	160	471	Esplanade Greenway
15	118	97	215	Fun Fountain at St. Catherine's Park
16	247	110	357	Bus Bulbs on E86th St
Total Votes	4,565	2,398	6,963
Total Ballots	1,420	720	2,140

Paper Ballots by Poll Site

Ballot Items	DO	Carl Schurz Park	Eleanor Roosevelt HS	John Jay Park	Lenox Hill	Lexington Houses	67th Street NYPL	PS 151	PS/IS 217	R.I. NYPL	R.I. Senior Center	R.I. Visitor Center	R.I.	St. Cath. Park	Stanley Isaacs	Webster NYPL
1	69	39	21	7	4		8	75	11	2	10	6	8		21	74	Cool Reading
2	29	5	4	5	3	1	14	32	7		9	2	7	4	3	18	Bright Minds
3	21	9	5	3	3	1		21	51	12	106	60	57		5	10	Study of Sight and Sound
4	76	57	11	7	3		3	353	12	2	15	6	15	2	32	26	Rooftop Recreation for PS 151
5	29	12	6	4	2		4	33	78	13	102	66	84	2	9	9	Green Roof for PS/IS 217
6	47	51	131	9	1		6	28	6		14		6	3	12	35	School Stage for Eleanor Roosevelt High
7	91	15	8	9	4	2		32	7	2	12	7	9	4	22	9	School's Cool for PS198/PS 77
8	60	27	14	7	5	1	3	40	9	2	22	17	10	3	16	21	STEM Education for High School
9	41	18	8	1	1	4	7	34	6	2	10	12	9		13	17	Security Cameras for Holmes Towers
10	72	39	15	2	5	1	4	132	1	2	4	7	3		69	25	Security Cameras for Lexington Houses
11	53	16	9	1	5	3	1	41	3	2	5	5	5	2	34	11	Community Garden for Lexington Houses
12	45	10	6	9	2		7	29	4	1	7	2	3	4	6	19	Full Court Press
13	63	30	7	4		1	8	23	5		7	4	11	2	18	33	Irrigate the Esplanade
14	86	46	15	5	2	2	9	52	7	1	15	11	7	2	17	35	Esplanade Greenway
15	26	6	7	2	2		7	14	6	1	7	8	4	9	8	12	Fun Fountain at St. Catherine's Park
16	56	15	12	3	2	1	3	60	7	1	11	4	6	2	37	28	Bus Bulbs on E86th St
Total Votes	864	395	279	78	44	17	84	999	220	43	356	217	244	39	322	382
Total Ballots	231	94	137	19	9	4	18	367	79	16	112	69	86	9	75	98
Votes Per Ballot	3.7	4.2	2.0	4.1	4.9	4.3	4.7	2.7	2.8	2.7	3.2	3.1	2.8	4.3	4.3	3.9

Additional funding decisions will be made by July, and you are encouraged to check back then.

Nearly 2,000 Upper East Side residents 14 and over turned out in person or online to vote on how to spend $1 million in tax dollars to improve the community as part of “Participatory Budgeting.” Residents were able to vote in the district office 7 days a week as well as at 17 mobile “pop-up” voting locations, by absentee and even online. This is the third year of Participatory Budgeting and the results were:

• $500,000 – 802 votes – Green Roof at P.S. 290  the Manhattan New School (MNS)
• $350,000 – 768 votes – Laptop Carts for 10 schools on the Upper East Side P.S. 77, P.S 198, P.S 290, P.S/I.S 217, M. 225, Eleanor Roosevelt, Urban Academy, Vanguard, Manhattan International and Life Sciences serving over 5,000 students.

The $500,000 for P.S. 290 adds to $1 million previously allocated by Council Member Kallos for a green roof at the location, where the project cost is estimated at $2.8 million. This allocation brings the school to the half-way point during Kallos’ third year in office.
 
This is the second year that STEM investments like laptop carts topped Participatory Budgeting, with a previous win in the first year for $250,000 to be distributed to schools throughout the district. This brings the total investment by Council Member Kallos in “STEM schools” to $2 million.
 
The third highest vote getter, which exceeded the $1 million for Participatory budgeting was:

• $500,000 – 751 votes – Green Roof at P.S/I.S. 217

Due to the strong showing of support for Green Roofs two years in a row, Council Member Kallos will allocate the full $500,000 for the Green Roof at P.S./I.S. 217, which combines with his previous allocation of $500,000 and a minimum of $250,000 from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. The project will begin scoping. 
“Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) continue to be where residents are voting to invest their tax dollars to prepare our children for the future,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “Thank you to Participatory Budgeting Delegates for leading the process as well as residents 14 and over for voting.”
 
“I’m delighted that Councilmember Kallos will continue to join in supporting the Green Roof at P.S./I.S. 217," said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. “Urban agriculture is a fresh approach to education and this funding will help sustain that approach."
 
“Thank you to Ben Kallos for working so closely with our school community to secure the funding needed for us to finally move forward with our dream of a rooftop science center and play space.   I am very excited that our students will have a chance to explore nature and play in the sunshine on the rooftop of their school in the heart of New York City,” saidDoreen Esposito Principal at P.S. 290 Manhattan New School.

"Thank you to all of the supporters from our community and the city for voting for the PS/IS 217 STEM Green Room. This Green Roof will further enhance the learning opportunities for the students and families of PS/IS 217 and the residents of Roosevelt Island," said Mandana Beckman Principal at PS/IS 217. 

"Each year we expand our STEM enrichment programming,” said 217PTA ­President,Olga Shchuchinov. “So this deep support from the city, combined with the Participatory Budget funding, allows us to move forward and design our 21st century teaching hub on the roof."
 
Council Member Ben Kallos is one of eight Council Members to adopt Participatory Budgeting in 2014, which has since grown to 28 Council Districts allocating nearly $32 million citywide. Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process where Council Members pledge to allocate their discretionary funds however residents 14 and over vote. These funds are capital and can only be used to pay for physical infrastructure projects proposed by community members called “Delegates” such as improvements to schools, parks, libraries, public housing, and other public or community spaces.

About the Winners: 

• P.S. 290 The Manhattan New School (MNS) originally built in 1903 and relaunched in 1991 has 36 teachers and over 600 students comprised of children from many countries with over 20 different languages are spoken at home. The P.S. 290 PTA mobilized parents to vote by mail, online, and one morning for drop off where over one hundred parents waited in the rain for 5 - 10 minutes to vote.
• P.S./I.S. 217 on Roosevelt Island serves Pre-k through eighth grade. The school wanted additional outdoor space and an educational green roof for their 543 students, so for the second year in a row P.S./I.S. 217 placed a green roof project on the ballot. Roosevelt Island is a tight-knit and highly-engaged community, so they mobilized together and succeeded in being one of the top vote getters. The P.S./I.S. 217 PTA, Girl Scouts troops 3001 and 3244, Roosevelt Island Garden Club, Roosevelt Island Parents' Network and Sharon Bermon from the NYPL Roosevelt Island Branch were just a few of the community members who came together to support the students.Principal Mandana Beckman managed to get the vote out and the money in.

Results for Other Projects on the Ballot:
694 - $225,000 - P.S. 290 Bathrooms
553 - $1,000,000 - Parks Greening for John Jay Park
479 - $350,000 - Library Modernization for Eleanor Roosevelt H.S.
466 - $700,000 - Lexington Houses East & West Playground
427 - $500,000 - Lexington Houses Security Upgrade
408 - $600,000 - Webster Library HVAC Improvements
389 - $350,000 - HVAC for P.S.198 and P.S.77
344 - $500,000 - Center at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Entrance
292 - $600,000 - 67th Street Library HVAC Improvements
282 - $250,000 - Renovate Auditorium for Eleanor Roosevelt H.S.
104 - $85,000 - Sound System at Julia Richman JREC Auditorium

Learn more about Participatory Budgeting at BenKallos.com/PB

Digital Votes: 1,913
Paper Ballots: 508
Total Votes: 2,421

 

	Project	VOTES	COST	CATEGORY
1	P.S. 183 Green Science and STEM Lab Classroom	1514	$600,000	Education
2	P.S. 198/77 Playground Renovation	1139	$500,000	Education
3	Bus Clocks for Northbound M15 and M31	911	$350,000	Transit
4	Irrigate the Esplanade	813	$1,000,000	Parks & Recreation
5	P.S. 77 Music Room Renovation	645	$500,000	Education
6	Eleanor Roosevelt H.S. Auditorium Renovation	629	$750,000	Education
7	Lexington Houses West Playground Renovation	584	$500,000	Housing
8	Security Cameras for Holmes Towers	515	$500,000	Housing
9	JREC Auditorium Renovation	358	$750,000	Education
10	Stanley Isaacs Layered Access	265	$500,000	Housing
11	Lexington Houses Layered Access	232	$500,000	Housing

 

Total Votes Cast: 1,308

#	Project	Category	Cost	Votes
1	Fund Parks Districtwide for $250,000	Parks & Recreation	$250,000	757
2	New Trees and Guards for Sidewalks	Parks & Recreation	$225,000	714
3	Laptops for 10 Public Schools	Education	$350,000	680
4	Lexington Houses NYCHA Playground Renovation	Parks & Recreation	$800,000	474
5	NYPD Security Cameras for Parks	Public Safety	$397,733	427
6	East 79th Street Curb Extensions	Public Safety	$300,000	390
7	R.I. Lighthouse Restoration for Public Access	Parks & Recreation	$800,000	345
8	NYPD Public Safety Security Cameras	Public Safety	$170,457	317
9	P.S. 527 Security Cameras	Education	$300,000	315
10	JREC Auditorium Renovation	Education	$750,000	280
11	NYPD Security Cameras for Transportation	Public Safety	$170,457	241
12	NYPD Mobile Command Post	Public Safety	$400,000	105

The 2020 Participatory Budgeting cycle was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Total Votes Cast: 537

#	Project	Votes	Cost
1	New Trees and Guards for Sidewalk	276 votes (51%)	$187,000
2	Laptops/STEM for 15 Public Schools	193 votes (36%)	$750,000