VIDEO: Bringing you into power

Posted March 15, 2013 By Chelsey Luger & The New York World

Eight city council members are currently asking their constituents to decide how to spend a portion of their capital budget, in a process called participatory budgeting. Next month, voters will decide on the projects that will be funded.

The New York World workshop’s Chelsey Luger visited one participatory budgeting expo, in Councilmember Stephen Levin’s Brooklyn district, to see the process in action.

The New York World took inspiration from participatory budgeting for our entry in the latest Knight News Challenge, which asks the question “How might we improve the way citizens and government interact?”

The Participatory Budgeting Project, which is helping organize the voting process in New York and three other U.S. cities, is working with The New York World to develop GOVERN, which we (seriously) describe as “a dating service matching citizens with opportunities to influence local decisions on the issues and communities they care about most.”

We’ll be sharing updates from the challenge. In the meantime, find out if participatory budgeting is happening in your neighborhood.

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<h1>VIDEO: Bringing you into power</h1><p><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thenewyorkworld.com/2012/09/21/participatory-budgeting/');"  href="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/2012/09/21/participatory-budgeting/">Eight city council members</a> are currently asking their constituents to decide how to spend a portion of their capital budget, in a process called participatory budgeting. Next month, voters will decide on the projects that will be funded.</p>
<p>The New York World workshop’s Chelsey Luger visited one participatory budgeting expo, in Councilmember Stephen Levin’s Brooklyn district, to see the process in action.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5BF_OFoKjcU" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe></p>
<p>The New York World took inspiration from participatory budgeting for our entry in the latest <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.newschallenge.org/open/open-government/submission/govern/');"  href="https://www.newschallenge.org/open/open-government/submission/govern/">Knight News Challenge</a>, which asks the question “How might we improve the way citizens and government interact?”</p>
<p>The <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.participatorybudgeting.org');"  href="http://www.participatorybudgeting.org">Participatory Budgeting Project</a>, which is helping organize the voting process in New York and three other U.S. cities, is working with The New York World to develop <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.newschallenge.org/open/open-government/submission/govern/');"  href="https://www.newschallenge.org/open/open-government/submission/govern/">GOVERN</a>, which we (seriously) describe as “a dating service matching citizens with opportunities to influence local decisions on the issues and communities they care about most.”</p>
<p>We’ll be sharing updates from the challenge. In the meantime, <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/pbnyc.org');"  href="http://pbnyc.org">find out if participatory budgeting is happening in your neighborhood</a>.</p>

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