Skip to content

Want a Street Improvement for Your Neighborhood? Tell the City Council By October 13.

With participatory budgeting, New Yorkers vote on how to spend the discretionary funds allocated to their City Council district.
Want a Street Improvement for Your Neighborhood? Tell the City Council By October 13.
A map of the participatory budgeting proposals submitted so far. Image: NYC Council

Is the street corner near your apartment begging for a sidewalk extension? Could your local bus stop use a countdown clock or a bus bulb? If you have ideas for small-scale improvements to your neighborhood streets, tell the City Council: Nominations for projects to receive participatory budgeting funds will be accepted for the next nine days.

With participatory budgeting, New Yorkers vote on how to spend the discretionary funds allocated to their City Council district. This year, 31 council members are participating, and if you live in one of those districts, you have until October 13 to submit proposals for the 2018 round of funding.

Once nominations are submitted, committees of “budget delegates” narrow the list to a handful of projects for the public to choose from when voting starts in the spring, the week of April 7 to 15.

Now in its seventh year, participatory budgeting funds capital improvements — projects that involve physical changes or purchasing equipment, as opposed to operating expenses like running more bus service. Transportation-related projects that receive funding are typically scaled to a single intersection or a handful of locations. While it won’t fund entire street redesigns, it’s a chance to make meaningful, targeted improvements.

Last year, street safety improvements near schools on Empire Boulevard and bus arrival clocks across the city were among the projects that received funding.

Other street safety projects came up short in the voting, including lighting improvements along the Hudson River Greenway’s “Cherry Walk” and pedestrian safety improvements on Meeker Avenue in North Brooklyn and the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

You can submit ideas to the City Council online. Ahead of the submission deadline, council members are also hosting “neighborhood assemblies” where constituents can discuss and workshop ideas together.

Photo of David Meyer
David was Streetsblog's do-it-all New York City beat reporter from 2015 to 2019. He returned as an editor in 2023 after a three-year stint at the New York Post and is now Managing Editor.

Read More:

More from Streetsblog New York City

Brooklyn Crash Victim’s EMT Twin Sister Calls Out City, DSNY for Reckless Driving

October 30, 2026

Dangerous Drivers At ‘Trunk-Or-Treat’ Show How Cars Are A Horror For Kids All Year Long

October 30, 2026

An Interview with the Biggest Cycling Club in New York City

October 30, 2026

Our Central Park Wishlist: Perimeter and Transverse Bike Lanes, Fewer Cars and — Yes — Some Speed Limits

Friday’s Headlines: Streetsfilms Meets the War on Cars Edition

October 30, 2026
See all posts