The City of Greensboro is in the process of kicking off another round of participatory budgeting, which will be funded with $500,000 in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
Participatory budgeting allocates $100,000 for each of the five City Council districts for projects and programs recommended by residents.
In the past, participatory budgeting has involved a number of meetings in each council district for residents to suggest projects and to review projects suggested by others.
However, in this the era of COVID-19, the latest round of participatory budgeting will involve a “virtual Kickoff and Community Workshop” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2. You can participate here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkc-mrqzIvE9Spv-dkAoE18RT-0gwR34Pt
Those participating in the virtual workshop will learn how to get started on having a neighborhood project placed on the ballot for potential funding.
Like pretty much everything else in life, the participatory budgeting program has had a number of delays due to COVID restrictions, and during recent public forums at City Council meetings people have complained about participatory budgeting projects that have been approved but have yet to be funded.
You don’t have to attend the virtual community workshop to submit an idea for a program of a project for consideration. However, the deadline to submit projects and programs is March 31.
Ideas that are proposed go through a process where they are developed into projects and placed on the ballot. Residents who are 14 and older are allowed to vote on those projects and the projects that receive the most votes in a council district are then supposed to receive funding.
Greensboro kicked off the participatory budgeting process in 2015 and since then 73 projects have been approved by a vote of the residents. Some of the projects that have been approved in the past include bus shelters, bike racks, murals and park upgrades such as picnic tables, outdoor chess tables, play equipment and new cross walks.
For more information go to www.PBGreensboro.com.
Wonder which council member will pocket the largest cut?
This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. The people of Greensboro work so hard and pay taxes and these fools set up there and try to find a way to GIVE it away. Most of the time it’s for some bull crap thing that nobody really needs. Then they want to raise taxes I think you know how I’ll be voting this next time.
How about participating the budgeting for road work @W. Market & Guilford College? You know, the giant never-ending-saga C-F.
Most, but not all of the barricade cans are gone, but work remains. Pedestrian lights are in the ground, but not activated (not that anyone would risk their life walking across). Buuuut, some useless pedestrian walkways are completed – there are no pedestrians.
Make work.
it has been about two and a half years that the city of Greensboro has been working on this one intersection. In China, it would have been completed in two weeks.
Given you love of authoritarian regimes you must be a Trump voter for sure. Maybe he will write you an executive order?
When he gets re-elected I’ll ask him for the first executive order to please deport you to a liberal northern state or maybe the ultra liberal woke state of California It will be a personal favor
Sigh. You demonize someone about something you know nothing about – me. It’s always disconcerting to have someone dislike for for no known reason. We all experience that.
Can anyone here make a factual argument?
“Can anyone here make a factual argument?”
I think it’s a fact that that is a state project, and not a city project. I’m open to correction if that is not the case. And it’s a definite fact that I’m tired of hearing about it.
That’s true and just like everything else from China it would be a piece of crap in about 2 months
Guilford and West Market is a Gso. City project
Let’s see if Yvonne or some of her friends and relatives get in on the loot.
How about paving some roads, or at least filling in some pot holes? Oh . . .I know. . . .there is no publicity with that, no ribbon cutting, etc.
Greensboro has “LOTS” of streets that need paving, many of them have pot holes to fill, wide cracks, and even some “dips” in the roads where the underlying soil has shrunk which as caused a dip in the pavement.
Oh yes, the metal plate that was put over a big hole on New Garden Road near Guilford College? The city had a warning sign about the plate, but it was so flat you didn’t feel anything when traveling over it. However. . . . they paved over the hole and it now has a “bump” in the road. How about asking Mayor Vaughn whether the streets division has any criteria of success when patching roads. There’s also a bump over a spot next to the fire station on New Garden Road as well.
Now Horsepen. They’ve been diddle-de-doofusing for quite a while too.
There is plenty of infrastructure work to go around, without stretching anything out to keep more workers on the dole.
A simple solution would be to focus on one job only, until completion. Then work on the next one.
How about we give the money back to the taxpayers from whom it was taken?
TU for the correction. But I will continue to whine about govt inefficiency until it stops – nunca.
I should be able to waste my own money to benefit myself, and enrich those who benefit from my stoopidity. Happens a lot.