Last year, youth engaged in Seattle's first participatory budgeting process in which more than 3,000 young people decided how to spend $700,000 of the City's budget. Building on this success, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON) is expanding the concept to the new Your Voice, Your Choice: Parks & Streets. Now all ages will have the opportunity to decide how to spend $2,000,000 of the City's budget on small-scale physical improvement projects in Seattle's parks and streets.

Have an idea for a project? You can submit your ideas now or at an in-person idea collection session. Projects could include community crosswalks, medians, flashing beacons, sidewalk repair, curb ramps, park benches, and trail improvements, to name a few. The only criteria are the ideas must focus on Seattle's parks or streets, benefit the public, and cost $90,000 or less. Ideas will be collected through the month of February.

Once ideas are submitted, Department of Neighborhoods will recruit volunteers in March and April to be part of the project development teams in each Council District. The role of these teams will be to turn the submitted project ideas into eight to 10 proposals for the ballot.

In June, everyone will have the opportunity to vote for the top projects within their Council District. Voting will take place online and at in-person voting stations. Then in 2018, those projects that received the most votes will be funded and implemented by the City. Up to $285,000 will be spent per District.

Share your ideas today! If you have questions about how to get involved in any of the phases, contact Jenny Frankl at 206.233.2044 or Jenny.Frankl@seattle.gov.

Courtesy of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods

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