By Richard Bucey 

It’s not every day one can have a direct influence on the New York City Budget.  But that day’s coming to Norwood.  A nine-month process starting in July and ending next April is set to further enhance the role communities play in deciding where it wants its tax dollars to go.

Councilman Andy Cohen, representing Norwood, is now adopting the program, formally dubbed Participatory Budgeting. Under the program, residents will provide input into how $1 million of funding set aside for capital projects, which works out to be a fraction of Cohen’s overall capital funding.

With the program, residents falling within Councilman Andy Cohen’s 11th Council District will have at least 1 million dollars in funds to allocate however they please. He’s now planned a series of workshops to understand the process, with the first taking place at Community Board 7, at 229-A E. 204th St., at 7pm on July 7.

The move is considered unconventional, since much of the so-called “budget dance” is handled at City Hall.  Participatory Budgeting, which has seen some moderate successes in other parts of the city, attempts to include those who may have felt left out of the civic process in the past. They will be able to hash out ideas that will later be turned into full proposals that will eventually be voted on by delegates–residents voted by their fellow peers–next spring.

“It is my hope that through this process we will have residents from all over the district engage one another and work together to develop and support various projects that will benefit everyone.  I am looking forward to working with my neighbors on establishing this program in the Bronx and ensuring its success,” said Cohen.

Other meeting times include Thursday, July 10 at the Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, 3225 Reservoir Oval East, Tuesday, July 15 at the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, 4275 Katonah Ave., and Thursday, July 17 at the Riverdale Y-MWHA, 5625 Arlington Ave. Councilman Ritchie Torres, representing the 15th Council District, is expected to organize his own workshops shortly.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.