How Would You Spend $900,000 to Improve Cambridge? Vote on Participatory Budgeting Projects Dec. 1-7, 2018

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is back! If you are a Cambridge resident age 12 or older, you can vote from December 1-7, 2018 to help decide how to spend $900,000 on projects to improve the city. This process is open to everyone in our community, including non-U.S. citizens and university students.

In June and July 2018, community members submitted over 1,000 ideas about how to spend $900,000 of the City’s FY20 Capital Budget. From August to November, over 50 volunteer Budget Delegates worked in four committees to research and evaluate those ideas and develop final proposals for the ballot.

Thanks to our dedicated Budget Delegates, there are 20 exciting projects on the 2018 PB ballot. Residents can vote for up to five of the following projects:

1. Technology for the Community Learning Center ($20,000)
2. Upgrades at the Central Square Library ($100,000)
3. Water Fountains in Every Park ($90,000)
4. Artwork Celebrating Same-Sex Marriage Rights ($75,000)
5. Connecting Face 2 Face: Video Conferencing for All ($50,000)
6. Protect the Health and Safety of our Firefighters ($110,000)
7. Let’s Rest: Picnic Tables & Benches for Our Parks ($120,000)
8. Let Us Remember: Cambridge Memorial Peace Garden ($400,000)
9. Fit, Fun, and Free: Outdoor Gyms for All ($125,000)
10. Swinging in the City ($120,000)
11. Smoother Cycling ($250,000)
12. Light it Up ($130,000)
13. What’s Your Speed? ($75,000)
14. Charging into the Future ($100,000)
15. Give me Shelter! ($100,000)
16. Rain Gardens for Resiliency ($150,000)
17. Trees, please! ($200,000)
18. Clean Up Cambridge ($125,000)
19. Thirst-mobile: Water truck with free, cold water ($75,000)
20. Soak Up the Solar Power ($250,000)

Residents can vote online at pb.cambridgema.gov. Online voting will be text message authenticated: voters will enter their cell phone number on the PB website, a code will be sent to them via text message, and then they will enter that code online for one-time access to the ballot. If residents wish to vote online but do not have a cell phone, they can email or call the City’s Budget Office to receive a code. The online ballot will be available in English, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, and Spanish.

Residents can also vote in person at one of the following PB voting events:

• Main Library: Sunday, Dec. 2, from 2-5 p.m. (449 Broadway)
• City Hall: Monday, Dec. 3 from 4-8 p.m.; Wednesday Dec. 5 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 7 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. (795 Mass. Avenue)
• City Hall Annex: Monday, Dec. 3, from 5-8 p.m. (344 Broadway)
• Boudreau Library: Tuesday Dec. 4, from 4-7 p.m. (245 Concord Ave.)
• Central Square Library: Tuesday Dec. 4, from 5-8pm (45 Pearl St.)
• Citywide Senior Center: Thursday Dec. 6, from 12-2 p.m. (806 Mass. Ave.)
• Collins Library: Thursday Dec. 6, from 4-7 p.m. (64 Aberdeen Ave.)

Paper ballots at voting events will be available in English, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Find out which projects won funding at the PB Results Party Tuesday, Dec. 11, from 6-7 p.m., at the Citywide Senior Center, 806 Mass. Ave.

Past winning PB projects include critical resource kits for the homeless, musical instruments for students, tree planting, water bottle fill stations, and many others. See you at the PB polls Dec. 1-7!

For more information, including a complete list of in-person PB voting events, please visit pb.cambridgema.gov or contact the City of Cambridge Budget Office at pb@cambridgema.gov or 617- 349-4270.