PB Cycle 1

Many thanks to the PB Cambridge Steering Committee, Budget Delegates, Participatory Budgeting Project staff, City staff, the Stanford Crowdsourced Democracy Team, and all of the volunteers and participants who helped make the City's first PB initiative a success!

The $528,000 in FY16 capital funds for the six winning projects from the first PB cycle became available on July 1, 2015.  As of January 2018, all six winning projects were completed.

 A few notes on some of the projects:

• New trees: See the 100 tree locations. 
• Bilingual books: The Public Health Department's Agenda for Children Literacy Initiative has been circulating the bilingual books to families in Cambridge. The first batch of books arrived in November 2015 and the second/final batch arrived in May 2016. Books are available in English/Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Farsi, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.
• Public toilet: The Central Square public toilet is located on Western Avenue, just past the intersection with Massachusetts Avenue.
Bike repair stations: Community Development (CDD) installed the 8 bike repair stations at Alewife Linear Park (Russell Field), Central Square (near the post office), Danehy Park, Inman Square, Harvard Square (Gen. MacArthur Square), North Point (Education Circle), Porter Square shopping center, and Riverside City Park. See a map of all 8 PB bike repair stations.
• Outdoor WiFi: Outdoor WiFi units were installed at the Cambridge Water Department in Fresh Pond, Fresh Pond Golf Course, and the Moore, Gately, Frisoli, and Moses Youth Centers.

Read the rulebook from the first PB process.

To read about all 380 ideas that were submitted during the first cycle, please visit the City of Cambridge's open data portal .

From January-March, 40+ Budget Delegates worked in 4 committees to research, assess, prioritize, and develop the 380 submitted ideas into the following 20 final project proposals, which appeared on the ballot in March 2015.

1. Healthy trees for a healthy Cambridge ($119,400)
2. Laptops for the Community Learning Center ($27,000)
3. Bilingual books for children learning English ($7,000)
4. Public toilet in Central Square ($320,000)
5. 8 bike repair stations ($12,000)
6. Free public WiFi in 6 outdoor locations ($42,000)
7. Mural project at Russell Field ($22,000)
8. Furniture for the O'Connell Library ($36,000)
9. Little free libraries (book exchanges) ($13,000)
10. Renovation of bus shelter at Comeau Field & Rindge Avenue ($75,000)
11. Wayfinding banners for neighborhood & commercial identity ($15,600)
12. Traffic garden ($200,000)
13. Bus shelter monitors with real time arrival ($30,000)
14. Materials for planting by residents on public land ($40,000)
15. Cambridge Garden of Peace ($340,000)
16. North Cambridge community garden ($240,000)
17. Outdoor bodyweight fitness equipment in Danehy Park ($65,000)
18. Raymond Park community garden improvements ($20,000)
19. Dog Park at Gore Street Park ($250,000)
20. Amphitheater in Danehy Park ($350,000)

View an English version of the paper ballot

From March 22-28, 2015, 2,727 Cambridge residents age 12 and older - regardless of immigration status - voted for up to 5 of their favorite PB projects on the ballot. The following 6 projects won a total of $528,000 in funding:

• Healthy trees for a healthy Cambridge ($120,000)
• Laptops for the Community Learning Center ($27,000)
• Bilingual books for children learning English ($7,000)
• Public toilet in Central Square ($320,000)
• 8 bike repair stations ($12,000)
• Free public WiFi in 6 outdoor locations ($42,000)

The full vote totals are as follows:

	Project	Cost	Votes	Cumulative Cost
1.	100 New Trees	$119,400	1,441	$119,400
2.	CLC Computers	$27,000	1,110	$146,400
3.	Bilingual Books	$7,000	970	$153,500
4.	Central Square Toilet	$320,000	945	$473,400
5.	Bike Repair Stations	$12,000	917	$485,400
6.	Free Outdoor Wi-Fi	$42,000	875	$527,400
7.	Danehy Amphitheater	$350,000	786
8.	Bus Shelter Real-Time Monitors	$30,000	748
9.	Free Little Libraries	$13,000	620
10.	O'Connell Library Furniture	$36,000	534
11.	North Cambridge Community Garden	$240,000	521
12.	Planting Materials	$40,000	506
13.	Traffic Garden	$200,000	475
14.	Danehy Fitness Equipment	$65,000	468
15.	Dog Park	$250,000	302
16.	Peace Garden	$340,000	297
17.	Russell Field Mural	$22,000	289
18.	Wayfinding Banners	$15,600	274
19.	83 Bus Shelter Renovation	$75,000	271
20.	Raymond Park Community Improvements	$20,000	193

Winning projects were included in the City's FY16 Capital Budget (see Section VI - Public Investment). Implementation will take place during FY16, which runs from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. We'll post updates about project implementation in the project tracker at the top of this page as well as in our blog, so please stay tuned!

Nada Zohdy, a recent graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, completed an independent evaluation of the City's pilot Participatory Budgeting process in June 2015 to inform us about what worked well and what we should change in order to improve the process. We continue to refer back to this tool as we plan for the various stages of the City's second PB cycle with the Steering Committee.

Please click below to download and read the complete report.