I am excited to bring Participatory Budgeting to Toronto Centre, following the lead of my colleague Councillor Carroll who has successfully run participatory budgeting in her ward since 2015, funding 21 projects and counting.
Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a system of direct democracy where residents suggest and then vote on how funds are spent within their community.
Each year, different neighbourhoods will be selected based on available Community Benefits Funds, the capacity of city staff and my team, and active capital projects already underway.
In Toronto Centre, we have 14 neighbourhoods, so we have divided the ward into six clusters of neighbourhoods to ensure we can properly manage and facilitate local processes as well as complete the successful projects in a timely manner.