Seattle's Residents Pick Funding for Streets, Park Projects

"The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods has wrapped up a second year of its citywide participatory voting program, Your Voice Your Choice (YVYC), to select projects with a street or park focus to receive community funding," reports Ryan Packer.

"Last year, 33 projects received funding from a pool of $2 million, distributed close to equally amongst the seven city council districts. Each project was capped at $90,000 in YVYC grants," explains Packer. "In 2018, the district funding stayed the same, but an extra $1 million was added to the budget."

The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods has mapped out the 2018 projects awarded YVYC funding, and Packer notes a far greater demand for funding streets projects than supply of funding. Voter participation also declined in the second year of the program.