Voters Choose How to Spend $1 Million on Infrastructure

The 48th Ward, which includes parts of the Edgewater, Andersonville and Uptown neighborhoods, released a ballot for their second annual participatory budget plan. With the ballot, residents will vote on how the ward spends its $1 million  a public infrastructure budget.

Audrey Champelli, communications manager for Ald. Leni Manna-Hoppenworth (48th), ran the participatory budgeting process this year.

The aldermanic office receives an annual $1.5 million public infrastructure budget from the city. $1 million goes toward participatory budgeting — a community-based process allowing members to weigh in on how to allocate the funds — while the rest is used on other infrastructure projects, including streets and alley resurfacing, according to Champelli. 

The system allows for voters to rank their top five projects by distributing five points among the options. Points can be assigned equally across the projects or all five can go toward one, according to Champelli. 

Residents of the 48th Ward are able to vote online through the 48th ward’s official website or in person at the aldermanic office, located at 1129 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. The office is open Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m to 5 p.m., and voting runs until April 20 at 11:59 p.m.

The project with the most points will receive the required funds detailed under its name on the ballot. Since all of the projects’ proposed funds are under the $1 million mark, the rest of the money will be distributed to the project with the second-most points. The pattern continues until all the funds are distributed, according to Champelli. 

This year’s ballot features 12 community projects with total costs ranging between $50K and $250K. 

From the current ballot, one project focuses on green space, five relate to street infrastructure, three to youth and three on arts. 

“Those themes are an expression of our long-term goals for what we want to do with infrastructure in the ward,” Champelli said. 

Green spaces are especially important, seeing as they create a third place for youth, according to Champelli. 

“We want youth in our community to have places they can be and exist outside of just school and home,” Champelli said. 

Many of the projects involve the upgrading or upkeeping of transportation features, like the installation of bump-outs — extensions of sidewalks intended to create additional space for pedestrians — at the intersections of West Foster Avenue and North Wayne Avenue, as well as North Clark Street and West Hollywood Avenue. 

A different project with the same goal suggests using $80K for 14 painted bus stops, including eight on every North Ridge Avenue stop in the 48th Ward, both bus stops at the north intersection of North Broadway and West Bryn Mawr Avenue and four at the intersection of Foster and North Sheridan Road. 

Other projects are more expansive, like the restoration of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive and the West Berwyn Avenue Underpass. Local residents have commented on a need for better lighting and resurfacing of the sidewalk inside the underpass, according to Champelli. 

Another bigger project would be the construction of an inclusive playground for school children at Goudy Elementary. 

The project selection process for participatory budgeting began with community engagement meetings throughout last year, during which community members were welcomed to brainstorm infrastructure issues they wanted to see solved. 

When brainstorming ideas, the ward hosted theme-specific community engagement meetings which encouraged themes of green space and environment, streets and pedestrian infrastructure, youth and schools and arts and culture. 

Champelli said the theme of green space was discussed in collaboration with the Edgewater Environmental Coalition — a nonprofit focused on sustainability projects in Edgewater. 

Following the community meetings, the ward office paired each proposed idea with the appropriate city departments, who were able to assist in the creation of tangible project plans. 

Through each department, typically the Department of Transportation or the Department of Streets and Sanitation, the ward was able to receive price estimates for the projects, according to Champelli. 

In collaboration with the Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Schools, Senn High School could build the sports field space next to the school with a $100K budget.

In last year’s participatory budget spending, the same project won second place, allocating the first $250k toward the design process, according to Champelli. 

In order to finalize the project, Senn would need about $7 million, according to Assistant Principal and former Athletic Director Steven Brewer.

Construction of the Senn sports center, which could potentially include a new softball or soccer field, would take about six years. The sports center utilities, especially a new soccer field, would be important for the growth of community engagement, according to Brewer. 

“The soccer interest in our ward is there just from having so many people from different cultures around,” Brewer said. 

The sports center would also provide opportunities for youth programming and access to a diverse number of members, according to Brewer. 

Senn has also applied for congressional funding for the project to garner momentum, according to Brewer. 

The city departments’ deadline for scheduling the projects is May 1, so winning projects are expected to be announced between the voting deadline on April 20 and May 1, according to Champelli. 

“We want the ward to be a place where everyone can grow, thrive and enjoy their life,” Champelli said.