So, How did Metro's "participatory budgeting" work out?

by MEGAN PODSIEDLIK, The Pamphleteer, May 28, 2024- You’ll recall that Metro Council approved a participatory budgeting process last fall that allowed non-citizens and teens as young as 14 years old to “vote” on how to spend $10 million in ARPA funds. The entire endeavor was a disaster. 

Not only did the marketing plan to encourage participation cost over half a million dollars, but less than 14,000 people voted (to put that into perspective, each vote cost $44), and Metro has yet to announce the results. 

Mayor O’Connell, panned this dismal effort in February: “I expect if it does go forward, it will be revised pretty significantly,” he said. “Even with hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing, we are not seeing particularly heavy voting rates on participatory budgeting.”

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