Gotham Gazette

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Council Member

Council Member

  • First Report Under New Law Will Give Key Data to Coming Veterans Department

    sutton presser new dept

    Tuesday's celebratory press conference (photo: @nylag)


    On the eve of Veterans Day, the City Council passed a much-celebrated bill to create a new Department of Veterans Services, which will replace the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs in serving New York City’s large military veteran population. While the new department will still be under the mayor’s administration, it will now have access to more resources and be the subject of

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  • Participatory Budgeting Grows in NYC - Why Isn’t Every Council Member Doing It?

    PB NYC East Harlem

    PB voting in East Harlem, photo via PB NYC


    In four years participatory budgeting has exploded from four to 27 New York City Council districts. With over 51,000 voters casting ballots last cycle to allocate a total of $32 million dollars to projects across the city, New York‘s experiment in direct democracy has quickly become the largest of its kind in North America.

    "This is the biggest year of participatory budgeting yet, with 27 Council members asking their constituents to

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