Participative budget initiative now in its second year
Governance
Sustainable Land Use
Online voting launched for projects submitted to the participative budget programme run by the Mariánské Hory a Hulváky municipal district
The municipal district of Mariánské Hory a Hulváky is continuing to implement its ongoing initiative ‘The Town Hall for People – People for the Municipal District’. The initiative is based on the principles of participative budgeting; people have the opportunity to propose their own ideas for various projects to be funded by the district’s budget. The scheme is now in its second year, and 20 project proposals have been received for the current round of funding.
The Mayor of the municipal district, Liana Janáčková, explained the idea behind the initiative:
“Everybody who submits an idea is responding to something they think our district needs – either something that is lacking, or something that needs improving. We have received projects to install public bicycle tyre pumps, special urban trampolines, a parkour area, a dog agility park, plus some great ideas for cultural and sporting events for all citizens of the district. We are delighted that local people have decided to get involved in the initiative for the second year running, and I can confirm they have suggested some excellent and valuable ideas that will potentially make a real positive impact on life here in our district.”
People can vote online at www.radniceprolidi.cz. Voting only applies to projects costing less than 150 000 CZK. The system is very simple. From one IP address it is possible to vote for a particular project once per day, or you can vote for several projects at the same time. The internet voting was launched on 1 February and remains open until the end of the month. Anybody with an internet connection can vote, regardless of their age or address. The project that receives the most votes will be implemented.
Deputy Mayor Patrik Hujdus gave more details:
“The online voting is not the end of the process. Like last year, we have divided the voting into two parts. Online voting will last throughout February, and then from 1–8 March citizens of the district will be able to vote for their favourite projects in person, at the town hall. Each voter will be able to choose up to five projects. They will also be able to cast a negative vote, against a particular project that they don’t think is a good idea.”
While the internet vote is open to everybody, only citizens with their permanent address in the Mariánské Hory a Hulváky municipal district (and aged 16 and above) are eligible to vote in person at the town hall. Patrik Hujdus explained: “The reason is that the second round of voting plays the decisive role in allocating the majority of the participative budget funding. And we think it’s important that the decision is made by people who actually live here in the district, and have a real stake in helping us to change things for the better. We’re greatly looking forward to the results of the vote. We all have our own favourites, of course, but the final decision rests with the people.”