Ed tech, bus clock get Council funds

Tech was the byword in participatory budgeting this year. About 1,800 people voted to send $1 million in City Council funds to bus countdown clocks, security cameras and education technology in northwest Bronx Councilman Andrew Cohen’s district. Another winner in results announced last week was new heating and air conditioning at Mosholu Library.

“It really gets projects that are community-driven, that are driven by really first-hand, on-the-ground knowledge, which I find very helpful,” Mr. Cohen said of the participatory budgeting process, which began last year with meetings in which residents proposed ideas for projects to receive a total of $1 million set aside for the purpose.

Voters selected smart boards, laptops and other tech worth $300,000 for the High School of American Studies, the IN-Tech Academy, P.S. 16 Wakefield, P.S. 19, P.S. 340 and the International School for Liberal Arts; security cameras worth $300,000 to be established by the 50th, 52nd and 47th Precincts; and five bus countdown clocks to go throughout the district, worth $100,000. Mosholu Library’s new HVAC system will cost $400,000.

“We tried to group together projects or ideas that people had that could span the entire district,” said Mr. Cohen.

A spokeswoman for the IN-Tech Academy, located at 2975 Tibbett Ave., said the school will use its funds “to upgrade our infrastructure and to purchase supplies to support our student-run news program, the IN-Tech News Network.

“This program enables students to learn the various elements of broadcast journalism, while sharpening their STEM and literacy skills. Student production teams are developing news clips every day with the help of experts in journalism and digital broadcasting,” Arlene Mackin-Hyland added.

Mr. Cohen said he could not predict when the projects voters selected will get off the ground.

“Getting the shovels in the ground is painstakingly slow,” he said.

“I am spending a lot of time trying to get Oliver Koppell projects that haven’t broken ground yet,” he added in reference to his predecessor, who left office in 2013.