WGBH, August 2024
Boston residents have less than a week left to suggest ideas on how some of the city’s money gets spent. The new practice, called “participatory budgeting,” shifts a modicum of control from the long held mayoral power over the city’s purse. It comes three years after Boston voters approved it and put in the city charter. So far, it’s generated hundreds of ideas, including a program that pays people to help senior residents clear leaves and snow from their yards and pathways.
Bessie Spriggs, a 76-year-old Mattapan resident who offered that proposal at a recent community ideas session, said she struggles to maintain her yard as she ages. “And then, landscaping business people are so expensive and I can’t afford to hire them to do that for me,” Spriggs said. “I would love to see a budget for that for seniors that are homeowners.”
