OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Columbus Participatory Budgeting Pilot Public Hearing - April 27, 2026

Council Committees — Monday, April 27, 2026
BodyColumbus, Ohio
SessionCouncil Committees
DateMonday, April 27, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:25:14

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

We'll go ahead and get started and uh call this hearing to order.

0:03

Thank you for joining us for this participatory budget pilot public hearing.

0:07

Uh, the purpose of this hearing is to unveil uh and review the framework of the colon of Columbus's first participatory budgeting pilot and to share next steps with the community on how they can begin to engage in this process.

0:23

For those who are unfamiliar, participatory budgeting is a democratic process where community members uh directly decide and or influence how to spend part of a public budget, typically through brainstorming, proposal development, and voting.

0:40

Uh, this process currently takes place in many municipalities across the country and governments worldwide, including New York City, Boston, and Seattle, just to name a few.

0:51

I've been a fan of this concept for quite a while, uh, participatory budgeting and uh really pushed hard for us to bring this process to our city uh in starting earnest uh last year.

1:03

Thanks to the support of community partners, our residents, and some outside expertise.

1:08

We now have a framework on how this process will play out in our city.

1:14

Uh, the unique thing about participatory budgeting is that it's different per city and looks different in each community.

1:21

As a foundation for the process, uh, I was able to secure with the support of my colleagues nine million dollars in last year's capital budget, in which we amended the CIP.

1:31

And so in this year's budget, you will see uh nine million dollars in the capital improvements budget for this pilot.

1:36

The nine million dollar pot will be split among the nine council districts, leading to a one million dollar pot for each district.

1:43

With us tonight, we have several presenters, both internal and external, who will share details on how the framework has uh was developed, their role in the process to date, and how our residents can start to engage in the process moving forward.

1:59

After the presentations are concluded, we will open the floor to public comment, followed by closing remarks and next steps.

2:06

Uh, before I go any further ado, any of my colleagues want to thank my colleagues for joining me, Councilman Remy and Councilmember Day Akauer.

2:11

Any uh opening remarks from either of you, Councilmember?

2:13

Remember, thank you so much, Chair Bangston for holding this hearing and for the work, Melissa.

2:19

Thank you for getting this pilot to this point.

2:22

Participate participatory budgeting is it's a hard word to say in total.

2:28

Uh it's an exciting idea because it gives residents a more direct hand in getting what gets built, shaping and what gets built in our neighborhoods.

2:38

And in a moment, when a lot of people want to feel more connected to the local government, that matters.

2:43

What stands out to me about this pilot is that it was designed with resident input from the very beginning, with a steering committee representing all nine council districts, and that the process is clearly trying to reach people who are often left out of traditional civic engagement.

3:01

With nine million set aside and a million for each district, this is a meaningful opportunity to build trust, generate new ideas, and show residents that their voices can lead to substantive results.

3:15

At the same time, I think it's important that we understand how this will work in practice, how we make participation broad and fair, and how we move ideas into projects that are actually deliverable and how we set this up for long-term success beyond the pilot phase.

3:31

So that's what I'm excited to learn about tonight.

3:34

Appreciate the work.

3:35

Thank you both.

3:36

And uh look forward to the rest of the comments.

3:39

Thank you, Councilmember Remy.

3:41

Councilmember De Alcau.

3:46

When this whole started thing started, I had the general understanding of what it was, but the amount of work that this committee went into to kind of create the structure to make it happen has just been really impressive.

4:01

Because it's real easy to say, well, I know what to do to you know get input to spend money in a community, but to create a structure so that we can ensure that um that the people really have an opportunity to participate in ways that are meaningful as just a really exciting um project for me.

4:22

So I'm looking forward to hearing where you all are at right now.

4:27

Uh thank you, Councilmember.

4:28

And yes, uh, participatory budgeting is a mouthful.

4:31

So around here we just call it PB.

4:33

So you hear me say PB for the rest of the hearing, uh, that is what we were referring to.

4:38

Um so again, thank you for my colleagues to join us.

4:40

I know that more will probably uh join us as well.

4:43

Uh so first up, um joining us virtually, uh we have Kayla uh Knight with the participatory budgeting project.

5:14

PBP works with communities across the US and Canada to decide together how best to spend public money.

5:21

Since 2009, they have collaborated with grassroots organizations and government partners to launch PB processes in over 40 cities, empowering more than 739,000 people to directly decide how to spend over 400 million dollars in public funds.

5:39

And so we were so grateful to have them by our side through this process to your point, Catholic member Dayakhauer.

5:45

Uh, when we thought about this, you could easily say, yeah, we know what we're doing, but we wanted to get the best of the best and have expertise uh walking alongside of us, and so really thankful for PVP and their partnership.

5:56

And with that, I will turn it over to Kayla, and the virtual floor is yours.

6:03

Thank you so much for that incredible introduction.

6:06

My name is Kayla Knight, and I am the director of technical assistance here at the Dissipatory Budgeting Project.

6:13

And I am so happy to be here with you all this evening.

6:17

Um, and just in partnership with you as you all are creating your participatory budgeting process.

6:23

And I am a joined today by two of my colleagues, um, Edna and Rahel.

6:29

Um, and so I am gonna go ahead and get us started.

6:33

Um you all know who we are a little bit from the the introduction.

6:39

Um, so just to kind of like go ahead and get into what is participatory budgeting, as folks have already said, it is in fact a mouthful.

6:49

So I will be uh using PB instead of disparatory budgeting uh throughout the presentation today.

6:56

So, what is participatory budgeting?

6:59

Um, it is a process where community members come together to decide how to spend a portion of a public budget.

7:08

And so thinking about sorry slides, okay.

7:16

So thinking about, you know, why does this matter?

7:21

So when we talk about why this matters, we have to start with how decisions about public money are usually made.

7:29

And they're often made through existing processes that don't always include those that are most impacted.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Community Engagement█████████████████████████████████████████████79%
Technology and Innovation██████11%
Fiscal Sustainability████7%
Parks and Recreation█2%
Equity in Transportation█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Columbus Participatory Budgeting Pilot Public Hearing - April 27, 2026

Councilmember Bangston convened a public hearing on April 27, 2026, to unveil the framework for Columbus's first participatory budgeting (PB) pilot, titled "Our Voice, Our Choice." The hearing featured presentations from the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), the city's Legislative Research Office, a steering committee representative, and the nonprofit One Project, which is building the online platform "Common." A single public commenter, Luca Weinberger, expressed concerns about a separate city decision regarding McCoy Park, questioning whether the council would honor community input. Councilmember Bangston closed by announcing the selection of community partner organizations for each district and a timeline for the process.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Luca Weinberger, a Hilltop resident and artist whose mural appears in the PB guidebook, testified in support of the PB process but criticized the city council for what he described as a broken promise regarding McCoy Park. He referenced a recent vote to lease park acreage for a National Women’s Soccer League training facility, arguing that the city had spent nearly $900,000 in tax funds on research for park upgrades, then changed course without community input. He stated that the council's actions undermine trust in the PB process and urged the council to return to the table with the NWSL to fulfill the original park commitment. Councilmember Bangston responded by defending the PB pilot and the work of the steering committee, and stated that a process is underway to deliver the promised park amenities on the Southwest side.

Discussion Items

  • Opening Remarks: Councilmember Bangston introduced the hearing, noting that $9 million was secured in the capital budget for the PB pilot, split equally among the nine council districts ($1 million per district). Councilmembers Remy and Day-Achauer expressed support, with Remy emphasizing the importance of resident input and trust-building, and Day-Achauer praising the structure created by the steering committee.
  • Presentation by Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP): Kayla Knight (Director of Technical Assistance) explained PB as a process where community members directly decide how to spend public money. She contrasted PB with traditional engagement (surveys, hearings) and described the typical phases: planning, design (steering committee creates guidebook), idea collection, proposal development (by budget delegates), voting, and evaluation. She highlighted equity considerations: meaningful funding, community leadership, inclusive design, and intentional outreach. She noted that PB has been implemented in over 7,000 places worldwide, including Boston, New York, and Seattle. She answered questions about process evolution from year to year and best practices for pilot phases, emphasizing patience, moving at the speed of trust, and embracing conflict as a path to transparency.
  • Presentation by Legislative Research Office: Matt Erickson (Director) and Melissa Biela (former PB coordinator) provided background on the city's capital budget and prior resident-engagement programs (e.g., Urban Infrastructure Recovery Fund - UIRF). Erickson explained that capital projects are multi-year, debt-financed, and often slow by design (e.g., right-of-way acquisition). He noted that UIRF focused on underinvested neighborhoods but had limited broader community engagement. The PB pilot aims to give residents more direct influence. Biela described the steering committee selection process: 18 members (two per district) were nominated by community organizations, attended 11 workshops from November to February, and created a guidebook. She also explained the recruitment of community organizations to lead outreach and engagement during idea collection and voting.
  • Steering Committee Representative: Lawrence Jackson (District 6, Hilltop) shared his personal background and motivation for serving. He described the committee’s work as collaborative, with members from diverse backgrounds who prioritized values and principles. He emphasized that the process was resident-led, with city officials intentionally stepping back. He responded to council questions about capturing larger community needs beyond the $1 million projects, noting that steering committee members are engaging with local leaders and area commissions. He stressed the importance of transparency and maintaining the committee's values.
  • Presentation by One Project (Common Platform): Ilana Jacobs (Head of Platform) and Zaana Hall demonstrated the online platform "Common," designed to support the PB process from idea submission through implementation tracking. Features include: multilingual submission, budget delegate review tools, ranked-choice voting (as recommended by the steering committee), SMS/WhatsApp voting options, and a public record of funded projects. Jacobs confirmed the platform can provide aggregated analytics on keywords and themes. Councilmember Bangston asked about in-person voting options; Jackson confirmed that both digital and paper ballots will be available.
  • Closing Remarks: Councilmember Bangston announced the selected community partner organizations for each district (e.g., Ohio Hispanic Coalition for District 1, Transit Columbus for District 6). The guidebook is available on the city council website and will be distributed in print. The Common platform will go live the week of July 6, 2026. A resolution to support the guidebook will be introduced on May 18, 2026. Bangston thanked the steering committee, city staff, and partners, and expressed excitement for the pilot.

Key Outcomes

  • Guidebook Released: The steering committee’s guidebook, "Our Voice, Our Choice Budget," is now public and outlines the PB process, eligibility, outreach, and project criteria.
  • Community Partners Selected: Nine organizations were named to lead outreach and engagement in each council district, effective immediately.
  • Platform Launch Date: The Common online platform will go live the week of July 6, 2026.
  • Upcoming Resolution: Councilmember Bangston will introduce a resolution on May 18, 2026, to formally acknowledge and support the guidebook.
  • Voting Methods: Both in-person (paper ballot) and digital (online, SMS/WhatsApp) voting options will be available, as recommended by the steering committee.
  • Public Trust Concerns: The public commenter raised concerns about the McCoy Park decision, which Councilmember Bangston addressed by stating that a process is underway to deliver the promised park amenities.

Meeting Transcript

We'll go ahead and get started and uh call this hearing to order. Thank you for joining us for this participatory budget pilot public hearing. Uh, the purpose of this hearing is to unveil uh and review the framework of the colon of Columbus's first participatory budgeting pilot and to share next steps with the community on how they can begin to engage in this process. For those who are unfamiliar, participatory budgeting is a democratic process where community members uh directly decide and or influence how to spend part of a public budget, typically through brainstorming, proposal development, and voting. Uh, this process currently takes place in many municipalities across the country and governments worldwide, including New York City, Boston, and Seattle, just to name a few. I've been a fan of this concept for quite a while, uh, participatory budgeting and uh really pushed hard for us to bring this process to our city uh in starting earnest uh last year. Thanks to the support of community partners, our residents, and some outside expertise. We now have a framework on how this process will play out in our city. Uh, the unique thing about participatory budgeting is that it's different per city and looks different in each community. As a foundation for the process, uh, I was able to secure with the support of my colleagues nine million dollars in last year's capital budget, in which we amended the CIP. And so in this year's budget, you will see uh nine million dollars in the capital improvements budget for this pilot. The nine million dollar pot will be split among the nine council districts, leading to a one million dollar pot for each district. With us tonight, we have several presenters, both internal and external, who will share details on how the framework has uh was developed, their role in the process to date, and how our residents can start to engage in the process moving forward. After the presentations are concluded, we will open the floor to public comment, followed by closing remarks and next steps. Uh, before I go any further ado, any of my colleagues want to thank my colleagues for joining me, Councilman Remy and Councilmember Day Akauer. Any uh opening remarks from either of you, Councilmember? Remember, thank you so much, Chair Bangston for holding this hearing and for the work, Melissa. Thank you for getting this pilot to this point. Participate participatory budgeting is it's a hard word to say in total. Uh it's an exciting idea because it gives residents a more direct hand in getting what gets built, shaping and what gets built in our neighborhoods. And in a moment, when a lot of people want to feel more connected to the local government, that matters. What stands out to me about this pilot is that it was designed with resident input from the very beginning, with a steering committee representing all nine council districts, and that the process is clearly trying to reach people who are often left out of traditional civic engagement. With nine million set aside and a million for each district, this is a meaningful opportunity to build trust, generate new ideas, and show residents that their voices can lead to substantive results. At the same time, I think it's important that we understand how this will work in practice, how we make participation broad and fair, and how we move ideas into projects that are actually deliverable and how we set this up for long-term success beyond the pilot phase. So that's what I'm excited to learn about tonight. Appreciate the work. Thank you both. And uh look forward to the rest of the comments. Thank you, Councilmember Remy. Councilmember De Alcau. When this whole started thing started, I had the general understanding of what it was, but the amount of work that this committee went into to kind of create the structure to make it happen has just been really impressive. Because it's real easy to say, well, I know what to do to you know get input to spend money in a community, but to create a structure so that we can ensure that um that the people really have an opportunity to participate in ways that are meaningful as just a really exciting um project for me. So I'm looking forward to hearing where you all are at right now. Uh thank you, Councilmember. And yes, uh, participatory budgeting is a mouthful. So around here we just call it PB. So you hear me say PB for the rest of the hearing, uh, that is what we were referring to. Um so again, thank you for my colleagues to join us. I know that more will probably uh join us as well. Uh so first up, um joining us virtually, uh we have Kayla uh Knight with the participatory budgeting project. PBP works with communities across the US and Canada to decide together how best to spend public money. Since 2009, they have collaborated with grassroots organizations and government partners to launch PB processes in over 40 cities, empowering more than 739,000 people to directly decide how to spend over 400 million dollars in public funds. And so we were so grateful to have them by our side through this process to your point, Catholic member Dayakhauer. Uh, when we thought about this, you could easily say, yeah, we know what we're doing, but we wanted to get the best of the best and have expertise uh walking alongside of us, and so really thankful for PVP and their partnership. And with that, I will turn it over to Kayla, and the virtual floor is yours. Thank you so much for that incredible introduction. My name is Kayla Knight, and I am the director of technical assistance here at the Dissipatory Budgeting Project. And I am so happy to be here with you all this evening. Um, and just in partnership with you as you all are creating your participatory budgeting process. And I am a joined today by two of my colleagues, um, Edna and Rahel.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com