For the sixth year in a row, Riga local government invited residents to be decision-makers in their neighbourhoods and vote for neighbourhood development ideas submitted by residents, until the end of October. More than 29,000 residents took part in the vote, selecting seven ideas to be implemented by the local government over the next few years.
The Participatory Budget is an opportunity for residents to decide how part of the city budget is spent, both by submitting neighbourhood development ideas and voting on which ones the municipality should implement. This year the funding of the Participatory Budget is € 700 000, with a maximum of € 100 000 per project.
Voting for the 22 neighbourhood development ideas submitted for the Participatory Budget Competition took place at site balso.riga.lv and in person at the Customer Service Points of the Riga Neighbourhood Population Centre. Each resident was entitled to vote for one project. Any person aged 16 or over was eligible to participate in the vote.
The results of the vote were confirmed on 14 November. Out of the 22 projects put to the vote, 29,396 residents chose seven for implementation:
- Playground and sports ground in Purvciems, Stirnu Street (partial implementation). The project received 3,023 votes;
- Pļavnieki Park sports area (with modifications). The project received 2,847 votes;
- Teika and Čiekurkalns cycle route! (partial implementation). The project received 2,702 votes;
- Walking paths in the Sun Garden in Mežaparks (with modifications). The project received 2,659 votes;
- Recreation and sports area (with modifications). The project received 2,643 votes;
- Bolderāja skate park "JUMIS" (with modifications). The project received 2,601 votes;
- Shading in Barons Square (with modifications). The project received 2,483 votes.
Both neighbourhood associations and individuals submitted their ideas to the competition for participatory budget project ideas from 11 March to 31 May. For the third year running, residents had the opportunity to participate in project development workshops, during which consultations with municipal experts were available to prepare high-quality project applications. Support in the preparation of project sketches was provided also by students of the RTU Faculty of Architecture.
Riga Municipality has been organising the Participatory Budget Competition and resident vote since 2019; this year was the sixth edition of the event. Since 2019, a total of 216 project applications have been submitted by Riga residents. 46 projects have been submitted for implementation over the first five years of the competition. Of these, 26 projects have been fully implemented and 20 are currently in various stages of implementation.
For more details about the project competition and the projects approved and implemented in the previous years, visit www.riga.lv and www.balso.riga.lv; you can also receive this information by phone +37167037647.
Information was prepared by: Sabīne Solovjeva, Project Coordinator for External Communications Department of Riga City Council Communication Administration, email: sabine.solovjeva@riga.lv.