The People’s Budget: What’s Got Your Vote?

Rich Meagher:

Welcome to RVAs. Got Issues, the show that brings you the people and ideas that are reshaping Greater Richmond. I’m your host, rich Maher. It’s time to decide the people’s budget of Richmond. If you live in the city, the government has set aside $3 million of your money and now you get to decide what to do with it. This participatory budget program has reached the voting stage and now Richmonders age 14 and up can vote. Leidiana Delgado works on the people’s budget for the Richmond City Council and is here to talk about how we got this far and what’s next. Welcome Leidiana.

Leidiana Delgado:

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Rich Meagher:

Well, this has been a long time in the making, right? The original council resolution was 2019. Um, so now we’re finally in the home stretch where people are actually choosing specific things to do. How does that feel to get to this point?

Leidiana Delgado:

It’s exciting. This is a long time coming. The steering commission, uh, was developed around 2021.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm.

Leidiana Delgado:

And they created rule books to illustrate exactly how this process is gonna go. And myself and my team have just been, you know, following the rules. Much of my role has been connecting with community members in the city, whether they live, work or study there. And just asking them like, you know, what would you like to see happen in your community?

Rich Meagher:

Well, let’s talk about this a little more specifically, right? What is, when we talk about the people’s budget of Richmond, what are we talking about?

Leidiana Delgado:

We’re talking about community members money and how they wanna spend it in their neighborhoods.

Vox-Pop:

Oh, I think it’s important that we provide services and, and amenities for our GRTC bus services.

The community center improve the community center I think is very helpful for the children. It gives them something to do. Less crime going on. We do need more trees. Churchill was a historically redline area, so most redline areas don’t have enough trees.

Leidiana Delgado:

Think it’s more powerful to have community members illustrate what their neighborhoods need, rather than the city or a consultant coming in or an engineer coming in and telling them what they need. And I think what we’re doing here is taking this 3 million and yeah, sometimes it might feel like a carrot of that Folks are like, oh, 3 million is not a lot. Or Okay, we need to rapid speed all these things to get it done in our city. But it’s really about like connecting to the tax dollars, following it, seeing how it works, how does procurement happen and can we hold our city officials accountable and making sure that things get done.

Rich Meagher:

Okay, good. So let’s get to the specifics of this, right? Mm-hmm. So there’s $3 million pulled out of the rest of the budget and set aside, what are we gonna do with it? How are the city, the people of the city gonna decide how to spend it?

Leidiana Delgado:

Right. So, uh, community members proposed ideas. September through November we collected over 1900 ideas.

Rich Meagher:

Wow.

Leidiana Delgado:

Uh, steering commission voted on having 27 delegates. So three delegates per district.

Rich Meagher:

Right. The city council districts, the way the city’s carved up into these nine districts,

Leidiana Delgado:

Right? Correct. So once the folks that were representing our delegates were selected by our steering commission, which is also composed of residents of the city, they got together January through February and looked through every project that was submitted in all the districts, you know, took away that, uh, waterpark in downtown, but kept that bench at Forest Hill Park, or you know, so on.

Rich Meagher:

And it’s done by district. Right. So people in the seventh district are gonna vote on what happens in the seventh district, fourth and the fourth, that kind of thing, right?

Leidiana Delgado:

Yes.

Rich Meagher:

So talk a little bit about this evaluation process. How do we get from that 1900 to a dozen in each district?

Leidiana Delgado:

Much of those 1900 ideas that were coming from districts were folks like asking and pitching for similar things. So that’s a way that we narrowed down. And then also, like some things are just far beyond our reach, like a waterpark in downtown, that’s a multimillion dollar project. But, you know, thinking about little things that we can do to improve our, like general area and our community, those things we can pull out and put them on the ballot.

Rich Meagher:

So we’ve got delegates who come from the district who are trying to narrow down the list of projects for the district, and they’re gonna present them on a ballot to people in the district. Right. And so a lot of these ideas are, are gonna be district specific, but there’s still some citywide themes. There’s things like infrastructure just seems like a pretty standard idea. Improvements, the sidewalks, like the, the bus stops. And then there’s other big themes that seem to me like playgrounds and parks. That was also another kind of thing. Green spaces and things like that.

Leidiana Delgado:

Yes.

Rich Meagher:

Um, anything else seem like a big theme to you based on the, the numbers that came in,

Leidiana Delgado:

There was a quite a bit of arts and culture. One of the ideas that really impacted me learning about history of Admiral, uh, Gravely.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Leidiana Delgado:

The first black naval officer born in Richmond from the Fulton area. That was just Wow. To hear about, you know,

Rich Meagher:

And this is an idea, like to put a a a, a public statue or a bust or something, a memorial right. To him.

Leidiana Delgado:

Yes. And, uh, I quickly learned that this was an idea that’s been getting pitched for years and now like community members had an outlet to directly propose that and they proposed it in numbers

Rich Meagher:

And these kind of district specific stories too. Right. That’s someone from the seventh district, but also I know like in the eighth district, there were folks proposing like a welcome to South Side sign. Yeah. I used to live in the fourth district. Uh, there’s Wayside Springs this

Leidiana Delgado:

Mm-hmm.

Rich Meagher:

Weird little oasis in the middle of a residential neighborhood that has a natural spring in it. Um, so those kinds of like district specific ideas, it seems like this process is designed to help bring out as well. Right.

Leidiana Delgado:

Right. And I’ll tell you as a second district resident, uh, when I heard the budget delegates go to civic association meetings and talk about the bus stop at the Lombardy, Kroger. Yeah. Oh my God, people are so excited about that idea. And it’s touching because I go to the Lombardi, Kroger and I know that there’s not a bus shelter there. So I think things like that are, you know, impactful to us because we live in those districts, so we know.

Rich Meagher:

So why should people get so excited about a bus stop at the Lombardi, Kroger? Right. Or a bus or, or any of these single projects seem pretty small compared to the scope of government, but it seems like you get excited about it and you’re saying that the community gets excited about it. Why?

Leidiana Delgado:

Well, I live in that district and I represent district two and I think that when we think about those microscopic things that we as like district two residents see day to day and we’re frustrated about and somebody in the city paying attention to it, it’s like, ah, we’re being heard. So I think that’s important. I think it excites people.

Rich Meagher:

I think another part of the process here right, is, and the hope for the people’s budget is that you get people to understand how their government works a little bit more, right. To sort of build a little more trust. It seems like there’s a lot of distrust of city government in Richmond. Do you think that this is part of the effort to overcome that distrust?

Leidiana Delgado:

I think it’s a step in the right direction. $3 million is not going to solve all the problems that community members are seeing, but it is a foot in the door to the decision making rooms and to city hall

Rich Meagher:

And to help, uh, people understand that the delays are not necessarily someone being lazy or someone ignoring a request, but just the steps you have to go through to make something happen. Like a bench or a, a yield sign or, or something like that.

Leidiana Delgado:

Absolutely. And I think it’s also giving cost perspective. So, you know, I was shocked a little bit learning how much a tree costs. And what the,

Rich Meagher:

How much does a tree cost?

Leidiana Delgado:

You know, it, so it depends.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Leidiana Delgado:

Um, a regular tree in a park can cost about $500, but if it’s a tree in a space that has a high urban, um, heat index and it needs to go through concrete, it can be about $2,500.

Rich Meagher:

Wow. Okay. So the people are gonna choose, right. And the people in each district are gonna choose how do does that actually work? Right? We’re not having, uh, the state run this, like they would run a normal election, right. Registrars and things like that. And so it’s a city run process. So, so how does that work? Where do people vote? How is it gonna shake out?

Leidiana Delgado:

Yeah, so folks can vote in person or they can vote online. And we have a map showcasing all the locations we’re gonna be at in person on our website, rvapb.org. So we are going to be at the libraries every weekend. We’re gonna be at the squirrels opening day, and on the 15th with the squirrels, we’re gonna be at softwood apartments. We’re gonna be just everywhere around

Rich Meagher:

The city. Yeah. So, so where people are, you’re gonna try to be there.

Leidiana Delgado:

Absolutely. And I think that that’s our focus. We’re trying to meet people where they’re at during the week, and you come to us during the weekends at the library.

Rich Meagher:

And so let’s say I’m coming to the Squirrels game and I get there a little early and before I go and get my like giant beer, I’m gonna first vote, right? So, uh, I tell you what district I’m in, I get a ballot that has what on it, what am I looking at when I’m voting?

Leidiana Delgado:

You’re looking at, let’s say, um, let’s say you live in the fourth district. You’re gonna get that fourth district ballot. And on the front it’s gonna ask you for your name and your neighborhood and you’ll have a list of, uh, projects and you can vote on with the rank choice voting method.

Rich Meagher:

And so if your first choice isn’t chosen, it’s possible that your second choice might be. So it’s important to give that kind of input on the ballot,

Leidiana Delgado:

Right? Yeah. You are part of the economy that makes Richmond great, and you should have the opportunity to participate in something that’s going to impact you at least while you’re working in the city or studying in the city.

Rich Meagher:

So, uh, what would you say to our listeners? So I, I imagine some people are really jazzed about this and excited to vote. Some people might be a little either skeptical or unsure, like why it matters. What do you say to Richmonders to tell them, no, no, you should vote, you should participate. Why is that important?

Leidiana Delgado:

This is your money. Like this is your money. Um, and you worked really hard for it and you have invested into the city of Richmond. And I think that this is a way that you can hold, uh, the city accountable to making sure that your voice gets heard and that you are properly being represented in your district and that the ideas that came from you and your neighbors are getting funded.

Rich Meagher:

Leidiana Delgado is the civic engagement coordinator for the Richmond City Council. Thanks Leidiana.

Leidiana Delgado:

Thank you.

Rich Meagher:

It’s not just Leidiana and city government that got us to this point. It’s also real people like you listener Up next, we’ll hear from two of those people who got their budget hands dirty in an often overlooked district. That’s when we come back on RVAs got issues.

[Midroll Break]

Rich Meagher:

This is RVAs got issues. We’re talking about the people’s budget of Richmond. How did we get from 2000 ideas citywide to a handful in each district? The answer budget delegates, regular folks like you and me who volunteered to review all of their district’s ideas and then pick the most worthy ones to put before the voters. We’re joined now by two of the budget delegates for the East End, seventh District, Constance, Hull, and Javion Peterson. Welcome to you both.

Constance Hull:

Thanks.

Javion Peterson:

Thank you.

Rich Meagher:

So you read all this stuff for a, a pretty wide-ranging district, right? It reaches almost from the heart of the city, 14th Street. There’s almost rural part of the edges of the city right at Hanover Road. What brought you to this Javion?

Javion Peterson:

Yeah, I’ve always been interested in how government works and ways to get more involved. This was a great opportunity to get out there, talk to more people in my community, in my neighborhood, and also improve it. It was really great to, you know, wanna see Richmond succeed and then going out there to make sure it does with this opportunity to have our own money to do it was pretty cool.

Rich Meagher:

Constance, how about you? How’d you get involved?

Constance Hull:

I heard about people’s budget through some friends who were kind of following it. I have studied participatory budgeting sort of in my background, and I’ve looked at some of those projects before and thought it was a really cool thing and I had no idea Richmond was, was doing that and I thought it would be a really good idea or a good way to get more familiar with the city and the way that it works and just what my neighbors are submitting as ideas for the district.

Rich Meagher:

So the seventh district is in the middle of a, a, a transformation. It is the traditionally black communities out in the East end, but there is, you know, gentrification and development depending on your view of what that actually means. I know you’re both sort of relatively new maybe to the seventh district, but how did the knowledge of that history inform your review of these ideas? Right. The idea of what, what is right for the seventh district

Constance Hull:

For me, I actually work in, uh, the elementary schools in Richmond to do a programming there. So I’m quite familiar with the communities around there, through my work, the charge that we were given was pretty explicit to look at these projects through the lenses of impact of equity. And so that’s how we addressed it from day one, was like, who is most marginalized in these communities and how do we, um, prioritize projects that amplify their needs?

Javion Peterson:

It really just came down to people that have lived there for generations and people that are moving in when it comes down to like, thinking about what was right for the city, what was right for that part of the district. It was really just going out there to talk to them or going to their civic association meetings, um, and learning that history. So what I learned about Admiral Gravely and all the people that have come out of Churchill or come outta Richmond is just continued to fuel my, my, uh, passion for it.

Rich Meagher:

Some of the purpose of this participatory budgeting style of policymaking is that it’s supposed to teach people how government works. Have you’ve been learning about that while you’ve been doing this?

Constance Hull:

Absolutely, like how much a sidewalk costs. I just was floored to see some of these budget documents that we received from the city. Like we got a lot of compost requests and then talking to, uh, the community garden folks at the city, they’re like, well, we are actually at capacity and you can’t add a compost site because we wouldn’t be able to staff

The truck to go pick it up. Um, unless we have this giant blender that would, IM improve our efficiency of the, uh, compost. And then it’s like, okay, now we’re talking to the sixth district where they have the compost, uh, facility. Like all of these things that are so interconnected that I just had no idea what was behind the curtain. And some of these things are like not really behind the curtain. They’re actually just in documents that you can, anyone can search and find, but we have no idea where they are until they all get kind of pulled together for us in a Google document and they were like, oh my gosh. Like, wow, they’ve really done a lot of work.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. You’re you’re talking to someone who reads municipal strategic planning documents for fun. So you’re, you’re right in my wheelhouse here, but it’s hard to get people to understand where this stuff is or, or, or what the importance of it is. So do you have an idea that you wish you could see on the ballot, but you just know it isn’t gonna work?

Javion Peterson:

I mean, I’m a big fan of, uh, Jefferson Park, which is right in the seventh district. And a lot of the projects that were two infeasible were like building a dog park there or something like that. I wanted to see a dog park on Jefferson, uh, park because I have a small dog and I wanna walk him around over there. And I think it’d make it more attractive as a park, but it’s already beautiful enough and has a lot of great exercise equipment and stuff and it’s getting a lot of improvements from the city.

Rich Meagher:

That’s good. You gives a pitch for it. Still. Still Great Park.

Constance Hull:

That’s good. There’s some things that made it on there, but like the other thing was like the majority of the ideas were around sidewalk and pedestrian safety and we sort of as a group of delegates, like when we discovered A, how expensive sidewalks are and b, that there are other plans to dig up pipes that might then kind of undo the work that we propose, that we all sort of decided to not include sidewalk projects as a proposals. And, uh, I can imagine as a resident, if we saw so many ideas around pedestrian and sidewalk and public mobility, why, why they’re not appearing on the ballot, that could be frustrating.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. At at the same time though, there are projects on there that it’s easy to get excited about, particularly if they’re transforming the landscape, right? There’s a like a pocket park that stick in a, in a vacant lot. What is that about? And you’re both nodding at me, right?

Constance Hull:

It’s ’cause we love the pocket park.

Javion Peterson:

We love the pocket park. Yeah.

Constance Hull:

We don’t know exactly where the pocket park would be. We did think a lot about that Pocket Park. But that came up a lot, like more green spaces, more places for people to get together. So we’re happy we managed something on a ballot for it.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. My personal favorite is the Bat Houses and anything that kills mosquitoes in the parks. So part of the process too is that people will learn about government, maybe trust government a little bit more. Do you think that that’s gonna happen for community members or is it too much to ask of the first time through?

Javion Peterson:

I think it’ll happen. I think it’s happening now. Uh, we’ve had budget delegates go to more city council meetings. We’ve had more engagement just from our group of people and then the people that they know in their communities. Um, because these people were selected by the overseer of the people’s budget, so they had to know a lot of people in their communities in order to do this work. So I think we’ve seen more people at, uh, city council meetings trying to get the budget, uh, fulfilled and, and into the this year’s budget. And I think it’s already doing that work, which is I appreciate.

Constance Hull:

Yeah, I definitely think it’s doing the work among the delegates. I think among the public, what is required is for the projects that get voted on to actually be implemented within the timeframe. Otherwise, I think it could actually do harm to public trust because it’s like, well, where did that, where did that project that, where’s my pocket park? Where’s my bat house? Right. You know, I voted for that. You need

Rich Meagher:

To follow through, right?

Constance Hull:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And so that’s my concern is like, is there a mechanism in place if this does get funded for it to be implemented and maintained, like it’s one thing to have capital improvement projects, but how do they, you know, who takes the compost or who takes the trash outta the trash can? Does that also get built into the budget?

Rich Meagher:

And, and do you feel confident that that’s gonna happen? How, what’s your confidence level in the city, um, you know, taking on these projects and making them happen?

Constance Hull:

Well, I would say the folks that came and talked to us were very enthusiastic about providing us information about the city and trying really to help us have as the most information that we could have. I think it just comes down to if it makes it in the budget and if this process continues for the next two cycles, which, um, I had no idea when I started that this, there was a possibility that this didn’t, uh, get funded. And that sort of became a call to action to the delegates as we proceeded through the month or two that we were together.

Javion Peterson:

Yeah, I mean, we put a lot of work in and talk to a lot of stakeholders throughout the community and so, uh, I feel confident that we’ll have to continue to advocate, uh, in order to get it into this year’s budget, into the next few cycles. Uh, but I’m, I’m comfortable with the people around us that are our supporters and we’ve had city council members when we went to the governmental operations meeting, say like, we do support this and we’re trying to make sure that we can do what we can, uh, as city councilors, uh, to include it.

Rich Meagher:

Constance Hull and Javion Peterson are seventh district budget delegates for the people’s budget of Richmond vote. Everyone. Thanks to you both.

Constance Hull:

Thank you. Thank you.

Rich Meagher:

That’s our show. Thanks to our guests, Leidiana Delgado, Constance Hull, and Javion Peterson. Next up we want to hear from you. In an upcoming episode, we’ll be talking with Henrico County manager John Vithoulkas. If you’ve got a question for the county manager, call our listener voicemail line and leave us a message at (804) 560-8108. That’s 8 0 4 5 6 0 8 1 0 8. You can also visit our website, rvasgotissues.vpm.org. RVAs Got Issues is produced by Max Wasserman and Rachel Dwyer. Donna Lack is our script editor. Audio Mix by Steve Lack. Our intern is Cate McKenzie. Our theme music was composed by Alexander Hitchens. Meg Lindholm is our executive producer. Steve Humble is VPM’s Chief Content Officer. I’m your host, Rich Meagher. Thanks for listening.