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By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — District 6 residents have chosen how Albuquerque should spend $1.7 million on neighborhood improvements. With 11 projects on the ballot and funding set aside for the top three, Councilor Nichole Rogers hopes to fund more of the community’s ideas.
District 6 residents cast 1,866 votes in the second annual participatory budgeting cycle, a 52% increase over last year’s 1,224 votes. “We actually exceeded our goal,” Rogers told The Paper.’s City Desk. From April to May, residents submitted 244 ideas across 12 workshops and neighbor-led outreach. A 22-member resident steering team whittled down the submissions to 11 finalists and led grassroots turnout efforts, including collecting ballots on the Central Avenue bus. Rogers said large community meetings drew the most voters, so she plans to hold more next time.
The city guarantees full funding for the top three projects. The wellness center led with 814 votes ($310,000 estimated cost). A proposal to convert a vacant building into a commercial kitchen placed second with 698 votes ($400,000). The International District skate park placed third with 575 votes ($400,000). To lower costs, the city is considering movable skate equipment over a permanent park. “We brought some cool skating equipment at Wilson Tennis Courts … and they loved it,” Rogers said, adding that movable equipment avoids constructing a whole park.
The city is securing formal quotes for the top three projects. If final costs fall below estimates, officials could also fund fourth-place pollinator gardens on Copper Avenue (566 votes) and fifth-place community park and aviation lot redevelopment (531 votes). Rogers hopes to secure extra funding through state capital outlay and New Mexico’s congressional delegation. She called funding more resident-proposed projects “a good problem to have.”
District 6 modeled its process in part on New York City’s approach. Rogers said an expert from Civic Trust, a New York-based nonprofit that helps run participatory budgeting programs, called District 6’s process “probably the most comprehensive… he’s ever seen” because it aligns with state and federal legislative sessions. Meanwhile, last year’s winning project, the People’s Market, is expected to open in late October. Implementation of this year’s winning projects will begin in 2027.
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