Residents of three wards of the capital allocated 64 thousand for environmental management themselves. euros. This is a pilot project "Participate!" Vilnius", with which the communities themselves can distribute the funds provided in the budget for the improvement of the infrastructure of the municipalities.
Racial community 15 thousand. allocated 18 euros for the construction of the beach near Vilnius, the residents of Justiniškii paid XNUMX euros. will be spent on a walking path in all weather conditions, and the Verkių municipality allocated its budget to two ideas: fitness and football pitches in Balsiai.
The best and most needed ideas for the communities were collected by the residents of Rasa from 4 selected projects, Justiniškii - from 7, Verkii - from 20. Vilnius residents who are active and indifferent to their environment registered a total of 100 proposals to improve the living environment of their community on the platform vážík.vilnius.lt. Since not all ideas met the conditions of participatory budgeting, 31 fought for the right to be implemented.
A total of 1428 votes were cast for the most liked idea or ideas. 75 residents of Rasų borough voted for the installation of the beach near Vilnelė, 80 for the all-weather walking path in Justiniškės, 106 for the training ground on Balsių street, 194 for the football field for Balsi residents.
"We want Vilnius residents to feel like they are the owners of their city. For the first time in the history of the capital, we invited the residents to contribute to the budget distribution of the three wards. "Participate!" The proposals received by Vilnius" show that we are real creators, dreamers and thinkers, who have a lot of beautiful ideas about what new, unique and exclusive things could be implemented in Vilnius. The idea of involving the communities worked and already next year we will be able to visit and test the realized proposals", - Lina Koriznienė, director of the Vilnius city administration, summarized the participatory budget project implemented for the first time by the capital.
Project "Participate!" Vilnius" was held for the first time and in the future could become a prototype for organizing the participatory budget of the entire population of Vilnius. Residents could propose solutions to the community's pressing issues one by one or by cooperating in groups of like-minded people. Vilnius residents could submit proposals for the "Greenery", "Small architecture", "Sports", "Recreation and leisure" categories.
According to Lina Rimkevičienė, the elder of the Rasa township, the project was great because the township heard and learned very clearly what is important to the residents, what their expectations and visions are, what the city could implement or fix in the future.
"The winning idea "Vilnelė Beach" very well reflects the specificity, uniqueness and natural beauty of the ward and the residents' desire to enjoy quality leisure time," said L. Rimkevičienė.
According to the elder of Verkių ward, the project "Participate!" Vilnius" encourages community spirit and allows the residents of the ward to feel like they are the masters of the city, solving topical issues. During the first project, 20 great ideas were received from residents for the improvement of Verkii's environment. The project showed the expectations of the community, highlighted the needs of individual blocks of the ward, and encouraged residents to submit bold ideas.
"This year, the idea that received the most support from the population and was planned to be implemented in the Balsiai microdistrict won. The ideas recognized by the residents as the best for installing football and fitness fields are focused on an active lifestyle, outdoor leisure time and will improve the active recreation conditions of Balsi residents," said Rasius Virbalas, the elder of Verkių seniunija.
Tomas Lilas, who is temporarily acting as the elder of Justiniškii, says that the project "Participate!" Vilnius" helped the residents of the ward clarify problems, assess their relevance and objectively choose the best idea.
"Walking path in Justiniškės in all weather conditions" received the most votes in the precinct. Although this project is not large-scale, after its implementation, we believe that the mood of the people of Justinish will improve significantly", said T. Lilas.
