Photo: Courtesy of City of Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Cambridge residents voted this month to make free hygiene products for women and infants more accessible in all city-owned buildings.
For its tenth participatory budgeting cycle, city officials collected over 1,100 ideas on how to spend $2,065,000 on projects to improve Cambridge. The list was whittled down to a final ballot of 20 proposals.
"It gives community members the opportunity to set the agenda on the issues and the projects that are important to them," said Jackson Price, Cambridge's principal budget analyst and participatory budgeting manager.
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10,522 people aged 12 and older took part in the vote between March 7 and March 17.
The "Free Menstrual Care and Infant Hygiene Products" project came in first place with 4,423 votes. Soon, all city-owned restrooms—including men's restrooms—will not only continue to have free menstrual products, but will also have free diapers, baby wipes, and other products.
"The addition of infant hygiene products as well is a new component of making these types of materials accessible," Price told WBZ NewsRadio Friday.
$85,000 will go towards the hygiene project. The remaining money will go towards the projects that came in 2nd-7th place in the vote:
- Additional Supplies for Unhoused Residents ($50,000)
- Expanding Space for Street Trees ($100,000)
- Improve Safety for Pedestrians ($400,000)
- Smart Traps for Rat Reduction ($360,000)
- Smart Recycling and Trash Compactors ($120,000)
- Shaded Seats on Hot Streets ($450,000)
- Public Toilet for Park Upgrade ($500,000)
"These projects are typically so well received because they come from the community members that will benefit from the services of the project," Price said.
The full results of the participatory budgeting vote can be found here.
WBZ's James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.
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