Ben Kallos, Re-Elect to New York City Council in 2017 - Jobs

Crane Modernization Act Passes City Council

Feed — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Jobs

Public Safety

Crane Modernization Act Passes City Council

Completing a five-year effort by city government to improve safety operations for construction cranes, the City Council today passed the Crane Modernization Act Int. 443-A, which requires the City of New York and developers to remove older cranes from operation by limiting how long they can be in service to 25 years.

The Legislation Introduced by Council Member Kallos Limits the Age of Cranes Operating in New York City at 25 years
New York, NY– Completing a five-year effort by city government to improve safety operations for construction cranes, the City Council today passed the Crane Modernization Act Int. 443-A, which requires the City of New York and developers to remove older cranes from operation by limiting how long they can be in service to 25 years. Cranes will be removed from service based on the original date of manufacture, or based on the age of the crane’s oldest component, whichever is greater. This age limit is being imposed as part of an effort to improve the safety of crane operations at construction sites in New York City. Modernization of crane inventory would reflect advances in design, technology, and safetymaking this inherently precarious business safer.

Cranes remaining in operation for prolonged periods of time are more susceptible to stress and fatigue. Older cranes develop heightened maintenance needs over time and the failure of certain parts, or defunct manufactures, make conducting proper repairs on older crane models more difficult. A strict limit on the service life of cranes is designed to ensure that older models are continually replaced with the most sophisticated and advanced equipment available. Requiring crane owners to update their fleet and make new cranes available will help maintain New York City’s position as a worldwide leader in construction. A version of this legislation was originally introduced to the City Council at the request of the Mayor Bloomberg in 2013 and then reintroduced in a new session by Council Member Kallos in 2014.

"Safety should be front and center on constructions sites in New York City. Pedestrians should feel confident about the cranes working above them just as construction workers should be safe as they do their job," said Council Member Ben Kallos. "By forcing City inspectors and construction companies to phase-out cranes after 25 years the Crane Modernization Act will serve to keep pedestrians and constructions workers safe at all times by preventing accidents caused by older less technologically advanced equipment."

Since 2008, the Department of Buildings has taken steps to reduce the age of the crane fleet in New York City and discontinue the use of aging cranes. Newer crane models are generally electric, require less maintenance, have improved controls and advanced safety features, and are better for the environment. Requiring crane owners to update their crane fleet and make new cranes available will help maintain New York City’s position as a worldwide leader in construction.

Our Town Father’s Day Strike At The Hamilton BY MADELEINE THOMPSON by Madeleine Thompson

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 06:12:03 +0000

Our Town

Father’s Day Strike At The Hamilton BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

http://www.nypress.com/local-news/20160621/father8217s-day-strike-at-the-hamilto...

Madeleine Thompson

A group of families celebrated Father’s Day last Sunday by participating in a union strike at 1735 York Avenue and E. 90th Street.

Members of 32BJ who work at the building — along with their children, some of the tenants, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Council Member Ben Kallos — were there to protest their treatment by Bonjour Capital, which bought the building from Glenwood Management. The strike started last Thursday and ended Monday morning

A group of families celebrated Father’s Day last Sunday by participating in a union strike at 1735 York Avenue and E. 90th Street.

“As far as I understand it, they haven’t come to any conclusion about going back to our regular pay, and we don’t have benefits,” said Marcella Elson, the Hamilton’s shop steward. She is one of 14 remaining union members who work in the building, out of the 17 who were there when Bonjour took over in May.

Bonjour has announced that it would be de-unionizing, and cut workers’ pay from $23 per hour to $12, while extending the work week to six days and declining to offer any benefits. Elson said she and her colleagues have not heard anything from Bonjour since the strike started, though the company did send a letter to the building’s tenants. The letter called the strike a “scare tactic” and described the union’s conduct as having a “loose grip on reality.” It also alleged that the strike was unlawful because it did not notify management, the tenants or the service companies management hired to replace the union. Bonjour Capital could not be reached for comment.

The union’s district director John Santos insisted that 32BJ would fight for the workers’ rights as long as it takes. “[Bonjour] has a game plan, and that game is that they’re greedy and are trying to make all the money off the workers’ backs,” Santos said. “We’re in it til we win it.”

Santos and Elson also expressed appreciation for the support of the building’s tenants, who provided them with coffee, food and support during their strike. “Things are heating up in the building,” said L. Gail, a tenant who asked to be identified by her first initial so as not to be singled out by the management. “There was overwhelming support by the tenants for the strikers at our building. My personal experience, and many others at the building, found a definite lapse in security. Bonjour Capital hired a few temporary people to be at the front door. However, since they could not distinguish the tenants from outsiders, people were just walking in and out of the building.” Gail also pointed out lapses in cleanliness and timely delivery due to the fact that the UPS and FedEx workers would not cross the picket line.

Elson, who has worked at the Hamilton for more than 21 years, is preoccupied by worries of how she will pay for diabetes medication now that her wages have been cut almost in half. “It’s frustrating, especially when it comes to the end of the day and there’s no money,” she said. “We’re determined that we’re going to see it out. We’re going to stay and fight.”

Issue:

Jobs

Manhattan Express Push For an East 86th Street BID Steps Up This Week by Jackson Chen

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:22:08 +0000

Manhattan Express

Push For an East 86th Street BID Steps Up This Week

http://www.manhattanexpressnews.com/push-east-86th-street-bid-steps-week/

Jackson Chen

11/01/2015

“86th Street is one of the busiest commercial corridors in the city,” Kallos said, noting that the 86th Street stop on the Lexington Avenue line is among the subway system’s top 10 in commuter usage. “Many other locations have BIDs, and this one was long overdue.”

The effort to create the district will step up this week as a survey is sent out to take the neighborhood’s temperature on having a BID. The survey includes basic information about BIDs and a questionnaire regarding neighborhood conditions, quality of life problems, and desired services.

“Rather than trying to deal with the problems on a case-by-case basis, it would be better to deal with it in the long term by creating a BID for that part of the neighborhood,” Kallos said.

Local officials and stakeholders are working together in an effort to bring a Business Improvement District to the busiest stretch of East 86th Street and surrounding commercial strips.

Home to one of the more stressed train stations in the city, East 86th Street has garbage cans that are often filled past the brim, with sidewalks littered with floating scraps.

“The garbage cans are overflowing, there are vendors who are not obeying the rules, there’s paper on the sidewalks and in the gutter,” said Susan Gottridge, vice president of the East 86th Street Association.

To resolve the sanitation situation, among others issues, the idea of a Business Improvement District (BID) has recently been in the works. Gottridge, who sits on the steering committee charged with creating the East 86th Street BID, said the problem stems from the area being heavily trafficked, especially immediately surrounding the extremely busy 86th Street train station for the 4, 5, and 6 lines at Lexington Avenue.

Usually located in areas that face unique challenges or economic or environmental stresses, BIDs are nonprofit organizations that rely on modest assessments on nearby businesses and property owners and more token contributions from residential buildings to keep a neighborhood well maintained. Providing services including sanitation and neighborhood beautification, 72 BIDs have already cropped up across the city. For the area around East 86th Street to become Manhattan’s 26th BID, City Councilmembers Ben Kallos and Daniel Garodnick have been leading a steering committee that includes the participation of the East 86th Street Association, Carnegie Hill Neighbors, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, and area businesses.

“Rather than trying to deal with the problems on a case-by-case basis, it would be better to deal with it in the long term by creating a BID for that part of the neighborhood,” Kallos said.

BIDs vary one from another based on what local stakeholders deem as priorities. According to the survey, which was provided to Manhattan Express, residents and owners can check off services like sidewalk sweeping, trash pick-ups, seasonal flowers, safety and security initiatives, and business marketing, among many others.

At this early stage in the process, the borders of the East 86th Street district have yet to be determined. While the district could range as widely as from East 80th Street north to East 92nd Street and from Lexington Avenue east to First Avenue, Kallos said final boundaries would be determined through community input and the steering committee’s recommendations.

In addition to addressing this issue, the steering committee will also determine the operating budget to be funded through community assessments. Residential buildings can expect to pay $1 a year, according to Kallos, while commercial properties’ contributions will be based on either square footage or property value.

Kallos said he expects the budget to most likely come in somewhere in the six figures. In comparison, BIDs in Midtown have budgets exceeding $5 million, while other districts in Brooklyn and the Bronx get by with less than $250,000.

“It doesn’t have to be a BID that has to advertise worldwide,” said Lo van der Valk, president of the Carnegie Hill Neighbors. “We don’t have to do the extra bells and whistles that BIDs sometimes do. We can devote it to the cleaning.”

While many members of the steering committee have seen generally positive attitudes toward the idea of a BID, this will be the third attempt at forming one around East 86th Street.

According to Nancy Ploeger, president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, the first two attempts fizzled after major property owners in the middle of the proposed BID showed strong opposition.

Ploeger, who sits on the steering committee, said the latest BID proposal has cast a wide net for stakeholders, and she doesn’t expect many naysayers. The general public, she explained, has developed a more positive view of BIDs in recent years, having seen the benefits they have brought to other neighborhoods.

Kallos said he’s been able to learn from past failures and expects this BID to garner a strong community vote.

“The goal is if we can get 50 percent plus one of the stakeholders to come to the meetings, we should be in great shape,” he said. “We’re just trying to make sure the community, businesses, and commercial property owners have a voice in the decision.”

Any final plan for a BID would require City Council approval.

Issue:

Jobs

Crain's New York City plans to appeal case that favored crane-operator union by Joe Anuta

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:22:05 +0000

Crain's New York

City plans to appeal case that favored crane-operator union

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20151123/REAL_ESTATE/151129975/city-plans-t...

Joe Anuta

11/23/2015

Meanwhile, a bill in the City Council that was introduced to do an end-run around the court case altogether has been sitting in the Committee on Housing and Buildings for years. The legislation would have codified the rules favorably to Local 14.

"I don't want to trust the safety of our people to a national exam when we need to make sure [operators] are prepared to do the work and have the experience here," said City Councilman Benjamin Kallos, the sponsor of the proposed legislation.

The bill has a veto-proof 34 co-sponsors. But with the city's Law Department on the opposite side, the mayor would not be likely to ever sign it.

Judge struck down provisions that would have allowed crane operators from outside NYC to operate here.

The city will appeal a court decision that restored power to a small group of union crane operators late last month.

The plans to appeal, which were disclosed by a real estate trade group, would bring to the state's second-highest court a case simmering for years over how crane operators working on large construction sites are licensed. While arguments have focused on safety, the case could prove lucrative for either the union or real estate developers, depending on the outcome.

The litigation began in 2012, when the city changed the licensing requirements for crane operators. The new policies were designed to open competition to companies from around the country by switching to a test administered by a national organization rather than one by the city. The revisions also allowed crane operators to gain experience in other cities instead of apprenticing only on a local site.

Shortly after the new rules were implemented, a lawsuit was filed by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B, whose members work on a large portion of construction cranes in the city.

The union objected to the changes, which applied to the city's largest construction sites. On Oct. 29 of this year, Justice Paul Wooten struck down those regulations.

The city's plan to appeal that court decision has the support of the development community, which argues the national test is more rigorous and modern, and that skilled crane operators can be found in other cities.

"This court decision, if allowed to stand, will lead to construction sites that are less safe by weakening the standards and requirements for obtaining crane licenses," REBNY President John Banks said in a statement. "We applaud the City of New York for appealing this ill-considered opinion."

On the other hand, Local 14 argues that New York City's building environment is uniquely dense, and that operators trained in smaller cities would put workers and the public in danger.

"[Wooten's] understanding of the unique dangers of crane operations in New York City will help protect the lives and safety of thousands of workers, and the tens of thousands of pedestrians and vehicles passing in and around construction sites every day," Edwin Christian, business manager of the union, said in a statement following the October ruling.

The outcome of the case holds significant economic implications. For real estate developers, the newer rules struck down by Wooten could have benefited them financially by opening competition to firms from outside the city and cutting down on construction costs.

(Outside firms did not actually make inroads into the crane market here during the period between when the rules took effect—at the end of the Bloomberg administration—and when they were struck down in October.)

And for Local 14, legally shutting out non-New York City operators offers the security that future workers must train with someone already on a construction site here. Although there are a number of former Local 14 operators that offer apprenticeships outside the union, most e current members. That scenario gives Local 14 strong leverage when negotiating prices for its members' services.

Wooten's decision had little to do with safety. He struck down the city's rule changes based on a set of contradictory statements the Department of Buildings made in 2009. It opposed a proposal from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that would have required a national test and allowed operators from outside the city—the same changes it later made itself.

"The quality of [the city's] advocacy three years ago is now the largest obstacle to their current position," Wooten wrote in his decision. He noted that the city is allowed to change its opinion, but the problem is that it never explained why.

It is unclear how the city will proceed. The Law Department did not acknowledge the appeal.

"We believe the DOB acted in the best interest of the public. We are determining next steps," a spokesman said in a statement.

The bill has a veto-proof 34 co-sponsors. But with the city's Law Department on the opposite side, the mayor would not be likely to ever sign it.

Issue:

Jobs

Public Safety

Our Town Kallos’s State of the District by DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:12:09 +0000

Our Town

Kallos’s State of the District

http://www.ourtownny.com/local-news/20160112/kalloss-state-of-the-district

DANIEL FITZSIMMONS

01/12/2016

East side councilmember wants to meet every person in the district

Councilmember Ben Kallos touted his office’s work with constituents on housing issues in his recent state of the district address, and looked forward to several initiatives in 2016.

“As a constituent and advocate myself, then candidate, and now council member, I have always been frustrated with how government can be opaque, closed, unaccountable and broken,” said Kallos, addressing a room of community leaders and residents at Memorial Sloan Kettering on East 67th Street. “What if we started to change all that - empowering our community - what would that look like?”

Kallos said his constituent services team and roughly a dozen graduate students in social work have helped more than 4,000 people in his district, and that legal clinics supplied by his office have provided individual counsel to nearly 250 other constituents, “who are trying to stay in their homes or get heat back in their apartments.”

He also revealed a lofty goal: to personally meet all 168,413 people who live in his district.

Kallos said his team worked with constituents facing everything from poor conditions to evictions, with the goal of protecting housing in the district. “I grew up here; I want to raise a family and grow old here, too,” said Kallos. “We must protect our affordable and public housing, and combat the forces of overdevelopment.”

One of Kallos’ signature achievements occurred when he, Borough President Gale Brewer and State Senator Liz Krueger opposed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan, which called for adding height to the contextual height caps that allow for the East Side’s quiet side streets. “We opposed the measure…so developers wouldn’t tear down rent stabilized buildings to get more height,” said Kallos. “And the Department of City Planning heard us, and agreed to protect the midblock.”

Midblock buildings in the district are capped at 75 feet, Kallos said.

Fighting superscrapers has also been a theme for Kallos. When residents of the Sutton Place alerted his office to a proposed 90-story building in the neighborhood, he said, his office worked with local residents to form the East River Fifties Alliance.

“Under the leadership of President Alan Kersh, the alliance has worked with our office to organize the community behind an effort to rezone the neighborhood to draw the line on billionaires row at residential neighborhoods,” he said. “Integral to this community effort are Herndon Werth, the ‘Sage of Sutton,’ and Charles Fernandez, who have rejected buyouts and resisted harassment, and stayed in their apartments, saying the light and air and history of our neighborhood are too important to demolish for a superscraper.”

Kallos said all of these campaigns, whether they’re local or citywide, “are meant to address the issues that you have brought me and my team.”

But, Kallos noted, the best is yet to come.

He said he plans, as chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, to continue to focus on improving democracy, transparency, and increasing access to government resources.

Kallos touted legislation he’s sponsoring that would provide government benefits to everybody who qualifies automatically, with no application or renewal required, using information the government already has to increase efficiency and reduce bureaucracy.

Kallos’ said in the meantime his office can already help residents get the benefits they’re entitled through a 25-minute screening process at his office or online at nyc.gov/ACCESSNYC.

“Whether or not you have a title, all of us in this room are leaders in some aspect of this neighborhood and city,” concluded Kallos. “Whether on the community board, your neighborhood association, your building, your PTA, or in your home, your experience and expertise in our community can bring value to the rest of us. Thank you for your partnership and I hope to see you over the next year as we work to make the Fifth Council District and New York City an even better place to live.”

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New York Times Mayor De Blasio Proposes Retirement Savings Plan for Private-Sector Workers by J. David Goodman

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:02:32 +0000

New York Times

Mayor De Blasio Proposes Retirement Savings Plan for Private-Sector Workers

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/nyregion/mayor-de-blasio-proposes-retirement-s...

J. David Goodman

02/25/2016

“With auto-enrollment, people will be nudged into saving for retirement,” said Councilman Ben Kallos, a Democrat from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, who will be one of the sponsors of the legislation once it is introduced. Though people can choose not to participate, he said, city officials hope that most would.

Amid visions of a new Brooklyn-Queens streetcar line and a repurposed Governors Island, one progressive aspect of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s State of the City address this month was obscured.

The mayor wants to create a way for New York City’s estimated 1.4 million private-sector workers who do not have employer-sponsored retirement plans to set aside money in a city-organized retirement savings program.

The city’s effort follows a wave of such proposals that have been passed or are being considered in statehouses across the country, including in California, Illinois and Oregon. The movement received a significant push from President Obama last year when he ordered the Labor Department torevise its regulations to help to allow such state-based accounts. Those rules are expected to be made final this year.

While the mayor talked on Thursday of the benefits to workers, the theatrics of the news conference — a rally-style event under the Corinthian columns of the City Hall rotunda, with supporters from AARP in matching red T-shirts arrayed behind him — were aimed squarely at Washington.

That is because the city’s proposal, which would be in legislation expected to be introduced in the City Council next month, is contingent on the federal government’s making a further change to the regulations to allow some cities, like New York, to create the savings plans, and not just states. City officials noted that the population of New York City is greater than most states.

Without the change, Mr. de Blasio said flatly, the plan could not go forward.

In that way, the push by the city to get federal action — including letters to the Labor Department from Mr. de Blasio and the city’s comptroller, Scott M. Stringer — provided another reflection of the difficult relationship between Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the mayor.

There has been some informal coordination on the issue between Albany and City Hall, said Bill Samuels, the founder of EffectiveNY, a nonprofit group devoted to government reform, and an occasional critic of Mr. Cuomo’s, who stood behind Mr. de Blasio at the news conference. “It’s not adversarial; it’s just complicated,” Mr. Samuels said in an interview. “We all know we need a state program.”

The governor is not opposed to establishing a retirement savings plan: In January, he announced the creation of a commission to study how such a system would work in the state.

“We welcome action everywhere,” Mr. de Blasio said when asked why the city began its effort before the state. “There are some states — many states, in fact — where their state governments do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of their cities, where you might have a city willing to do something that a state government would not.” He said for that reason cities should be empowered to start the accounts.

The plan would require private businesses with 10 or more employees to create a way for them to contribute directly from their paychecks to the accounts, which are likely to be individual retirement accounts. (No such state or city plans are in place so far, in part because of the uncertainty about the federal rules.)

New York City would establish a board to select a vendor that would manage the investments, which would not be guaranteed by the city. The plans could be transferred between jobs.

“It’s one of the key pieces: It would be opt out, rather than opt in,” said Beth Finkel, the New York State director for the AARP. “Historically many people do not take the initiative on their own.”

Mr. Stringer’s office has been studying the issue since last year. He appeared at the news conference to draw attention to the issue, though his office said he had yet to settle on the sort of proposal he would support.

Issue:

Jobs

International Business Times New York City Considering Landmark Protections For Freelancers Who Suffer From Wage Theft by Cole Stangler

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:02:31 +0000

International Business Times

New York City Considering Landmark Protections For Freelancers Who Suffer From Wage Theft

http://www.ibtimes.com/new-york-city-considering-landmark-protections-freelancer...

Cole Stangler

02/29/2016

Supporters of a bill designed to clamp down on wage theft for freelancers rally before a hearing Monday, New York City Hall, Feb. 29, 2016. Pictured before the podium, Councilman Ben Kallos and Freelancers Union chief Sara Horowitz.

Under the current proposal, New York City-based freelancers who are not paid on time would have rights to pursue back pay that are comparable to those of traditional employees. First, the bill would require anyone who hires an independent contractor for $200 or more to create a written contract specifying the kind of work to be done and the payment date. It would then require workers to be compensated within 30 days of the specified payment date, or of the contractor completing the service, whichever comes first.

http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/lg/public/2016/...

Issue:

Jobs

The Chief-Leader DCAS Striving to Give Job Seekers Updates on Progress of Applications by Dan Rosenblum

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 03:52:09 +0000

The Chief-Leader

DCAS Striving to Give Job Seekers Updates on Progress of Applications

http://thechiefleader.com/news/news_of_the_week/dcas-striving-to-give-job-seeker...

Dan Rosenblum

05/02/2016

Councilman Ben Kallos, Chair of the Governmental Operations Committee, followed up on a slight uptick in provisional hiring discussed during a budget hearing two weeks earlier.

To comply with the 2007 Long Beach decision by the state Court of Appeals that limited provisional appointments to nine months, the Bloomberg administration created a five-year plan to reduce the number of provisionals by 8,600. That plan was extended in 2014, and Ms. Camilo said she anticipated another extension. “That was always the intention when we submitted the initial one,” she said, though she declined to speculate on how long the deferment would be.

There were 22,954 city employees who hadn’t taken civil-service exams at the time the plan began. They were reduced to 21,416 in December 2014, but rose to 23,052 in the most recent count. Though DCAS gave 290 exams over the past two years—a record high for the agency—the de Blasio administration continued to hire provisionals to meet pressing needs.

“The city is faced with a number of operational challenges that it must meet on a daily basis,” Ms. Camilo said. “The city continues to hire to address the fulfillment of mandates and new priorities.”

She said there was “substantial headway” in reaching its goal. Lists for the Administrative Manager and Administrative Staff Analyst, once they are published later this year, should substanially reduce the number of provisionals.

http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thechiefleader.com/content/t...

Issue:

Jobs

New York Daily News Exclusive: NYC pol pushes anti-patronage bill requiring government jobs to be posted for two weeks before hiring by Erin Durkin

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 03:42:08 +0000

New York Daily News

Exclusive: NYC pol pushes anti-patronage bill requiring government jobs to be posted for two weeks before hiring

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/pol-pushes-anti-patronage-bill-public-g...

Erin Durkin

08/15/2016

"When there aren't public postings, that's a good indication there may be patronage involved, or worse yet conflicts of interest," Kallos said. "New Yorkers would know about the 350,000 jobs the city has, and the city could expand its pool of qualified applicants," Kallos said.

City jobs would have to be publicly posted for two weeks before someone is hired under a bill set to be introduced in the City Council this week, in a move meant to cut down on patronage.

Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) is sponsoring the legislation to require 14 days of online job postings before interviews are done for government jobs.

Kallos said he wants to rein in patronage hiring at the city Board of Elections — where officials have long resisted calls to publicly post all their jobs.

BOE jobs are routinely filled by county political parties. In one case a commissioner helped her sister get hired the same day the sister handed over her resume, and in another the board president put his wife on the BOE payroll so she could get city health insurance for the family.

The requirement would apply to all city agencies for jobs except those filled through the civil service system, which has its own detailed rules.

Issue:

Jobs

Gotham Gazette Council Member Kallos to Introduce Anti-Patronage Bill by Gotham Gazette

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 03:42:07 +0000

Gotham Gazette

Council Member Kallos to Introduce Anti-Patronage Bill

http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=ca0fb41d668202ba6cc542ca8&id=d888ab310c&e=76...

Gotham Gazette

08/16/2016

"When there aren't public postings, that's a good indication there may be patronage involved, or worse yet conflicts of interest," Kallos told the New York Daily News. "New Yorkers would know about the 350,000 jobs the city has, and the city could expand its pool of qualified applicants."

In an effort to reduce patronage in government jobs, City Council Member Ben Kallos, chair of the governmental operations committee, will introduce a bill on Tuesday requiring positions to be advertised for at least two weeks before they are filled, according to a report by the New York Daily News.

Kallos' bill will be applicable to all city agency positions that are not filled through civil service exams. It is in part focused explicitly at reforming the hiring process at the New York City Board of Elections, where employees are often hired according to their affiliation with the two major political parties and existing employees. The Board has been resistant to changing the process, which has long been a source of criticism, particularly so after its handling of the presidential primary election in April.

"When there aren't public postings, that's a good indication there may be patronage involved, or worse yet conflicts of interest," Kallos told the New York Daily News. "New Yorkers would know about the 350,000 jobs the city has, and the city could expand its pool of qualified applicants."

Issue:

Jobs