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Press Releases
April 13, 2016
New York, NY — Overflowing trash cans that have led to trash on the sidewalk along the East 86th Street commercial corridor will be addressed with an increase in city trash can pick up from once to twice day as ordered by Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia upon the request of Council Member Ben Kallos.
April 10, 2016
Council Member Ben Kallos, co-founder of the Eastside Taskforce for Homeless Outreach and Services, said, "We can and must help our homeless off the streets by starting with investing in prevention, improving shelter conditions with increased safety and mental health support, and a focus on permanent housing. Ninety days is not much time to fix a longstanding problem, but the City has not waited, with the launch of HOME-STAT and investments into mental health, job training, and enrichment for our city's most vulnerable. Thank you to Mayor de Blasio, Deputy Mayors Shorris and Palacio, and Commissioner Banks for their focus on the helping the homeless.”
April 9, 2016
$1.6 billion in outstanding debt could be recovered
New York, NY – Today, the City Council passed three bills co-authored by Council Members Ben Kallos and Julissa Ferreras-Copeland to improve quality of life enforcement by including specific information to identify who is responsible for violations and requiring agencies to consider prior offenses when issuing or renewing permits, licenses and registrations. These reforms will not only improve the City’s collection efforts, but will more importantly change the behaviors that harm quality of life and jeopardize public health and safety.
The bills passed are:
- Int. 810-A by Kallos, requires agencies to consider prior offenses and outstanding debts to the city prior to issuing or renewing permits, licenses and registrations with reporting on when they are denied.
- Int. 807-A by Ferreras-Copeland, requires agencies issuing summonses to "owner of" to make reasonable efforts to learn the actual name and amen. Currently, violations issued to “owner of” are difficult for the Department of Finance (DOF) to collect on.
- Int. 812-A by Kallos, requires agencies to include the borough, block, and lot number (BBL) and building identification number (BIN) on summonses. A major difficulty in DOF’s collection efforts is that summonses do not contain sufficient information to identify the responsible party.
April 8, 2016
Free Safety Vests, Lights and Bells Distributed to Hundreds Who Participated in Ninety Minute Safety Training in English, Spanish and ChineseNew York, NY – Last night, over one hundred fast food delivery bike workers joined Council Member Ben Kallos for training by the Department of Transportation in English, Spanish and Chinese on traffic rules and bike safety.
April 6, 2016
Since 2013, then candidate Kallos was supportive of Mayor Bloomberg “Reinvent Payphones” initiative raising awareness for information sessions and the upcoming request for proposals. In 2014, now Council Member Kallos advocated in Fast Company for upgrading phone booths, many of which lacked actual phones and providing phone service. This year, Kallos praised DoITT for the more than $20 million in annual advertising revenue for the City of New York
generated from LinkNYC.
April 5, 2016
"We as a city must do all we can to help the homeless off the streets, from proactive canvassing, to quarterly nighttime counts, and a public dashboard so residents can see the results of our efforts," said Council Member Ben Kallos, co-Founder of the Eastside Taskforce for Homeless Outreach Services (ETHOS). "Thank you to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Commissioner Steve Banks for their leadership and focus on helping the homeless."
April 4, 2016
New York, NY – Today, Council Member Ben Kallos, Chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, applauded the New York City Council’s response to the Mayor’s FY 2017 Preliminary Budget and FY 2016 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report (PMMR).
“Speaker Mark-Viverito and the Council have put together a broad set of recommendations unified by the principle that our City’s government should serve New Yorkers seamlessly and effectively,” said Council Member Kallos. “By spending taxpayer money wisely and transparently, we can free up needed funds for schools, parks, assistance programs, and public infrastructure.”
Discussed at the Committee on Governmental Operations Preliminary Budget Hearing was:
April 1, 2016
“Uncertainty of outcomes is one the biggest challenges to governing, but through time travel we could see the immediate results of our public policy and make changes where necessary,” said Council Member Ben Kallos, Chair of the Committee of Governmental Operations with oversight over the Department of Citywide Administrative Services whose fleet could one day include a time machine. “Investment of tax dollars into time travel, will provide an infinite return on investment as we are able to avoid calamity by altering our time line. So long as we do not create a portal to the alternate timelines we destroy, we should all be fine.”
March 22, 2016
I am proud to have worked with my colleagues to win these final changes:
Zoning for Quality and Affordability as amended will:
- Reduced height increases in contextual districts, including bringing the maximum R10A increase from 50 feet to 25 feet with different heights for narrow and wide streets.
- Tying additional heights in contextual districts in Manhattan to affordable housing.
- Protecting seniors from being squeezed into 275 square foot micro units, with a new minimum of 325 square feet.
- NYCHA tenants who would have been walled in by new construction 40 feet from their windows will continue to be protected by 60 feet between buildings.
- The Sliver Law has been protected and will remain intact.
Mandatory Inclusionary Housing as amended will:
- Provide housing for lower income New Yorkers at 40% of AMI
- HPD will be required to track, register, and monitor the new affordable units created as would be required by Introduction 1015, legislation I authored and co-prime sponsored by Housing Chair Jumaane Williams and Council Member Rosie Mendez.
- HPD projects will provide funding and incentives for local outreach and hiring.
- Department of Buildings will impose requirements and fines that will make construction safer.
March 22, 2016
New York, NY – New Yorkers would have more choices at the polls, with a proposal to automatically grant ballot access to candidates who qualify for public dollars under the campaign finance system, Int. 1129, introduced today by Council Members Ben Kallos, Fernando Cabrera, and Antonio Reynoso.
“Ballot access reform is more than a century overdue. Democracy must mean giving voters more than one ‘choice’ on the ballot,” said Council Member Ben Kallos, Chair of Committee on Governmental Operations with oversight of campaign finance and elections. “Candidates who receive public matching will have the funds they need to be competitive and should get on the ballot.”
