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

lester shane

lester shane — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 23:59:08 +0000

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NBC News 4 New York Children Testify Against Park Pesticides by Roseanne Colletti

Feed — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 18:32:18 +0000

NBC News 4 New York

Children Testify Against Park Pesticides

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Children-Testify-Against-Park-Pestic...

Roseanne Colletti

09/26/2017

Children at one New York City school testified in City Council chambers against the use of pesticides in parks. Roseanne Colletti reports.

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CBS New York NYC Elementary Students Want City Council To Ban Toxic Pesticides In Parks by Erin Logan

Feed — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 18:32:18 +0000

CBS New York

NYC Elementary Students Want City Council To Ban Toxic Pesticides In Parks

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/09/26/toxic-pesticides-in-city-parks/

Erin Logan

09/26/2017

It was first introduced in May 2015. Council Member Ben Kallos was one of its sponsors, and some of the children have been in the chambers advocating before.

“We protested a little bit,” Savann Basen said.

Kallos said his goal is to use only biological pesticides that come from natural materials instead of synthetic materials. He said what’s most concerning is the herbicide spray called Roundup.

“The World Health Organization found that it was a carcinogen, so we introduced legislation right away,” he said.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Some New York City elementary students took a stand Tuesday, hoping to make changes at city parks when it comes to the use of toxic pesticides.

They made sure their voices were heard before lawmakers in City Council chambers.

“We are going to make a great big fuss,” they chanted in a skit.

A fuss over toxic pesticides used in New York City parks.

“I think this is a good law that should pass, because pesticides are bad for people,” Jesse Balsam told CBS2’s Erin Logan.

The fourth grader at PS 290 said he’s been researching the topic since he was in Mrs. Rogivin’s kindergarten class. On Tuesday, he and his classmates stated their case in skit form.

“Those pesticides and herbicides are toxic,” they chanted.

Grades kindergarten through third also joined in, testifying in favor of Intro 0800 – a bill which calls for banning toxic pesticides in city parks and public spaces.

It was first introduced in May 2015. Council Member Ben Kallos was one of its sponsors, and some of the children have been in the chambers advocating before.

“We protested a little bit,” Savann Basen said.

Kallos said his goal is to use only biological pesticides that come from natural materials instead of synthetic materials. He said what’s most concerning is the herbicide spray called Roundup.

“The World Health Organization found that it was a carcinogen, so we introduced legislation right away,” he said.

The students and their teachers said they worry about little kids who don’t know any better.

“They roll around in the grass,” Basen said.

The Parks Department told CBS2 it’s thrilled that area children care so much about the parks, but there are some cases in which they have no choice but to use toxic pesticides to protect native species and public health.

When they do, by law, they make it very clear by posting signs.

“Kids playing sports don’t go around reading signs saying, ‘Oh they spray over here, we shouldn’t touch,’” Rogovin said.

She said she hopes other lawmakers will listen to her students’ message.

Kallos hopes to have the legislation passed by the end of the year.

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Education

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CNBC How New York City hopes to end the stigma associated with 'lunch shaming' by feeding every student for free by Rebecca Quick

Feed — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 18:32:17 +0000

CNBC

How New York City hopes to end the stigma associated with 'lunch shaming' by feeding every student for free

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/29/how-new-york-city-hopes-to-end-the-stigma-associ...

Rebecca Quick

Erin Barry

09/30/2017

Free lunch for all from CNBC.

Giving out lunch based on this criterion has led to what some observers have branded as "lunch shaming." As a result, many kids chose to skip lunch to avoid bullying.

New York City Council member Ben Kallos knows that effect all too well. He grew up in the Upper East Side section of Manhattan, which is known to be very wealthy, and attended the Bronx High School of Science. However, he stood out among his classmates.

"Not only did I come from a single parent household, but a multi-generational household, which meant I was eligible for free or reduced lunch," Ben Kallos, NYC Council member told CNBC's "On the Money."

He added that every day his friends would go out and buy lunch instead of staying in the cafeteria. So he had to make a choice between friends and food.

"I would tell them I wasn't hungry, when the truth is, I was starving," Kallos said.

"Every single child will be treated the same. No one will have to worry if their family can afford it…and we'll actually be giving kids an even start to life," said Kallos.

Free lunch for all from CNBC.

More than a million children in NYC public schools will get lunch for free this year, part of an effort to avoid 'shaming' those in need.
The need-blind system has shown results, but some think it's not the right policy.
The federal government spends more than $12 billion a year on school lunches.

This year, all of the more than 1 million children enrolled in New York City public schools will be eligible for free lunch, regardless of how much money their parents make.

New York is one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Yet 75 percent (roughly 780,000 children), are eligible for free or reduced lunch due to their family income, which is less than $37,000 for a family of three.

Giving out lunch based on this criterion has led to what some observers have branded as "lunch shaming." As a result, many kids chose to skip lunch to avoid bullying.

He added that every day his friends would go out and buy lunch instead of staying in the cafeteria. So he had to make a choice between friends and food.

"I would tell them I wasn't hungry, when the truth is, I was starving," Kallos said.

Advocates for the universal free lunch program say data show that more children eat lunch when it's free for everyone. According to a Community Food Advocates report from 2016, a significant uptake in participation took place at schools that provided universal free lunch. For example, middle school children participation rates went from 40 percent to 60 percent.

New York City public school's universal free lunch program qualifies for the highest level of reimbursement from the federal government, which currently spends more than $12 billion annually on school lunches, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Boston, Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia are among other cities that offer similar programs.

However, not everyone agrees universal free lunch is the right policy.

"75 percent of kids in the New York school system already get a subsidized lunch. That is not a group that's in the minority - that is most kids. I think that argues against the stigma argument," James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute told CNBC.

"I want to focus on the kids who need it and make it even better for them, rather than expand it to kids who don't," he added.

He pointed to a program in San Francisco where kids use debit cards to buy lunch, or he suggested schools could have every kid punch a code into a system.

Yet Kallos said the cost of administering a system or having a point of sale would be end up being more expensive than feeding everyone with federal reimbursements.

"Every single child will be treated the same. No one will have to worry if their family can afford it…and we'll actually be giving kids an even start to life," said Kallos.

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ellen cohen

ellen cohen — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:45:17 +0000

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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 Post Lawmakers attempt at ‘healthy’ Happy Meals falls short by Michael Gartland

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:12:06 +0000

New York Post

Lawmakers attempt at ‘healthy’ Happy Meals falls short

http://nypost.com/2016/01/27/lawmakers-attempt-at-healthy-happy-meals-falls-shor...

Michael Gartland

01/27/2016

A council bill would require any kids’ meal with an accompanying toy to be limited to no more than 500 calories and 600 milligrams of sodium, with no more than 35 percent of the calories from fat and no more than 10 percent from saturated fat or added sugar.

“We believe that restaurants will not be able to comply with, and the department will not be able to enforce, the bill’s requirements,’’ Angell testified.

Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), one of the bill’s sponsors, replied, “It’s hard for me to fathom that [the Health Department], which is in the business of doing this with sodium and trans fats . . . isn’t able to do this.”

The bill was first proposed in 2011. Since then, McDonald’s has spent more than $528,000 to lobby council members to block it.

Local lawmakers on Tuesday launched an attack on McDonald’s Happy Meals, only to get pushback from the city’s Health Department.

Deputy Health Commissioner Sonia Angell told a City Council Health Committee hearing that it would be too tough to enforce proposed nutritional restrictions on the calorie-laden kids’ meals.

“We believe that restaurants will not be able to comply with, and the department will not be able to enforce, the bill’s requirements,’’ Angell testified.

The bill was first proposed in 2011. Since then, McDonald’s has spent more than $528,000 to lobby council members to block it.

McDonald’s chief nutritionist, Cynthia Goody, brought three large bags of Happy Meals to the meeting and offered them to legislators. None bit.

“We’re already addressing the goals of this legislation by providing calorie-appropriate meals,” Goody said.

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Health

Politico ‘Happy Meals’ bill divides Council, raises broader questions by Dan Goldberg

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:12:06 +0000

Politico

‘Happy Meals’ bill divides Council, raises broader questions

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2016/01/8589227/happy-meals-bill...

Dan Goldberg

01/26/2016

A City Council proposal to regulate foods that come with toys split members of the health committee on Tuesday and raised broader issues over what the de Blasio administration can and should do to combat childhood obesity.

Ben Kallos, a Democrat from Manhattan, would like meals that are marketed to kids using toys or other promotional items include a serving of fruit, vegetables or whole grain. The so-called Happy Meals bill would also require that meals be limited to 500 calories, with fewer than 35 percent them coming from fat, fewer than 10 percent coming from saturated fat, fewer than 10 percent from added sugars and fewer than 600 milligrams of sodium.

Kallos cited a 2014 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which found more than one-in-five New York City children were obese, which the city’s health department believes leads to heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions.

“If we continue down this path, children in New York City will have shorter expected life spans than their parents,” Kallos said. “That’s not just depressing, that’s not acceptable.”

The de Blasio administration opposed the law, saying it would be too difficult to enforce.

There is no good way to know, for example, how many calories from fat are in a kid’s meal, said Sonia Angell, a deputy commissioner at the health department.

Proponents and critics of the proposed legislation agreed New York City children have an obesity problem.

The question left unresolved after three hours of discussion and testimony was what should be done to address that problem.

The city health department has long condemned unhealthy foods — particularly sugar, salt and fat — and has worked to limit their intake in schools and day care centers.

During the last 15 years, the health department has pushed for calorie counts on menus, banned trans-fats, called for warnings on foods containing too much sodium and, most notably, tried to limit the size of sugary drinks.

The "soda ban" was struck down when the New York State Court of Appeals ruled the Board of Health should have deferred to the City Council.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he supports the portion cap rule, prompting health committee Chairman Corey Johnson, a co-sponsor with Kallos, to ask why the mayor then had not introduced a new bill to that effect.

“We would support the portion cap rule, legislatively,” said Tom Merrill, the health department’s general counsel. “The ball is in your court.”

So far, no Council member has introduced a bill to limit the portion size of sugary drinks.

A spokeswoman for the de Blasio administration said, “the administration has discussed, and will continue to discuss, the negative impact of sugary drinks and measures to combat overweight and obesity with the Council.”

Pushing through any kind of legislation that limits the amount of soda and other sugary beverages New Yorkers can drink would be a heavy lift, particularly because Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito opposed the original health department rule, saying it was “onerous.”

Kallos' bill drew a mixed reaction from his colleagues and pitted health advocates against business groups.

The measure was supported by the American Heart Association, which wants the City Council to go even further, applying this rule to all kids’ meals, not only those that offer a toy.

NYU Langone researcher Brian Elbel also testified in support of the measure, saying he studied receipts from purchases for children, and found 98 percent of those did not meet the nutritional criteria outlined in the legislation.

If they had, kids would be consuming 54 fewer calories, 10 percent less sodium, and a 10 percent fewer calories from fat. Kallos’ bill was predictably opposed by McDonald’s and the city’s Chambers of Commerce, which complained it would place an undue burden on franchise owners across the city.

The bill would “impede small businesses,” said Thomas Grech, executive director of the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

The NAACP, which receives contributions from McDonald’s, also opposed the bill. It also opposed the portion cap rule.

Opposition also came from members of the health committee.

Councilman Peter Koo, a Democrat from Queens, said feeding children healthy food is a responsibility that “belongs to the family.”

“All these problems, the main responsibility belongs to the parents and grandparents for how they feed their children, not for us to pass a law,” Koo said. “This is a free market system.”

Councilman Jimmy Vacca, a Democrat from the Bronx, said government telling someone you cannot have a toy if you buy a Happy Meal is not going to help the city achieve its goals of reducing obesity.

“It’s the arm of government coming in,” he said.

He’d prefer to see a comprehensive effort from the health department that forces fast-food restaurants to change what they serve.

“Let them know this can’t exist in our city,” he said. “We want accountability. No one has been called to task on this. What are we going to do about it?”

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Health

Capital New York 'Happy Meals' bill divides Council, raises broader questions by Dan Goldberg

Feed — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:12:06 +0000

Capital New York

'Happy Meals' bill divides Council, raises broader questions

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2016/01/8589227/happy-meals-bill...

Dan Goldberg

01/26/2016

“If we continue down this path, children in New York City will have shorter expected life spans than their parents,” Kallos said. “That’s not just depressing, that’s not acceptable.”

There is no good way to know, for example, how many calories from fat are in a kid’s meal, said Sonia Angell, a deputy commissioner at the health department.The de Blasio administration opposed the law, saying it would be too difficult to enforce.