Press Releases

Ribbon Cut on $212, 000 Worth of Renovations for Eleanor Roosevelt High School Library & Resource Center

Upper East Side, NY- Today, parents, school administrators and students were present as Council Member Ben Kallos and Congress Member Carolyn B. Maloney cut the ribbon at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, marking the completion of renovations to the school’s Library & Resource Center. The renovations and upgrades are a result of $212,000 in funding provided by Kallos out of his discretionary budget.

The upgrades and renovations include LED lighting, new flooring and technology, and even new podcasting equipment.

Since elected into office, Council Member Kallos has allocated over $549,580 to Eleanor Roosevelt High School to improve everything from technology to infrastructure within the school.

“High school libraries should be modern and welcoming places where students are comfortable and it is easy to learn,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “Funding education initiatives has been a priority of mine since I got into office. I am proud to have allocated these funds because I know they will have a positive impact on the students that attend Eleanor Roosevelt High School.”  

Eleanor Roosevelt High School, which, opened in September of 2002 is located at 411 East 76th Street. The school is part of New York City Public School District #2 and currently has over five hundred students and over forty staff members. Congress Member Carolyn Maloney was instrumental in getting the school started along when she led a grassroots effort to secure location and funding.

“As we come together to celebrate the ribbon cutting for the newly renovated Eleanor Roosevelt High School library, I can’t help but remember the day we cut the ribbon to open this school. I was proud of my work to create a new school on the East Side, and I commend Council Member Ben Kallos for his work to allocate the funding this school needs to remain a beacon for academically rigorous public education,” said Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12).

“This new and improved library will benefit generations of students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School for years to come,” School Construction Authority President and CEO Lorraine Grillo said. “On behalf of our entire SCA team, I’d like to thank Council Member Kallos for providing the funds that allowed us to provide students with another tool to enhance their learning, foster their imagination and expand their growth potential.”

“We celebrate these incredible renovations with the community of Eleanor Roosevelt High School and thank Council Member Ben Kallos for making these upgrades possible and for his ongoing support of New York City schools,” said CSA President Mark Cannizzaro. “We’d also like to once again acknowledge Congress Member Maloney’s tremendous efforts to secure funding and resources for the school when it was first opened in September of 2002. Libraries and resource centers continue to serve a critical role in providing a high-quality education to our city’s high school students, and these further investments will no doubt be well-utilized under the leadership of Principal Dimitri Saliani, his administration and staff.”

“We are delighted with these upgrades. Our students will have the opportunity to create their own podcasts as part of these library improvements, which is another proven way to engage them in their own learning and to help them discover their own voice,” said Janella Hinds, Vice President of Academic High Schools at the United Federation of Teachers

"I commend Councilman Ben Kallos for his dedication to the school children of his community. He understands that’s our students need a place that will allow them to grow and be our future leaders “said Shaun D. Francois I President, Local 372.

Under legislation introduced to the City Council, New York City would create a new technology “moonshot” division complete with its own Chief Technology Officer (CTO) as it follows the likes of Google and President Barack Obama. Legislation authored by Technology Committee Chair Robert Holden and free and open source software developer Council Member Ben Kallos, with co-sponsorship by former Technology Committee Chair Peter Koo, would establish an Office of Technology and Digital Services and create “Technology Officers” (“Tech Officers”) under the auspices of the CTO. The new office would compete for city technology projects, be embedded in city agencies, and work with the CTO to drive down costs, support forward thinking agency technology, and take on moonshot challenges to bring city government into the 21^st Century.

“There is virtually no problem that can’t be solved with the use of technology, and our city agencies should constantly be exploring new and innovative ways to simplify and improve services through the use of technology,” said Council Member Robert Holden, Chair of the Committee on Technology and co-author. “Thanks in large part to the software development expertise of my colleague, Ben Kallos, we want tech experts to become a primary resource for this city on every front. The Office of Technology and Digital Services and its Technology Officers will ensure that we are always looking toward a better, more efficient future for New York.” 

“We need to bring city government into the 21^st century with tech officers embedded in every agency who can solve old problems by building new technology quickly. New York City’s new Chief Technology Officer can use a platoon of Tech Officers to modernize the government from the inside out to better serve our city.” said Council Member Ben Kallos, a free and open source software developer and co-author. “Chair Robert Holden brings years of teaching at the New York City College of Technology with the vision and legislation we need to upgrade government for the 21^st Century.”

Universal Summer Youth Programs Proposed by

Council Members Rose and Kallos

New York, NY – As summer break approaches, tens of thousands of low-income public school students and their families are relying on Summer Youth Programs to keep them safe, fed, and positively engaged. However, $20 million in funding for Summer Youth Programs serving at least 34,000 middle school students was excluded entirely or in part from the preliminary budgets in Fiscal Years 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016 with funding restored each time by the City Council in the Executive Budget. Legislation co-authored by Youth Service Chair Debi Rose and Council Member Ben Kallos would eliminate proposed budget cuts and mandate Universal Summer Youth Programs.

“Year after year, our summer youth programs are not funded until we come to a final budget agreement in June, leaving parents and providers in a shadow of uncertainty,” said Youth Services Committee Chair Debi Rose. “Summer program are invaluable experiences that build self-esteem, social skills, leadership skills and friendships in a safe, constructive environment. They also help curb summer learning loss, which disproportionately affects students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It is time we build on our successes with early childhood education in the city and give all students seeking a spot in a summer program the opportunity to participate. I am grateful to partner with Council Member Ben Kallos on this legislation, and I look forward to building support from across the Council to pass this bill and make an investment in our future city.”

“Our children need us to take care of them, whether after school or during summer break it doesn’t matter, these children need access to healthy food, enrichment, and positive engagement,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “Every year summer youth programs go unfunded in the Mayor’s proposed budget and every year Youth Service Chair Debi Rose leads the way to restore that funding to serve more than 34,000 children. This Universal Summer Youth Programs legislation will finally put an end to the budget dance and put our city on a path to guarantee every child a place to enjoy their summer.”

Access to City Contracting Information Now Available Online and through Public Access Center

Watch the Announcement

New York, NY –Now information regarding the City’s  $20 billion in contracts will be available for the public to inspect at an inspection terminal and online via a new public access platform, courtesy of a partnership between Contracts Committee Chair, Ben Kallos, Council Member Brad Lander and the Mayor’s Office of Contracts (MOCS).

A computerized system designed for tracking information within City contracts and vendors doing business with the City, was created by legislation authored by then City Council Contracts Committee Chair, U.S Congress Member Carolyn Maloney.

Local Law 52 of 1987 was enacted as part of the City Council’s effort to ensure that City contracts go only to responsible vendors and that the City obtain the highest quality and quantity of goods and services.

Maloney’s legislation required a public inspection terminal, which has been available for the past 30 years. When Council Member Kallos became Contracts Chair in May of 2019 one of the first issues he championed was upgrading the Public Access Center to retire data from the City’s legacy VENDEX system and replace it with information from PASSPort, the City’s new Procurement and Sourcing Solutions Portal. Council Member Kallos worked with MOCS over the past 9 months to upgrade the Center.   

During that same time, Council Member Kallos also recognized that Local Law 76-2017, which is sponsored by Council Member Brad Lander and requires that the public inspection terminal be available online, would require a similar effort.   Kallos and Lander worked together with MOCS to develop an online platform for accessing information on the City’s contracts, which is now available on the MOCS website. 

Now, every single resident of the City of New York and members of the press can use the new PASSPort terminal at 253 Broadway to access information on City contracts without appointment.

“Capturing and sharing reliable procurement data helps the City make smart, strategic decisions and improves service delivery and outcomes for New Yorkers. PASSPort has already made it easier for over 14,000 vendors to directly file disclosure information. In future releases, PASSPort will fully digitize the procurement process and achieve greater transparency into the process for vendors, agencies, and the public,” said Dan Symon, New York City’s Chief Contracting Officer and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services. “Maintaining this Public Access Center and online viewing platform exemplifies MOCS’ commitment to transparency, efficiency, and the reliability of contracting information relevant to the public.”

Brandon Chiazza, Chief Technology Officer for MOCS, also offered that “The transparency enabled by reports we publish strengthens public confidence in the work we do and helps partners actively engage in efforts to transform procurement.”

“I want to know how every single dollar of taxpayer dollars is being spent and whether it's coming to the public inspection terminal or searching online, every New Yorker has that right,” said Councilmember Ben Kallos, Contracts Committee Chair. “Thank you to Mayor de Blasio and the Mayor's Office of Contract Services Director Dan Symon, for this collaboration and Councilmember Brad lander for this visionary legislation.”

“Bringing our public contracts into public view is a critical piece of building trust and accountability in local government. When the public inspection terminal and online database of city contracts go live, individuals, watchdog groups, journalists, and oversight officials will gain new access and insight into how public funds are being spent. This kind of transparency is essential to ensuring both confidence and participation in local democracy,” said Council Member Brad Lander.

“I’ve always believed that transparency and accountability in City contracts is critically important to building trust in local government. That’s why, when I was Chair of the City Council Contract Committee, I authored and passed legislation to track City contracts and vendors. I’m so glad access to City contracts will now be available to the public online, which will undoubtedly increase transparency and encourage civic participation,” said Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12).

  Watch the Announcement

NEW YORK, NY – On Wednesday, February 5, 2020, Jumaane Williams (New York City Public Advocate), Ben Kallos (Council Member), Diana Moreno (New Immigrant Community Empowerment), Charlie Uruchima (NY Committee for Occupational Safety & Health), and representatives from the New York State Laborers’ Union today called on the New York Construction Alliance (NYCA) to hold their board member, New Line Structures, accountable for their history of egregious and prolonged worker exploitation.

Today Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that through executive order his administration will end the purchase of Unnecessary Single-use Plastic Bottles as well as restrict their sale on City property. This executive action puts into effect the goal of my legislation, Introductions 846-2018 and 839-2018, which would ban the sale of single-use plastic bottles in all New York City parks. 

I applaud the de Blasio’s administration efforts through executive action to protect the environment and make sure New York City is working to reduce our City’s use of single-use plastic water bottles as each year Americans disposed of 50 billion plastic water bottles. Now that the Mayor has demonstrated his support look forward to working with him to make this law, and I am calling on the City Council to pass Introductions 846-2018 and 839-2018 and codify this policy.

NEW EXPRESSCARE CLINIC OPENS AT NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/METROPOLITAN

ExpressCare will provide patients with fast
access to walk-in, urgent care seven days a week

The clinic will be the public health system’s first location in Manhattan

(New York, NY—February 3, 2020)   NYC Health + Hospitals today announced the opening of an ExpressCare Clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. The clinic will be the public health system’s first location in Manhattan, building on the system’s vision to transform care for New Yorkers in all five boroughs. Providing faster access to medical care for patients with non-life-threatening conditions, the new clinic will be open seven days a week operating from 6pm to midnight on weekdays, and from 10am to midnight on weekends and holidays. The clinic will offer walk-in services for conditions — such as colds, flu, sprains, skin rashes, minor cuts and lacerations, and certain types of infections. Patients who typically use the emergency department for these conditions will find shorter wait times and faster service at the ExpressCare clinic.

Toxic Pesticides Ban in Parks Proposed by New York City
Council Members Kallos and Rivera
 

Watch the rally with advocates held prior to the hearing

New York, NY— Toxic pesticides would be banned from city parks under a bill being heard today sponsored by Council Members Ben Kallos and Carlina Rivera. The bill would ban all city agencies from spraying highly toxic pesticides, such as glyphosate (Roundup), and be the most far-reaching legislation to implement pesticide-free land practices in New York City parks. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies glyphosate as a probable carcinogen, and the chemical is partially or fully banned in many countries throughout the world.
 
The City’s most heavily used liquid herbicide is glyphosate, sold as Roundup, which represents over 50% of pesticide use by city agencies and was sprayed 1,365 times in 2013, according to a Health Department Report. In contrast, Chicago has reduced pesticide use dramatically, and now 90% of its parks are pesticide-free since 2014. The use of this pesticide poses a health risk for anyone who frequents city parks and playgrounds, as well as, city workers, including city parks employees who come into contact with glyphosate containing chemicals while spraying.
 
The bill was introduced on April 18, 2019 and will now be heard in the Committee on Health, after receiving support from a veto-proof supermajority of 34 City Council co-sponsors.
 
“Parks should be for playing not pesticides,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “All families should be able to enjoy our city parks without having to worry that they are being exposed to toxic pesticides that could give them and their families cancer. As a new parent, my daughter isn’t allowed to play on the grass, especially because as a baby she puts everything in her mouth. I look forward to working with all of our city agencies to ban toxic pesticides and keep our children safe.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 15, 2020

Contact: Loretta Kane (917-410-7242 or loretta@caminopr.com) 

NYCHA tenants move forward with lawsuits against Housing Authority and City after court hearing

NYCHA agrees to maintain Holmes-Isaacs campus to standards required by law

NEW YORK — Tenants of Holmes Tower and Isaacs Houses of the Upper East Side appeared in Civil Court today in their suit against the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), which was filed in December 2019, for its failure to maintain safe and livable conditions. 

At today’s hearing before Civil Court Judge Daniele Chinea, NYCHA agreed to maintain the building’s systems to the standards required by law including elevator service, heat, hot and cold water, garbage collection, pest management and extermination, front door locks and cleanliness maintenance and lighting of public areas on the Holmes-Isaacs campus. If NYCHA does not follow through on that agreement, residents will be able to take the Housing Authority back to court to ask the court to hold them in contempt. NYCHA did not admit that the buildings have the problems residents listed in their December petition to the court; the judge explained that the court may decide to schedule a full trial to decide the question.

Residents, represented by TakeRoot Justice, held a press conference outside of 111 Centre Street, prior to the hearing, to express the frustrations that led to filing this case. Residents of the two developments have been organizing since 2015.

City Council Holds Hearing on Universal After School

Hundreds of thousands of children left alone and unsupervised
could finally get necessary after school programs

 
New York, NY – Universal after school could soon be available for more than 1.1 million public school students in New York City providing academic enrichment, arts, physical activities, and even nutrition if all goes well at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, January 14, 2020 in the City Council’s Youth Services Committee. Legislation authored by Youth Services Chair Debi Rose, Education Committee Chair Mark Treyger, and Council Member Ben Kallos, Introductions 1100 and 1113 of 2018 would mandate universal after school that would be phased in through an annual plan that would include reporting on implementation and results.
 
It is far less common for children to have a stay at home parent than a generation ago and far more common for parents to work late with New Yorkers working longer hours than anyone else. This is leaving a gap between school dismissal and when parents are home. In New York there are 584,597 children in K-12 that are left alone and unsupervised with 1,151,361 awaiting an available program, and only 632,076 enrolled in after school according to the Afterschool Alliance. After-school keeps young people positively engaged during the hours of 2 pm to 6 pm when research shows that they are most vulnerable to illicit behavior and criminal justice involvement according to the Council for a Strong America.
 
“After-school programs provide a safe, stress-free environment for children to receive additional academic and social support while their parents contribute to the necessary economic well-being of their families. These programs have been found to improve student outcomes and provide equity and opportunity by leveling the playing field. This bill makes an investment in the future of our city by ensuring that no child is turned away,” said Youth Services Chair Debi Rose.
 
“After school programs provide vital learning, enrichment and personal growth opportunities for students. Expanding after school programming to all K-12 students who wish to enroll will keep our children safe, encourage academic achievement and inspire participation in extracurricular activities,” said Council Member Mark Treyger, Chair of the Committee on Education. “The pair of bills heard today will support students to excel beyond the classroom and deliver kinesthetic learning all year round.”
 
“Universal access to after school will increase and equalize educational opportunities, keep kids out of the criminal justice system, and make life easier for parents whose jobs keep them at work until at least 5pm, if not longer. As a new parent myself, I rely on an extended day and enrichment activities to keep my daughter busy while my partner and I are working,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs must be satisfied if we want every child to reach their full potential, this means addressing physiological needs with universal breakfast, lunch, snack, and supper, safety needs with child health plus, and finally love, belonging, and esteem through universal after school. I want to wake up in a city where every child has the love and self-esteem they need to grow up to their full potential.”

"Universal after-school programming would provide New York City students with a safe, supportive environment where they could engage in additional academic and extracurricular activities. Working families would no longer have to pay for after-school out of pocket or worry about having their children home alone," said Council Member Diana Ayala, Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus. “As a working mother who has relied on after-school throughout my career, I wholeheartedly support this legislation and look forward to working alongside my colleagues to ensure a successful passage."

"Parents shouldn't have to sacrifice their childcare duties to preserve their jobs, yet too often they're pitted against each other because of prohibitive after school costs," said Council Member Costa Constantinides, District 22. "As the working challenges of New York City change, it's on us to deliver the vital services all of our citizens deserve.  I'm proud to support my friend and colleague Ben Kallos in securing universal after school." 

Council Member Ben Kallos Hosts Winter Festival Storytime at 67^th Street Library to Celebrate Recent Reopening Following $2.5 Million Rehabilitation
 

Upper East Side, NY – Children, parents, seniors, librarians, and residents joined Council Member Ben Kallos at the 67th Street branch of The New York Public Library for a winter festival and storytime celebrating the November reopening of the building after $2.5 million in repairs. The facility was closed to receive $2.5 million in capital improvements including needed repairs to its roof and upgrades to the HVAC system for the 114-year-old building.
 
$1.5 million was allocated in June 2018 by Speaker Corey Johnson following a request by Council Member Kallos. The remaining $1 million in funding was provided by the Mayor’s office as part of a citywide investment in libraries supported by the City Council.
That same year, the 67^th Street Library also received a portion of $200,000 allocated by Council Member Ben Kallos through Participatory Budgeting for technology upgrades to all three of Council District 5 Library branches.

ON NEW YEAR’S DAY, SOUP KITCHEN OPENS TO SERVE HUNGRY AND HOMELESS WITH CUTS TO FOOD STAMPS LOOMING

Anonymous Donor funds new facility as tens of thousands of New Yorkers face cutoff from benefits

NEW YORK – January 1^st, 2020 - With deep cuts looming to the federal food stamp program for tens of thousands of New York families, the Bronx Parent Housing Network, Inc. (BPHN) on New Year’s Day opened the BPHN Loving Arms Soup Kitchen on the Upper East Side to help feed the growing number of hungry and homeless New Yorkers. The facility has been funded by an anonymous donor.

“Wall Street might be breaking records, but there are hungry people in New York, and the situation is threatening to get even worse,” said Victor M. Rivera, President and Chief Executive Officer of BPHN, once a homeless man himself.

Many of the facility’s customers are not homeless, but rather are New Yorkers contending with food insecurity due to the high cost of living, which often forces them to choose between eating and paying for their other expenses.

Safety sweep of 1,331 facades found that 220 needed additional pedestrian protections

New York – Today, Department of Buildings Commissioner Melanie E. La Rocca announced enhancements to DOB’s existing façade inspection process, and a doubling of the Department’s existing dedicated façade inspection team with the hiring of 12 new staff positions to the unit. Property owners with buildings greater than six stories in height can expect more frequent and thorough proactive inspections from the Department under these tough new policies. In addition, DOB announced the results of their facade safety sweep that immediately followed the fatal facade incident that occurred on Tuesday, December 17. This sweep built upon DOB’s overall efforts to hold building owners accountable for unsafe conditions.

Bicycle Safety Improves on East Side for Five Years in a Row

Bike Safety Education, Equipment & Enforcement Program Led by

Council Members Kallos and Powers Gets Results

 New York, NY — Following an expansion of the Upper East Side’s safe streets network, coupled an increase in education, safety equipment, and enforcement, bike safety from 30th to 97th streets on Manhattan’s East Side continues to improve as a result of a program led by Council Members Ben Kallos and Keith Powers.  Since the program’s launch by Council Member Kallos in 2014 there has been a reduction in the number of collisions involving cyclists each year, and fewer pedestrians and cyclists injured in collisions.

 The NYPD traffic data 17^th and 19^th precinct report Year to Date (YTD) as of December:

·2,472 summons issued to bicycles mostly for not giving right of way to pedestrians and disobeying a steady red signal;

·19,012 moving violations issued to vehicles, the violations, were issued  for  infractions such as improper turns, disobeying a traffic control device, for red lights, not yielding the right of way to pedestrians among other violations as of November; and

·62 seizures of “e-bikes” with most receiving summonses as well (ECB/OATH.

 This year, DOT closed the 2^nd Ave Gap at the Queensboro Bridge adding protected lanes between 68^th Street and 59^th Street. Other infrastructure improvements made by the Department of Transportation in the Upper East Side include.

·Doubling bike lanes from just First Avenue and the 90th & 91st Street pair to include protected lanes on Second Avenue, 70th & 71st Street and 77th & 78th Streets in 2017, parking protected bike lanes from 68^th to 59^th Street on Second Avenue in 2018.

·Safe crossing across the entrance to Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge with new bike lanes and cross walks installed in 2019.

·Leading pedestrian intervals along York Avenue to give pedestrians a chance to cross before vehicles get the green light in 2016. 

·“Safety neckdowns” have extended the curb and islands have been added at dangerous intersections throughout the Upper East Side, so pedestrians have less distance to cross. 

 "Our first priority is to keep pedestrians and cyclists safe from cars, and we’ve made great strides doing so on the Upper East Side,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “Particularly older residents are also afraid of getting hurt in a collision with bikes that disobey the rules every day. Whether it is ‘near misses’ from a failure to yield to pedestrians, or reports of cyclists who run red lights, go the wrong way, or ride on sidewalks, everyone must know the rules of the road in order to share it safely. Thank you to the NYPD, Department of Transportation, Bike New York, Citi Bike, and Transportation Alternatives for their partnership in making our streets safer.”

“As the city grapples with injuries and fatalities from crashes, safety and enforcement measures are more important than ever. Designing our streets with all New Yorkers in mind and implementing necessary infrastructure, including completing the Second Avenue bike lane gap, allows both cyclists and pedestrians to safely follow the rules of the road. I am glad to partner with Council Member Kallos on programs that keep our residents safe, and thank the Department of Transportation, NYPD, Bike New York, Citi Bike, and Transportation Alternatives for their continued commitment to safe streets," said Council Member Keith Powers.

184 New Public School Seats Funded for Upper East Side

Following Local Law 167 Authored by Council Member Kallos

New York, NY – An additional 184 public schools seats for the Upper East Side were proposed by the School Construction Authority, increasing the total from 640 to 824 new seats. The new seats follow the first report of Local Law 167 of 2018 authored by Council Member Ben Kallos, to provide transparency around where the city plans for new school seats.

 “We need more school seats, especially with all the new construction throughout Manhattan,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “As far as I’m concerned we should be building new school in every new large development. The fact is that we’ve demonstrated the model at multiple new buildings in the neighborhood. When I got elected, the Upper East Side was slated for no new seats, despite overcrowding, and I thought something was wrong. With new found transparency around the planning processes, our need for seats was confirmed and now we are getting the seats we need for every child to get a world class education.”

 Council Member Kallos has been successful in his advocacy to win more seats from the Department Education for the Upper East since his election in 2013. When he took office in 2014 there were only 154 full day seats. After years of advocacy, the need has been met with a total of 1,122 seats for four-year-olds.

Following James’ Lawsuit Council to Pass Her Legislation Mandating Tracking to Give Students with Disabilities Necessary Assistance
 

New York, NY – New York City public schools had 224,160 students with disabilities nearly 40,000 receiving only partial or none of their mandated services during the 2017-18 school year. Then-Public Advocate, now-Attorney General Letitia James, sued the Department of Education in 2016 over a failure to track and thereby deprive disabled students of necessary assistance.
James introduced Int. 900 on May 9, 2018, which was co-sponsored and is now carried by Council Member Ben Kallos. This legislation seeks to guarantee that students with disabilities receive necessary services by increasing reporting from an annual basis to three times a school year and expanding what is reported to include: speech therapy, counseling, occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), hearing education services, vision education services, assistive technology services, and special transportation services (busing).

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Testimony before the Assembly Standing Committee on Housing and Cities

Hearing on Affordable Housing Development: To examine programs supporting affordable housing development, including policies relating to building density

Monday, November 25, 2019

The last thing New York City needs is more density for taller towers in the largely overbuilt borough of Manhattan. Raising or removing the 12 FAR cap in New York State’s Multiple Dwelling Law (MDL) would displace immigrants and historic communities of color living in existing rent-regulated housing that is actually affordable. That displacement would make way for luxury super tall buildings for billionaires living atop a handful of affordable units in their shadow.

I represent the Upper East Side, with the three densest zip codes in America: 10162 with 151,835, 10028 with 126,068, and 10128 with 122,357 people per square mile. Only one residential zoning district in the City of New York has the maximum floor area ratio, and that is R10. More than 90% of those R10 lots, lot area, and buildable floor area are in Manhattan.

Counter-intuitively, the Upper East Side’s Council District 5, which I represent, consists of more than three-quarters affordable and/or regulated housing. The district’s housing stock consists of 60.5% rent stabilized, 17.3% subsidized, and 1.5% public housing for a total of 92,785 affordable homes, according to the Displacement Alert Project. Manhattan Community District 8, which includes the entire Upper East Side, has a density of 109,960 people per square mile, spanning 2 square miles housing 219.9 thousand people, according to City Planning. It is of note that given the high concentration of affordable housing in rent stabilized, four-to-six story walk ups, the path to building new housing includes demolishing many of these 100% affordable housing buildings, sometimes resulting in a net loss of affordable housing.

In contrast, Queens Community District 11, represented by Assembly Committee on Cities Chair Edward Braunstein, has a density of 12,386 people per square mile over 9.4 square miles, with 116.4 thousand total people. In Queens Community District 11, there is no public housing, 9,323 units of rent stabilized housing and 8,027 units of subsidized housing for a total of 17,350 affordable and/or regulated housing units. More than two-thirds of residences are in homes of four units or smaller. The numbers don’t lie. There is more affordable and/or regulated housing on the Upper East Side than in Queens Community Board 11, by a factor of more than 5 times.

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Dear Chancellor Carranza,

We are writing to request an immediate explanation of the Department of Education’s (DOE) failure to abide by Local Law 32, which took effect at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.

The intent of this local law, introduced by Council Member Ben Kallos and co-signed by 22 other members, is to require every school bus in New York City to be equipped with GPS tracking technology. The law also stipulates that “GPS data regarding the real time location and velocity of the bus or other motor vehicle used to transport students to or from schools shall be made available electronically to the department, as well as to authorized parents or guardians of students who are being transported by such bus or other motor vehicle.” It has come to our attention through a constituent complaint and subsequent communication with a DOE official that this provision has not been met.

"Wage theft and serious safety violations cannot be tolerated on New York City construction sites," said Council Member Ben Kallos. "New Line Structures hired the contractors who owe workers over $70,000 in back wages. New Line should stop doing business with low-road contractors with worker deaths, wage theft, and safety violations on their hands. This is not fair; this is not acceptable and has to be corrected immediately. I stand with the workers demanding these back wages be paid."

Ribbon Cut on New $600,000 Science Lab at P.S. 183 Funded by
Council Member Kallos Following Participatory Budgeting Win
 

WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE
 

Upper East Side, NY – Today, students, teachers, school administrators and members of the school's PTA joined Council Member Ben Kallos to cut the ribbon on a new $600,000 hydroponics lab. P.S. 183 won the discretionary funds from Council Member Ben Kallos to build the lab during Participatory Budgeting in 2017 with 1,514 votes.
 
Construction began in July of 2018 and was completed in under a year. Construction in the lab featured electrical upgrades, moving a heating unit, and all new sinks, countertops, cabinetry, furniture, as well as lab equipment.
 
“We must invest in STEM education to prepare students for jobs of the future and today we cut the ribbon on a $600,000 science lab,” said Council Member Ben Kallos who has allocated funding through Participatory Budgeting in 2017. “Voting creates real change. The 11-year-olds and parents who voted can see for themselves, as they learn first hand the power of democracy, not to mention all the science they’ll get done.”