Ben Kallos

I believe providing after-school programming to all New York City students 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. It is far more common than a generation ago for parents to work late and far less common for children to have a stay at home parent. The gap between school dismissal and when parents are able to pick up their kids can be difficult for many families, and can leave kids without food, shelter, or mentorship if after-school programming is not available. With after-school programming we can meet Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and slow the school to prison pipeline.

Introduction 1100 of 2018 by Council Members Kallos, Treyger and Rose would provide “Universal After School” with a mandate for an after school slot for any student that request one. The legislation would also require an annual report to implement universal after school including how many slots are needed, availability and cost, participation rates, advertising and outreach to increase participation, along with implementation dates and progress reports. Reporting would sunset once the city certified that sufficient after school slots are available for all students.

There are roughly 3.5 million private-sector workers in New York City, a significant percentage of whom have no access to retirement savings whatsoever.

This bill would facilitate voluntary retirement savings by private-sector workers to a city administered auto-enrollment individual retirement account. Auto-enrollment of employees would be mandatory through payroll deduction for employers with five or more employees who have not offered a retirement savings plan for the past two-years. Employees over 21 years of age who worked more than 20-hours a week would be auto-enrolled with a default contribution rate of 5%. Smaller employers who have not offered and independent contractors who do not have access to retirement savings would also be able to join “Savings Access New York.” Employers would not contribute to the plan and there would be no cost to employers.

Restaurants in New York City that serve children’s meals would only be include drinks that do not contain added sugars or sweeteners. Specifically, combination children’s meals may only offer water, sparkling water, flavored water, flavored or unflavored nonfat or one percent milk, non-dairy milk, 100% fruit or vegetable juice, or fruit or vegetable juice combined with water or carbonated water as the default option. Customer could substitute a different drink of their choice by request, with monetary penalties up to $2,500 for restaurants that violate this law.

extend the first ballot question on campaign finance reform from applying only in 2021 to providing that same option for special elections and the elections that follow (which already halve existing limits) in the interim:

• Lowered contribution limits from $2,550 citywide to $1,000, $1,975 for borough president to $750, and from $1,425 for city council to $500.
• Increased public matching of every small dollar of $175 and under with 6 public tax dollars to 8 public dollars and small dollars of $250 and under for citywide with 8 public dollars.
• Increased public grant from 55% to 75% of the spending limit.

Unlike, question one, lowered contribution limits and increased matching would be retroactively applied to candidates that select this option.

In addition to applying ballot question one to the special election the legislation goes further by lowering the minimum funds raised threshold to qualify for a public grant by half, just as other limits are halved. The threshold for Mayor is halved from $250,000 to $125,000 and for Public Advocate and Comptroller from $125,000 to $62,500. The first $250 of an individual New York City resident’s contribution would be applied toward meeting dollar amount threshold. Participating candidates would still need to collect the same number of contributions of 1,000 for Mayor and 500 for Public Advocate and Comptroller.

This local law amends the deadline for candidates for public office to file a disclosure report with the Conflicts of Interest Board.

This local law requires the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to set rules for specific time frames for inspections in response to certain types of noise complaints. It also requires DEP to submit annual reports on inspections in response to noise complaints and that all noise mitigation plans be filed electronically. This legislation also creates new violations for noise which exceeds certain decibel levels and authorize DEP to issue stop work orders in response to certain noise violations.

This local law requires the DOE to report, for each middle and high school, whether such school has a gay-straight alliance or gender-sexuality alliance (GSA); the number of teachers and administrators who have received trainings related to supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning and gender non-conforming (LGBTQGNC) students; and a narrative description of the training offered by the department to support LGBTQGNC students, including whether any such training includes training related to GSAs.

Nearly 9,000 scaffolds that entomb 190 miles of City sidewalks may soon be dismantled, under legislation introduced by Council Member Ben Kallos. Unnecessary scaffolding also known as “sidewalk sheds” would have to be removed if seven days pass without construction work.
 
Sidewalk sheds are temporary structures, made of wooden planks, boards and metal pipes to protect pedestrians from dangerous conditions that are being corrected or new construction. Scaffolding is not only an eyesore but attract crime such as drug deals and provide an alternative to shelter for homeless. Many sidewalk sheds persist for years, sometimes more than a decade. There are several sidewalk sheds in Council District 5 represented by Kallos that have been up for years, over two years at 340 East 64th Street and 301 East 95th Street and over three years at 349 East 74th Street. Often times, it is much more expensive to fix a dangerous condition than to leave a sidewalk shed up indefinitely

Kallos’ legislation would set the following timeline for sidewalk sheds in place for dangerous conditions:

• 90 days for building owners to fix a dangerous condition,
• 90 additional for building owners days to fix the dangerous condition upon extension,
• After 180 days, the city would do the work to correct the dangerous condition and bill the owner for all costs.
• Work could not be interrupted for more than 7 days without a mandate to take down the sidewalk shed or face heavy penalties.

Under the same legislation, new construction would need to continue without more than 7 days of interruption until the new development is safely capped off or completed. Exemptions in the legislation provide for weather, stop work orders, time awaiting permit renewals or in cases of safety risks.

This bill would require that the Board of Standards and Appeals have access to the advice of a State certified general real estate appraiser with no less than five years’ experience in analyzing and auditing real estate investments.

This bill would require the Board of Standards and Appeals to report information about applications for variances and special permits, and appeals of decisions regarding variances and special permits, to the Council twice per year, on dates approximately one and a half months prior to the mandated due dates for the Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report and the Mayor’s Management Report.