Community

City Council member Ben Kallos plans to introduce a bill today requiring that a city planner attend every meeting held by the city’s 59 community boards.

Kallos said the bill intends to give communities a more active role in the land use review process, the Gotham Gazette reported. The bill would form a planning department in the five borough president offices. There would be at least one professional urban planner on staff for each community board.

More than 100 Upper East Siders turned out to celebrate this year’s OTTY Award winners in a ceremony at Mt. Sinai Hospital on March 16.

For more than a decade, Our Town has honored people in the community who have made the East Side a better place to work and live.

This year, 14 people were honored, at an awards ceremony emceed by NY1’s Roma Torre. In addition to the honorees and their families, the event was attended by local elected officials, including Comptroller Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and Councilmembers Ben Kallos and Dan Garodnick.

In August, Governor Cuomo signed legislation lowering the minimum age from 18 to 16 years old and alloting up to two seats on each community board for 16 and 17-year olds. The legislation, originally introduced in 2008 by Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan), had many backers, including City Council member Ben Kallos of Manhattan and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Queens).

Kallos also believes young people bring a unique perspective to the discussion in local government, said spokesperson Sarah Anders. “Community boards are really the most local form of government,” said Anders. Kallos “believes that young people should have just as much of an opportunity to get involved.”

Civitas’ study also outlines long-term projects that would dramatically change the look of the East River Esplanade.

Those plans include reconstructing Pier 107 into a large multi-use cove-like structure that sticks out into the East River and turning the pedestrian bridge that connects Thomas Jefferson Park to the Esplanade into a land bridge that is integrated with the two parks.

"I definitely think this is the start of something special,” Bologna said. "If we all work on this together we can create an amazing waterfront park."

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who hosted the unveiling of the study, lauded Councilman Ben Kallos and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito for securing $35 million for immediate repairs.

But more needs to be done to bring the East River Esplanade up to par with waterfront parks on the west side, she said.

“I know to the credit of the mayor he put in some money but we need much more,” she said. “It’s small steps, that’s how it starts.”

Ben Kallos, City Councilman 5th District. To increase representation, Mr. Kallos began by encouraging people who live in our area of his district to sign up for vacancies on CB6 Committees or in his office. He addressed various issues of concern, including bike infractions, the expansion of Citibikes and new bike paths and the Homeless. He stressed the importance of calling 311 to create a record of a complaint with as much detail as possible. If you are not satisfied that your complaint is being addressed, call him with the details, so his office can follow up with the appropriate City department. He is working on improving Internet service (especially for the lowincome population), visiting schools and obtaining new yellow/ green Taxi Apps to compete with Uber. He chairs the Governmental Operations Committee and works on fair elections, campaign finance reform, the Tax Commission and is trying to trim the number of City employees to rid it of patronage. He is available to meet with any group of 10 or more. His door is open.

New Yorkers would be able to identify as more than one race on city documents under legislation set to be introduced in the City Council on Tuesday.

“We just wanted to bring New York City into the 21st century,” said Councilwoman Margaret Chin, a Manhattan Democrat and the lead sponsor of the measure. “This will allow New Yorkers to identify their heritage and be proud of it. They shouldn’t have to only check one box.”

The bill, which is co-sponsored by Councilman Ben Kallos and Councilman Corey Johnson, both Democrats, would require city agencies to have the capacity to maintain the new demographic information within three years of the bill becoming law.

As Americans, we have much to be thankful for. We live in a great nation with services that support us and our loved ones. As a City Council Member representing the East Side of Manhattan, I am also deeply thankful to be a New Yorker. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for the many blessings that we have, and #GivingTuesday is a time to give back.

On November 25, just before Thanksgiving, I was proud to join New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to declare December 2, 2014 to be #GivingTuesday. This is a day for us to give back to the organizations and charities that are important to us. #GivingTuesday is a natural outlet for our generosity and an antidote to the shopping frenzy of the days just prior.

Reached for a comment, Council Member Ben Kallos told JP, “I am appalled by the attack that took place on the East Side. Violence, particularly if rooted in bias, is abhorrent and does not belong in our city. I am confident that the incident is receiving a swift and thorough investigation."

Before he was appointed to Community Board 4, Austin Ochoa said more of his peers would be applying to serve if they knew they had a shot at getting on the board.

Ochoa, age 19, was appointed by Borough President Gale Brewer in April. She’s been working for the past four years to pass a bill allowing 16 and 17 year olds to serve on the board, and last week that work paid off with the passage of a state bill allowing it.

“These 16- and 17-year-olds are so intelligent, so grown up, and I don’t know if it’s because they’re in New York, but they can really keep up with the adults,” said Brewer. “Not all, but many. And anybody that says otherwise just doesn’t know this group of 16- and 17-year-olds.”

The bill was sponsored and passed at the state level by Senator Andrew Lanza and Assembly member Nily Rozic. City Council member Ben Kallos joined forces with Brewer to introduce a resolution calling for the measure at the city level, and Brewer credited council member Mark Levine with pushing for teens to be allowed to serve on community board when he was still a district leader.

“We’ve been working on this for about four years,” said Brewer.