New York Daily News

Construction sties that block roads and snarl traffic when no actual work is going on would face fines under a bill being introduced Tuesday in the City Council.

The legislation, sponsored by Councilman Ben Kallos, would require that roadblocks like traffic cones, barrels and Jersey barriers only be set up in the street for one hour before and one hour after work is underway.

Kallos (D-Manhattan, photo) said drivers often encounter traffic backups caused by construction barriers and road closures, only to find the site empty.

“New Yorkers want to get where they are going fast. Everyone hates traffic jams, especially when they are for road work, but no one is actually there doing the work,” he said. “It’s about making sure we are only impeding traffic and causing traffic when we absolutely need to.”

City Councilman Ben Kallos asked First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris if he would say on the record why he could only testify for a limited time.

The Housing Authority insists that tenants of Holmes Towers on the Upper East Side have embraced its ambitious plan to raise cash by building luxury apartments on what’s now their playground.

That’s news to them.

The tenant “stakeholder committee” organized by NYCHA to vet the plan — along with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Councilman Ben Kallos — made clear in a recent letter obtained by the Daily News that they never signed off on it.

"When there aren't public postings, that's a good indication there may be patronage involved, or worse yet conflicts of interest," Kallos said. "New Yorkers would know about the 350,000 jobs the city has, and the city could expand its pool of qualified applicants," Kallos said.

Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), whose district covers Weill Cornell, joined Mason’s team to help the city earn bragging rights on the diversity of its microorganisms.

“New York City is bigger and better than anywhere else, so I’m assuming the same for our microbes,” Kallos said. “We should have more microbes from all over the world and in higher concentration because there is no subway system like ours.”

“What happens when someone you represent as a lobbyist has business in our districts and wants something from us, and we need your vote in 2017 to get on the ballot?” said Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan).

One donor gobbled the Lower East Side nursing home where apparently clueless city administrators lifted a deed restriction based on the buyer’s pinky promise to keep it a health facility — then flipped it for condominiums.

Another blotted out the Upper East Side sky with a luxury tower many stories taller than zoning allows because the Department of Buildings got outfoxed by a wily developer who bent the rules.

Both of those fails came to light only because community boards and City Council members Margaret Chin and Ben Kallos sprang into action at the behest of constituents who had gotten the cold shoulder from the mayor’s side of City Hall.

The City Council voted Thursday to require the Board of Elections to send voters texts and e-mails telling them when their poll sites change and reminding them of upcoming elections.

Under another bill passed by the Council, BOE will have to set up a website and mobile app to let voters check their registration and party affiliation, and change information like their address.

During April’s presidential primary, many voters had no idea they had been dropped from the rolls or from their party until they arrived to vote. There’s currently no way to check online.

“Tens of thousands of voters showed up to vote thinking they were registered or registered with a political party, only to be told by election workers they were not in the poll books,” said Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Mahattan). “Voters should be able to easily access information about elections at any time.”

Upper East Side Councilman Ben Kallos holds up a Citizens Committee bag at a City Hall rally yesterday as a majority of the Council have now co-sponsored the Citizens Committee-backed bill to impose a nickel fee on plastic bags.

Over the past two years, we’ve given away nearly 6,000 bags in neighborhood bag giveaways with City Council Members.

Until now, a 311 complaint might result in a violation but those violations were rarely collected,” said Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), the sponsor. “Bad neighbors will have to improve their behavior.”