2018

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.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York and the New York city building code in relation to removing construction-related equipment. This bill would create timeframes for the removal of construction-related equipment when there is no active construction and would permit the city to correct unsafe conditions of exterior walls.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the
use of pesticides by City agencies

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 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.

The legislation seeks to solve the following longstanding problems with affordable housing:

• Non-Registration – owners fail to register thousands of buildings with tens of thousands of units for which they receive hundreds of millions in tax breaks each year.
• Paper Applications – applicants must mail an application request, receive the application by mail, return the application by mail, and wait hoping nothing got lost in the mail.
• Lotteries and Rejections – three quarters of applications have been rejected in lotteries because individuals apply for the wrong affordable housing for their income.
• Waiting List Corruption – investigations revealed dozens of instances of corruption and bribery surrounding waiting lists for affordable housing.
• Numerous Individual Places to Apply – Multiple websites offered by DHCR,HPD, HDC  and non-profits like Met Council as well as at individual affordable housing buildings.

This local law would create an affordable housing internet portal. It provides requirements for both the portal itself and for units that would be listed on the portal.