New York CIty Council Member Ben Kallos

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DNAinfo.com New Citi Bike Station on 91st St. Is Dangerous to Pedestrians, Locals Say by Shaye Weaver

New Citi Bike Station on 91st St. Is Dangerous to Pedestrians, Locals Say

Councilman Ben Kallos opposed the new Citi Bike station last year and plans on working with the DOT to get it moved.

Recently the councilman suggested the agency move it around the corner against Ruppert Park on Second Avenue between East 90th and East 91st streets.

“This is a very uphill battle,” Kallos said. “Citi Bike has not moved very many locations, except to the extent that we’re able to work with the community for minimal changes.”

DNAinfo.com UES Residents Want Benches, Painted Lanes at Esplanade's John Finley Walk by Shaye Weaver

UES Residents Want Benches, Painted Lanes at Esplanade's John Finley Walk

"We are rebuilding the East River Esplanade brick by brick and dollar by dollar to connect 60th street to 125th street in one seamless park," Kallos said in a statement on July 11. "John Finley Walk from 81st street to 84th will receive the attention it needs to go from roadway to greenway."

DNAinfo.com Rachael Ray Urges De Blasio to Make Good on Free Lunch Vow in City Schools by Amy Zimmer

Rachael Ray Urges De Blasio to Make Good on Free Lunch Vow in City Schools

Several City Council members asked the chancellor when free lunch will be a reality for all students.

“I want to wake up in a city where every kid has the opportunity for free lunch,” Upper East Side Councilman Ben Kallos said at the budget hearing.

“I’m not saying ‘no,’” Fariña said. “It’s all a matter of priorities. We have to take it one step at a time.”

DNAinfo.com Developer Hit With Stop Work Order For Manipulating Zoning Code: Officials by Shaye Weaver

Developer Hit With Stop Work Order For Manipulating Zoning Code: Officials

Councilman Ben Kallos wrote a letter to the DOB pushing the agency to issue the stop work order on May 16.

"New Yorkers have won a rare victory over developers by stopping a skyscraper in a residential neighborhood," Kallos said in a statement. "I am glad we stopped this loophole before it was too late."

DNAinfo.com Why New School Seats Aren’t Keeping Pace With City's Housing Boom by Amy Zimmer

Why New School Seats Aren’t Keeping Pace With City's Housing Boom

The expectation that Manhattan will have fewer students going to public schools might result in a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” worried City Councilman Ben Kallos, whose Upper East Side neighborhood is short 2,000 pre-K seats, forcing many parents to commute with their 4-year-olds in the morning rush to free programs in Lower Manhattan or pay a high price for private programs nearby.

4. A school has to be significantly overcrowded before the years-long process of building a new one can begin.

The city won’t consider building a new school until there’s a 5 percent increase in an existing school’s population, School Construction Authority president Lorraine Grillo told City Council members at budget hearings this week.

DNAinfo.com After Deed Was Lifted for Builder Who Paid $875K, Community Wants Change by Dartunorro Clark

After Deed Was Lifted for Builder Who Paid $875K, Community Wants Change

City Councilman Benjamin Kallos asked about the "windfall" developers received from the way in which properties were valued.

He cited that the Harlem property's deed was lifted for $875,000 and the plot was sold for $3.1 million. The Lower East Side deed was lifted for $16 million and the land was later sold for $116 million. 

Camilo told council members the agency is not moving forward on any new deed restrictions until its internal review and the investigations are complete. She said about 13 applications, many of them made years before, are currently on hold.

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DNAinfo.com Rent Guidelines Board Considering Rent Freeze on 1-Year Leases by Valeria Ricciulli

Rent Guidelines Board Considering Rent Freeze on 1-Year Leases
NEW YORK CITY — The city's Rent Guidelines Board voted Tuesday to consider rent freezes for the city's nearly 1 million rent stabilized units.

The preliminary vote to raise rents for one-year leases between 0 and 2 percent passed 5-4, with the members who represent tenants' and owners' interests all voting against it, the Board's executive director, Andrew McLaughlin, told DNAinfo.

Over the next several weeks, the nine-member board will also consider raising rents on two-year leases between 0.5 to 3.5 percent — following last year's first-ever freeze for rent-stabilized apartments.

The board based its proposal on an RGB study that showed that the price of operating for rent-stabilized apartments decreased 1.2 percent this year, mostly due to the fact that fuel costs decreased 41.2 percent. Another study found that the city's unemployment rate fell in 2015 by 1.5 percent. 

The changes would take effect on all lease renewals after Oct. 1, 2016.

Board member Sheila Garcia, who represents tenant's interest, proposed a rent decrease instead of a freeze, which is why she voted against it. 

"The data this year merits a [rent] rollback," said Garcia, referring to lowered fuel costs. "I didn't think [the rent freeze proposal] was radical enough. The board has over-compensated landlords over the years."

"We see that we are evicting less people but more people are homeless because they can't afford to live in NYC." 

Upper East Side council member Ben Kallos joined advocates calling to lower rent for rent-stabilized apartments. 

 

DNAinfo.com Dozens More Free Pre-K Seats Just Opened Up on the UES by Shay Weaver

Dozens More Free Pre-K Seats Just Opened Up on the UES

Parents at P.S. 183, who worked with Councilman Ben Kallos to increase the total seats on the Upper East Side from just over 123 to 515 since 2014, say they are relieved to have more pre-K seats because it can be tough getting a spot in the neighborhood.

"As an Upper East Side parent, I am concerned not only about the chances of my own child obtaining a pre-K spot in the neighborhood but also about the children of my friends and neighbors," resident Ariel Chesler said. "That is why I have been speaking out about the insufficient number of seats in the area."

For more than a year, members of the Roosevelt Island Parents' Network, which advocates for more than 500 families' needs, also worked to get more free pre-K seats on the island, according to member Eva Bosbach.

DNAinfo.com Friends of UES Woman Killed By Dump Truck Demand More Street Safety by Shaye Weaver

Friends of UES Woman Killed By Dump Truck Demand More Street Safety

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Councilman Ben Kallos, who both showed up to the vigil, spoke against the marine transfer station, saying it would only worsen the situation.

"People in the community pass on, but it should not happen because of bad public policy," Brewer said about the marine transfer station.

"The tragedy of all of this is that it won't be one private garbage truck, but hundreds an hour, driving through the side streets of the neighborhood, where they don't belong," Kallos added. "How many more deaths will it take? We need to make sure Jodi McGrath is the last person this happens to."

DNAinfo.com Grassroots Sutton Place Rezoning Plan Gets Backing from Community Board by Noah Hurowitz

Grassroots Sutton Place Rezoning Plan Gets Backing from Community Board

Community Board 6 has thrown its support behind a rezoning proposal aimed at stopping the construction of skyscrapers in Sutton Place.

CB 6 voted nearly unanimously earlier this month to support a community-fundedrezoning application that would limit the height of all new towers, east of First Avenue, from East 52nd to East 59th streets, to 260 feet, or 25 stories.