HERE TO HELP

 SENIORS: Medicare savings, Meals-on-Wheels, Access-A-Ride...  HOUSING: affordable units, rent freezes, legal clinic...  JOBS: search & training, veterans, senior & youth employment...  FAMILIES: Universal Pre-K, Head Start, After-Schools...  FINANCES: cash assistance, tax credits, home energy assistance... FRESH FOOD BOX  NUTRITION: Food Stamps (SNAP), WIC, free meals for all ages... Thursdays, June – Thanksgiving, 3:30pm – 6:30pm  We can also help resolve 311 Complaints. District Office, 244 East 93rd Street Place your order and pay just $14 FREE LEGAL CLINICS (cash, credit/debit, SNAP, greenmarket bucks) By appointment 3:00pm to 6:00pm: Pick up farm-fresh produce the following week. • Housing, Mondays and Wednesdays • Life Planning, 3rd Wednesday BenKallos.com/FreshFoodBox • Family Law, 1st Tuesday • General Civil Law, By Appointment Only. FOOD SCRAPS DROP OFF Call 212-860-1950 for your appointment. Wednesdays, 7:15am – 10:30am, 96th St. & Lex. Ave. Saturdays, 9am – 1pm, East 82nd St. Greenmarket Sundays, 9am – 1pm, East 92nd St. Greenmarket MOBILE HOURS: 4th Wednesday, R.I.S.C. 11am - 2pm BenKallos.com/FoodScraps

NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL MEMBER Presorted Standard U.S. Postage PAID 10007 BENTH KALLOS 5 DISTRICT, : SPRING 2020 NEWSLETTER

DISTRICT OFFICE 244 East 93rd Street New York, NY 10128 (212) 860-1950 [email protected]

SAVE PAPER AND SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES ONCE A MONTH AT BENKALLOS.COM/SUBSCRIBE

EVENTS MOVIES AT SUNSET

Participatory Budgeting Vote Week March 28 – April 5

Earth Day, Saturday, April 18, 12pm-2pm Saturday, May 16, Carl Schurz Madison Square Park Overdevelopment, Preservation & Affordable Housing Thursday, May 21, 6pm-8pm SUNY Global, 116 East 55th Street Housing Rights Town Hall Thursday, June 4, 6pm-8pm Mt. Sinai Union Square, 10 Union Square East Saturday, June 13, John Jay Park MEET BEN 2020 ELECTIONS PLAY IN THE PARKS PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY: Free Helmets Jazz at Sutton Place Park FIRST FRIDAY, 8am – 10am, District Office. Tuesday, April 28, 2020 at Carl Schurz Saturday, May 9, 1pm Join me and your neighbors for a conversation. Saturday, May 2, Saturday, June 20, 1pm CONGRESSIONAL & STATE PRIMARY: 11am - 2:30pm POLICY NIGHT, 2nd Tuesday, 5pm, Tuesday, June 23, 2020 Skate Night at District Office. Work with staff to organize to Early Voting: June 13 - 21 Family Day, 1pm - 4pm Stanley Isaacs make your ideas a reality. By appointment only. Saturday, May 2, John Jay Friday, June 5, 5pm - 8pm GENERAL ELECTION: BEN IN YOUR BUILDING. Tuesday, November 3, 2020 Saturday, June 6, King Lear in Carl Schurz Got an annual cooperative or condominium Early Voting: Oct. 24 – Nov. 1 St. Catherine’s June 23 – July 5, 7pm meeting? I will come to you! RSVP for all of our events at BenKallos.com/Events NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL MEMBER

BENTH KALLOS 5 DISTRICT, MANHATTAN: SPRING 2020 NEWSLETTER

DEAR NEIGHBOR, FIGHTING OVERDEVELOPMENT Together we’ve been able to accomplish so much. You can City mulls next sites to crack down on height- watch my annual report with updates from Senate Minority boosting ‘zoning loopholes’ Leader “Chuck” Schumer and Congress Member Carolyn “We need more spaces for everyday New Yorkers and fewer Maloney at BenKallos.com/StateOfTheDistrict/2020 9/12/2019 spaces for billionaires,” said Kallos. Authored and passed Full Public Matching campaign finance reform to get big money out of NYC politics. We’ve passed a limit of 20 feet on empty mechanical voids in residential Opened new 180-seat pre-kindergarten center for a districts and are now fighting to extend those same protections to “Billionaires total of 1,000 new seats since 2014. Row” in the Central Business District, Hudson Yards, and the Finance District. The proposal from the city is for a 35-foot limit on “voids” in these Commercial Secured 184 new K-8 school seats for a total of 824. Districts. Visit BenKallos.com/CommercialVoids Completed $2.5 million renovation of E. 67th Street Library. Broke ground on $100 million new East River Greenway and $3.5 million in playground renovations. Secured $75 million more for East River Esplanade. Sincerely,

Ben Kallos, Council Member, District 5 Make your voice heard by responding to monthly updates at BenKallos.com/Subscribe

CLEANING UP GOVERNMENT

WON FULL PUBLIC MATCHING CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM I am proud to have authored the new full public matching campaign finance system that reduced contribution limits from $5,100 down Facades on 1,400 Buildings in New York to $2,000 and will go from matching only half of small dollars to Are a Threat to Pedestrians 1/3/2020 matching every small dollar from city residents with 8 public dollars. “Regardless of who owns the building, they have to keep it Join the fight at BenKallos.com/BigMoneyOut safe — and the city should be helping out,” said Kallos.

Councilman Calls for Hearing on Nonprofit Since 2016, I’ve been fighting to get buildings repaired and sidewalk sheds down Contractors and Their Business Ties with legislation to limit work to months not years, inspecting sheds that go up and never come down, and most recently a pilot to allow for drone inspections. In “We should be using our tax dollars for caring December the Buildings Department announced it would be inspecting sheds and for our neediest, and we shouldn’t have to 7/21/2019 worry about self-dealing,” said Kallos. even doing the work themselves for the most dangerous conditions in buildings as I originally proposed.

When the Wall Street Journal reported on self-dealing between CLEANING UP THE NEIGHBORHOOD a nonprofit homeless services provider and a for-profit security company with the same CEO, I called for and chaired a Contracts Committee hearing where I questioned the Department of Homeless Services, pressing them to take responsibility for bad providers, no matter the size, in order to protect our most vulnerable. Recently the city took a different big provider to court to do just that. If you are aware of possible corruption by anyone doing business with the city, you can join other whistleblowers we are working with by emailing [email protected].

2019 CHARTER REVISIONS PASS Following my advocacy and education around the 2019 Charter Revision, all 5 questions were adopted by more than 70% of voters. One big change is Ranked Choice Voting, changing how we vote by ranking candidates in municipal elections from 1 to 5. I am most proud to have fought for and won an extension of the revolving door lobbying ban for elected officials from one to two years, POWER-WASHING EAST 70s WITH CONGRESS MEMBER MALONEY independent budgets for the Borough President and Congress Member and I joined the East 72nd Street Neighborhood Public Advocate, an office dedicated to helping women Association to power-wash sidewalks in the East 70s with FedCap’s Wildcat, and people of color do business with the city, and early who also pick up litter throughout the neighborhood. We’ve seen success buying involvement in zoning changes for the community. hundreds of new covered trash cans and securing twice-a-day garbage pickup. Learn more at BenKallos.com/CleanUp INVESTING IN PARKS AND PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT

City Invests $75M More in Construction of East Midtown Greenway Begins East River Esplanade Fixes on Manhattan Waterfront 11/22/2019 2/22/2019

I joined East River Esplanade Taskforce Co-Chair Congress Member Maloney in announcing $75 million in additional funding from Mayor de Blasio.

INDOOR TENNIS $10 ALL WINTER & FREE ALL SUMMER

We broke ground on $100 million in construction to build a new greenway between East 53rd and 61st streets alongside Congress Member Carolyn Maloney with whom I co-chair the East River Esplanade Taskforce. Since I was elected, together we have secured more than $275 million dollars for the East River Esplanade. For more information visit BenKallos.com/Parks

$3.5 Million Playground Reconstruction at Carl Schurz 10/2/2019 Playground Breaks Ground During the 30-week winter season from Labor Day ending April 12, 2020, $10 per person:  Senior Cardio or Clinic: Monday – Friday: 6am, 7am, 1pm, or 2pm  Drop-in Hours: Monday – Friday: 6am – 8am, 1pm - 3pm , 10pm - 12am Weekends: 6am - 8am, 8pm - 12am Play FREE starting April 13 through Labor Day with a Parks Tennis Permit: $10 children, $20 seniors, and $100 for all others. Learn more at BenKallos.com/Tennis

Council Bill Proposes Ban on RoundUp Chemical Glyphosate Amid Last year we broke ground on a $3.5 million renovation of Carl Schurz Cries of ‘Environmental Racism’ Park Playground funded by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer “Glyphosate and other carcinogens cannot be sprayed on City property, and my Council office that should be completed by this fall. Catbird particularly our City Parks,” said Kallos. 1/29/2020 Playground at the north end of the park will remain open during renovation. Learn more at BenKallos.com/Parks We’ve been working with the students of P.S. 290 since 2014 to ban toxic pesticides from being sprayed in parks. Following our hearing in PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING ABSENTEE BALLOT January we need your help to keep our children and pets safe in parks. Vote on how to spend $1 million in the neighborhood Sign the petition at BenKallos.com/petition/BanToxicPesticides March 28 through April 5 by mail, in person at our District Office, or online at BenKallos.com/PB/Digital New York City is cracking down on Name: plastic bottles 2/7/2020 “We can change what normal is and get to Email (required): a more sustainable future. We don’t have a choice because there is a climate emergency and we can show  I am 11 years or older and live in Council District 5. Trump the right way to do it,” said Kallos. Pick up to 5  $220,000 – Mechanical Cleaner and Plow for Bike Lanes In 2018, I authored and sponsored bills calling  $90,000 – Composting for Roosevelt Island on the City to ban the  $800,000 – Playground Renovation for Lexington Houses sale of single-use plastic  $500,000 – Laptops & STEM for Public Schools bottles in city parks and city land. This February  $550,000 – Video Camera and Security System for P.S. 151 Mayor de Blasio joined  $285,000 – NYPD Security Cameras student organizers of  $225,000 – Trees with Guards the Climate March as he signed an Executive  $100,000 – All Gender Bathroom for P.S. 77/198 Order implementing  $500,000 – Ruppert Park Renovation my legislation.

 $186,000 – Fire Battalion Vehicle Sign the petition to Mail to Council Member Ben Kallos: make this the law at 244 East 93rd Street, New York, NY 10128 by April 1, 2020 BenKallos.com/ ✁ petition/BanTheBottle EDUCATION

Ribbon Cut on New 180 Seat City Commits 184 Additional Pre-Kindergarten Center for K-8 Seats to Four-Year-Olds on the UES 12/19/2019 9/4/2 0 1 9 When I got elected, the Upper East Side was slated for no new school seats, despite overcrowding, and I thought something was wrong. So I wrote a law in 2018 forcing the Department of Education and the School Construction Authority to provide more transparency around where they planned to build new school seats, and it turns out we needed another 184 school seats for a total of 864 new seats for our district by 2024.

$600,000 HYDROPONICS LAB

We’ve been fighting to guarantee every four-year-old a seat on the Upper East Side since I got elected in 2014 and in September we cut the ribbon on the final 180-seats we needed at 76th Street for truly Universal Pre-Kindergarten. Thank you to Congress Member Maloney, Assembly Member Seawright, SCA President Grillo, CSA Union President Cannizzaro, and Laborers Business Manager Prohaska for joining us. In October, students, teachers, school administrators and members $2.5 MILLION LIBRARY RENOVATION of the school’s PTA joined me to cut the ribbon on a new $600,000 hydroponics lab won for P.S. 183 by Participatory Budgeting in 2017.

UNIVERSAL AFTER SCHOOL

We cut the ribbon on a $2.5 million renovation for the 114-year-old East 67th Street Library – where I got my first library card – with funding I secured from Mayor and Speaker Corey Johnson. More than half a million children in New York are left alone after school. Universal After School legislation I proposed would keep children SCHOOL BUS TRACKING positively engaged and from hurting one another during the hours that they are most likely to get in trouble with the police. Add your name in NYC School Buses to Have GPS Tracking support at BenKallos.com/UniversalAfterSchool “…we need to be able to know where those buses are when something goes wrong,” said Kallos. RETIREMENT FOR ALL 8/21/2019 New York City unveils new plan to help workers save for retirement The Department of Education is more than a semester late in complying 9/24/2019 with a law I wrote to put a GPS on every single public school bus and give parents an app to track them. I even met with the CEO of Via ride share, with whom the City has contracted to build our app, as we work to get tracking online in time for next school year or sooner.

HELPING THE HOMELESS

As the co-founder of the East Side Taskforce for Homeless Outreach Two-thirds of workers in New York City aren’t participating in retirement and Services (ETHOS) I am proud to have cut the ribbon on supportive plans, largely because their employer doesn’t offer one. Legislation housing for more than a dozen formerly homeless women and children I introduced alongside Council Member I. would offer across the street from where I live. Many of these formerly homeless automatic enrollment into a publicly administered retirement savings children are now attending the public school across the street. program through private-sector employers who don’t offer any options Learn more at BenKallos.com/Homeless at no cost to the business. Learn more at BenKallos.com/Retirement