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Good Government

As founder of WikiLaw.org, I believe that the Government and its body of law should be transparent for the people it governs. As founder of VoterSearch.org, I believe that protecting your right to vote is essential to an accountable government. As former Co-Chair of Community Board 8's Communication Committee, I worked to open the community board by announcingcommunity board membership applications and ensuring they were widely available at meetings. I have continued my work with Community Board 8's Communication Committee and we have made its television show "Community Board 8 Speaks" available online.

As your City Council member I will continue the work of making City Hall transparent by making its business available online through the web, PDF, podcast, and YouTube like videos. I will openCity Hall by creating NYC.OpenLegislation.org, a local version of OpenCongress.org, where anyone will be able to share their views on all business, in support of the mission of theParticipatory Politics Foundation. City Hall will become accountable to you the people as NYC.OpenLegislation.org, will let you track business before City Hall and how your representative voted on issues of importance to you.

NYC Councilmember Ben Kallos Unlocks 7 Key Bills In Madison for Online Citizen Drafting

New York, NY – New York City Councilmember Ben Kallos today released seven key government reform bills for online public debate and drafting in Madison, a free policymaking platform developed by the nonprofit OpenGov Foundation. Madison gives citizens direct access to their legislators and the legislative process itself, lowering the barrier between citizens and their government on their own time, and on their own terms. Councilmember Kallos is the second city legislator in America to harness the power of collaborative Internet-based legislating, joining Washington, D.C. Councilmember David Grosso on the cutting edge of American democracy.  To get involved, New Yorkers simply need to log on to start legislating in partnership with Kallos.

 

Set the Law Free, Say Council Members Lander, Vacca, Kallos Legislation to Put Law Online for Free instead of Behind Paid Subscriptions

 

 

 New York, New York – Council Members Lander, Vacca and Kallos advocated for a bill that would put all New York City law online in a searchable and user-friendly format at a City Council Joint Hearing of the Committees on Governmental Operations and Technology today, instead of being inaccessible in for-fee websites.  Council Member Brad Lander, prime sponsor of Int. 149, Council Members Ben Kallos and James Vacca, also sponsors, heard support from good government advocates and civic technologists at the hearing.

 

Brewer, Vacca, Kallos Congratulate City Hall on FOIL Tracker Announced at City Council Hearing and Urge Next Steps

New York, NY – Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Council Members Ben Kallos and James Vacca congratulated City Hall on a brand new FOIL Tracker (link) announced at a joint hearing of the City Council Committees on Technology and Governmental Operations. The Borough President and Council Members urged next steps in line with Counsel Maya Wiley's stated commitment to a Citywide FOIL Tracker, including passage of Intro 328,  which would create a centralized, searchable website to track and process FOIL requests. The legislation seeks to address delays and inconsistencies in New York City’s FOIL compliance. Advocates, including good government groups Sunlight Foundation, Reinvent Albany, League of Women Voters and Participatory Politics Foundation, offered testimony in support of the legislation.